GREG SAGE LIVES

The sign of "live"-ness in a live recording doesn't come from the performers but from the audience—the sound of their applause. Mission of Burma's 1985 live album, The Horrible Truth About Burma, in its original configuration, ends with an apocalyptic cover of Pere Ubu's "Heart of Darkness," followed by the sound of an enthusiastic but tiny crowd cheering and clapping into a silence that's much bigger than they are; they're cheering Burma on, encouraging them, almost apologizing for the rest of the world that's not there to clap.

The reunited Burma have just released Snapshot (available only as an iTunes download), a roaring eight-song live EP recorded in front of what sounds like an even smaller invited audience. It's almost all old Burma standards, except for drummer Peter Prescott's halfway-to-free-form outburst "Absent Mind" and a barn-burning cover of "Youth of America," by pioneering Portland punks the Wipers. The applause and cheers are just as vigorous this time as they were on Horrible Truth but somehow less desperate and more grateful. Burma took a couple of decades off, and weirdly enough improved while they were away—they're playing better, individually and collectively. The instrumental "Tremelo" opens both live albums: On Horrible Truth, it's a sharp little idea, a simple riff built around a trick from a guitar pedal; and on Snapshot, it's eight minutes of the sky being torn open. Bassist Clint Conley lets a little laugh escape as the applause starts—the band's been spotted making that amazing noise...