The Shadow Ring, Live in U.S.A. (side A)

Live in U.S.A. is a 1997 release of a 1995 concert recording.  This tour predates Tim Goss's synthesizer work in the Shadow Ring, so Graham and Darren were backed by American musicians for this tour.  The concerts were a bit more organic and performed than the studio albums, where the 1997 tour with Tim Goss was more overtly electronic.  Live in U.S.A. features excellent performances of songs from Put the Music in its Coffin and Wax-Work Echoes (which was not completed until after this tour), along with some tracks not on any studio album.  The live recording sounds rough in a different way than the group's lo-fi studio albums sound rough—the sounds are combined more organically, even as there is not much low-end.  The simple, pasted-on cover features an image that was obviously taken after this tour happened.