CD/DVD Review - Somewhere In The Stratosphere by Shinedown

I've been a fan of Shinedown's for a few years ago - I picked up their debut album Leave A Whisper not long after a friend of mine recommended the band after he saw them open for Van Halen in Fargo. I was fortunate enough to see them play live at the casino in Walker in 2009 as the band was in the middle of what would be an almost three-year-long tour in support of their third studio album Sound of Madness. I recently tracked down their new live album Somewhere in the Stratosphere, hoping the recording would capture some of the energetic performance I saw in person. I have to say after a couple of listens that I'm not disappointed!

The live record is a 2 CD/2 DVD recording of a pair of live concerts: an acoustic show in Kansas City, and an electric live concert in Washington State. The Washington State show has the band in a large auditorium, and features all of their hits plus the soundtrack songs "Her Name is Alice" and "Diamond Eyes (Boom Lay Boom Lay Boom)" that are also on the fan club edition of Sound of Madness. My only complaint on this CD/DVD is that sometimes guitarist Zach Myer's work gets lost at times, drowned out by the prerecorded strings and pyrotechnics, but overall it's a very good concert disc.

The acoustic show was part of the band's tour late last year, and adds additional musicians on percussion, slide guitar, vocals and horns. It takes some getting used to hearing frontman Brent Smith sing in different keys on songs like "45" and "If You Only Knew," but the DVD adds a VH1 Storyteller-like vibe as Smith sheds some light on inspiration for several songs in this concert. There's also a few fun cover songs in this performance: a spirited version of the Foo Fighters' "Times Like These," a cover of the Joe Cocker version of "With A Little Help From My Friends" with guest vocalist Will Hoge and some extra backing musicians, and of course their breakthrough hit cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man."

While this isn't a perfect concert recording, I have to say it is a solid effort. I'd recommend it for anyone who's a Shinedown fan and/or has seen them live in concert. While this recording isn't easy to find (at least not in stores anyway, it's probably easier to find online), if you're in the mood for a couple of concert discs, it's well worth the effort.