The Gossip: Live in Liverpool

Copy at Case Memorial Library
Nate Chinen wrote in the New York Times: "Outspoken as a lesbian, as a self-proclaimed fat woman and as an all-around misfit … [Gossip lead singer Beth Ditto] works hard to spark pride among her constituencies. … This music thrives on an unhinged energy, or the suggestion of it. Hence the impact of Ms. Ditto, whose overheated yowl can suggest a Janis Joplin for the postpunk age. … Ms. Ditto … often presents herself as a force of nature, just barely contained. A rock star, in other words. Her ragged charisma helps explain how she manages to fuse the personal and the political with such urgency. In the Gossip’s best songs — like 'Standing in the Way of Control' … and 'Listen Up' … the perspective shifts noticeably from a struggling 'you' to an empowered 'we.' That shift was echoed in the stage rush and Ms. Ditto’s foray into the crowd [during a Webster Hall performance]. … As she does in passing on 'Live in Liverpool' (Columbia), the Gossip’s new concert album and DVD, she struck up a protest mantra: 'Ain’t no power like the power of the people, ’cause the power of the people won’t stop!'" (4/17/08).