Music in High Places

Unwritten Law took to the wilds of Yellowstone National Park to record this album, live, for the MTV program, Music in High Places. They were so inspired by their majestic surroundings that the popular San Diego alt-rockers made no perceptible changes at all to the studio versions of their songs. Oh wait, they did convert most of the electric guitar parts to acoustic guitar. (Maybe they didn’t have a long-enough extension cord.) This is not to say that the songs themselves are completely without charm. Tight, hooky power-pop numbers like “Up All Night” and “Rest of My Life,” don’t exactly stand out on modern-rock radio, but they do help make it tolerable. It just doesn’t make much sense to drag all your gear halfway up a mountain to play the same way you would at base camp. Unless, of course, you’re just in it for the free trip to Yellowstone, in which case, more power to ’em.