Gossip, 'Live in Liverpool' (Music With a Twist/Columbia)

Despite Brits' adoration, punky belter could use a band boost.

If this CD-plus-DVD package included the tinsel wig and sweat-soaked leopard unitard that singer Beth Ditto wore at this July 2007 U.K. show, maybe it could've approximated the experience of Ditto dancing herself into a disrobing fever. Instead, it's her vocals that are left exposed -- neither the band's guitarist nor the drummer can match the intensity of her bellow. And even clever covers of classics by Wham! ("Careless Whisper") and Aaliyah ("Are You That Somebody?") don't change the fact that, other than the empowering title track of 2006's Standing in the Way of Control, Gossip lack the kind of anthems that demand a live document.

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