Live recordings don\’t tell lies (or at least only small ones). Presuming that there\’s very little post-production studio modification of the original recording other than to mix the tracks, what you hear is a performance; with all its peaks and valleys; beauty and power; moments of inspiration and brilliance; and of course all of its stumbles and mistakes, all left intact. In the case of Berlin, The Walkabouts first \”official\” release of a live recording in the band\’s thirty year history, all of this and more is true.

A little over half the songs on Berlin are taken from albums The Walkabouts have recorded over the past decades, and the rest of the tracks are culled from the band\’s latest album Travels In The Dustland. Berlin is a compelling collection of old and new; the old approached with a desire to reinvent; in a sense to tell old stories in a new way, and the new songs presenting a band at the peak of its artistic performance.

The album was recorded on July 14th, 2012 at the C-Club in Berlin, thus the title. The lineup of the band consists of founding members Carla Torgerson (vocals, guitar) and Chris Eckman (vocals, guitar), long running members Terri Moeller (drums), Glenn Slater (keyboards) and Michael Wells (bass) and newest member Paul Austin (guitar) who joined the band prior to the recording of Travels in the Dustland.

Berlin is a document of a band that has never taken the easy road; a band that has lived long and at times hard, and lived to tell; a band that refuses to become complacent; a band that continues to reinvent itself. Berlin is the sound of a band that has nothing to prove except that it can perform great songs,
greatly.