Live from Camp X-Ray

About Live from Camp X-Ray

Live from Camp X-Ray is the seventh studio album by the San Diego, California rock band Rocket from the Crypt, released in 2002 by Vagrant Records. It was the band's final studio album, as they broke up on Halloween 2005. Contrary to the album's title, it is not a "live" album but rather a studio recording. Although the album received generally positive reviews, many consumers were confused by its title and assumed it to be a live album, which in fact it was not. The title was actually a reference to Camp X-Ray, the temporary detention facility located at the U. S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some fans and critics expressed their disappointment at the album's length, stating that a playing time of 26 minutes was not sufficient for a full-length album and that they had expected more creative output from the band. By this time, however, the band's members had drifted heavily into other projects (most notably singer/guitarist John Reis, who was simultaneously playing in Hot Snakes and Sultans and running his record label Swami Records) and were not as creatively dedicated to Rocket as they had been in the past. Cryptic liner notes written by Long Gone John seemed to indicate that the album was a "last gasp" of a band in turmoil and that it might be their final album. more »