Personnel: Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell (vocals, guitar); Mike Inez, Mike Starr (bass); Sean Kinney (drums, percussion).

Producers include: Tony Wilson.

Compilation producer: Peter Fletcher.

Engineers include: Mike Walter, Mark Narficy.

Recorded live between 1990 & 1996.

Audio Mixers: Mark Naficy; Tony Wilson .

Recording information: Dallas, TX (1990-1996); Glasgow Barrowland (1990-1996); Glasgow, Scotland (1990-1996); Kansas City (1990-1996); Lollapallooza (1990-1996); Seattle Moore Theater (1990-1996); The Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO (1990-1996); The Kiel Center, St. Louis, MO (1990-1996); The Moore Theater, Seattle, WA (1990-1996).

Photographer: Marty Temme.

With Alice in Chains on hiatus by the turn of the 21st century, Columbia Records issued several stop-gap releases to fill up the space -- 1999's greatest-hits collection Nothing Safe and the box set Music Bank, and a year later, their first true live collection, titled simply Live. Despite Alice in Chains' inability (or outright refusal) to launch a proper tour after 1994, fans lucky enough to have caught one of their early tours will attest that they were quite a powerful live act. Their detuned sound and tales from the darkside are even more sinister and gripping on the concert stage, as evidenced by this 14-track set. With a healthy helping of selections from their 1992 tour de force, Dirt, Alice in Chains let it rip on such metallic standouts as "Dam That River," "Would?," "Rooster," "Angry Chair," "Junkhead," and a "drunk and disorderly" version of Dirt's title track. Also featured are the early classics "Man in the Box" and "Bleed the Freak," as well as a track that never appeared on any of their official studio albums, "Queen of the Rodeo." Live shows what a devastating live band Alice in Chains could be. ~ Greg Prato

The simply titled LIVE offers a glimpse of AIC's moody, explosive live performances, captured between 1990 and 1996. Pre-dating the band's Columbia recordings is the country-punk track "Queen of the Rodeo," also found on the box set MUSIC BANK. This track is a notable inclusion, showing that Alice In Chains have a sense of humor behind the wall of musical gloom they've made for themselves.

Best displayed on "Would?" and "Angry Chair," the tasteful, all-too-often overlooked drumming of Sean Kinney shines brightly here. The included version of "Love Hate Love" has a Doors-like intensity, with Layne Staley's vocal dynamics piloting the track like a vessel. LIVE is short on stage banter and thankfully long in unpolished, raw, powerful live recordings of these seminal Seattle hard rock masters.

Rolling Stone (1/18/01, p.60) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A one-dimensional sound, but an unforgettable one....Cantrell's black-abgel chords swoop down like Armageddon..."