I’ll never understand live albums. They may have been cut on hot nights, but they rarely sound hot. Instead, they tell listeners about the hot night they missed. No Place Like Home doesn’t make me feel like I was there; it makes me wish I’d been there, or that they’d cut these performances in a studio so they could have the impact these recordings ask you to imagine. Soul Rebels are one of the most dynamic live bands in town right now, and with 2005’s Rebelution, they made one of the best brass albums of the last decade. These songs might be the follow-up, but the vagaries of live recording mean horns drift in and out of the mix, vocals are thin and there’s little bottom end.

It’s a shame because the Soul Rebels are a must-hear band these days. They’re adding new flavors to brass, including go-go elements, a hip-hop sensibility, and part of the opener, “Start if Off Right,” recalls Afrobeat. That they can be that diverse and easily, immediately engaging at the same time without sounding showy or self-conscious is impressive. You can hear that on No Place Like Home, but the sonic difference when the album gets to the four studio tracks that end the album only underscores the opportunity missed. “Get Up” and “Freak Like Me” don’t need a live audience to make the tracks cook. I’m sure a live album sounded like a good idea, but a good studio album would have been a better one.