Essential Live Albums

[Jammer XCI]

This thread was great until the bands Phish and Pearl Jam showed up.

[doug rr]

sometimes its nice to listen to phish

[liebzz]

One last one before we put the Phish down for a while.

[liebzz]

Phish - LivePhish Vol. 16: Las Vegas, NV 10/31/98

One last Halloween show, and we put down the Phish, at least for a while. This was comes out the gate swinging with a raucous Axilla I, and Punch You in the Eye. The first set again is the space where the non-musical costume highlights really come from. Birds of a Feather, Sneaking Sally Through the Alley, Chalk Dust Torture, Mike’s Song, and Weekapaug Groove all sounding great.

The musical costume set for this evening was The Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and this time less Phish inhabiting another band than them putting their stamp on this classic album. That’s clearly evident in the blown up run of Sweet Jane and Rock & Roll, both given full band freakouts and extended plays that stay true to the songs but add significant energy. Lonesome Cowboy Bill devolves a bit into psychedelic noodling, and Oh Sweet Nuthin’ takes on an almost Rolling Stones vibe in Phish’s care, but the rest is sort of true to form to the album versions in spirit. The fans may not have been as enthused as other albums, but this was a nice way to pay tribute and take a different spin from other Halloween shows.

From there, set 3 doesn’t quite punch in the way the first one did, with Sleeping Monkey topping that set, and an extended amount of filler tops off this release, which perhaps the one must hear item is the band barber shop quarteting Free Bird.

The Essential Performance: Sweet Jane

Up Next: Widespread Panic - Light Fuse, Get Away

[Happy Trees]

Phish - LivePhish Vol. 16: Las Vegas, NV 10/31/98

The musical costume set for this evening was The Velvet Underground’s Loaded.

The fans may not have been as enthused as other albums...

Proof that they're all gay.

[liebzz]

Of the four here, I think they definitely played Remain in Light the best, but Loaded I think is probably second best in terms of that part of the show. It’s not something you would think would fit naturally, but they give it a treatment that blends the two bands well - which I guess if there was a VU album that Jews most classic rock, this is the one.

[Ello Sailor]

This thread was great until the bands Phish and Pearl Jam showed up.

And the negative review of Portishead.

Lie burned his own thread to the ground. What a madlad.

[AndySlash]

there was a phish show in salt lake city two nights after the vegas loaded show, and one in denver two nights after that. many phish fans that traveled for shows skipped the slc show to head to denver, and so slc was way undersold compared to what they were normally selling for tix at the time. what did the band do? they learned 'dark side of the moon' the day of the show and slipped it in to their set that night. the performance isn't great given how it wasn't really planned, but it's good enough and i feel is truly their most ambitious 'musical costume' they've ever done, even the ones in later years where they played new, unheard material like kasvot vaxt and sci-fi soldiers or riffed on the thrilling, chilling sounds of the haunted house disney record. there's something to be said for when phish works from spontaneity- there isn't many bands that can do what they do.

[liebzz]

This thread was great until the bands Phish and Pearl Jam showed up.

And the negative review of Portishead.

Lie burned his own thread to the ground. What a madlad.

To clarify, I would imagine that this music works as a studio venture..and the last song on the live album was really good.

[liebzz]

Widespread Panic - Light Fuse Get Away

From the ashes of a lost jam scene after the death of Jerry Garcia, it seemed there was a resurgence of jam bands coming out of the woodwork. The most famous of those, of course, was Phish. But they were not alone. This band, who had been around a long time already from Athens, GA, was a band collecting a strong fan base, with no radio hits that I am aware of, but solely on the strength of their live shows. Perfect in a sense for this journey.

One thing this classic lineup could do is play together. The late Michael Houser is an excellent guitarist that melds well with Dave Schools’ funky bass, and what seems like an elaborate percussion section. The jams on this are not terribly long, but they are always hot, seemingly not believing in any kind of breaks or even breakdowns for very long. Their sound leans heavily on southern rock influences, and I just keep hearing Little Feat in my head when listening to these guys. The highlights here are the opening Porch Song, Space Wrangler, Travelin’ Light (a focus on keys for a change), Picking Up the Pieces w/Branford Marsalis, Papa Legba, Rebirtha, Greta, and Gimme. Picking a favorite is hard because they were so consistent, for the sake of this, we can go with Greta, whose sound among these songs distinguishes itself a bit.

Up next is a companion, the concert played as part of the release party for this live album.

The Essential Performance: Greta

Up Next: Widespread Panic - Panic in the Streets

[liebzz]

Widespread Panic - Panic in the Streets

I threw this in at the last moment because it seemed like a nice companion to Light Fuse Get Away. As part of their live album release party, Widespread Panic apparently invited any and all fans to the party in downtown Athens, resulting 70,000 - 100,000 fans converging downtown. This is the show they played that night at the Georgia Theatre. This is similarly a southern rock jam, a band consistently strong, highlighted primarily by the middle section of the set they played: Chilly Water, Porch Song, Pilgrims, and Fishwater. It’s a toss up between Porch Song and its killer bass jam, and Fishwater.

The Essential Performance: Porch Song

Up Next: String Cheese Incident - Carnival ‘99

[liebzz]

String Cheese Incident - Carnival ‘99

Staying in the jam band space for a bit longer, String Cheese Incident, from Colorado, draw from the same Little Feat like song structures, but the base of their sound is more rooted in Americana and bluegrass. They frequently deviate around to different genres, like their cover of jazz classic Take Five, weird spoken words like Jellyfish, jam spectacles like on Texas, and excellent covers, as in Hey Pocky Way. This is before they were more influenced by trance, but you can certainly get lost in this for a bit.

The Essential Performance: Hey Pocky Way

Up Next: String Cheese Incident - A String Cheese Incident

[wease]

Thry used to do a pretty good cover of Walk This Way

[liebzz]

Thry used to do a pretty good cover of Walk This Way

Coming soon to a thread near you!

[liebzz]

String Cheese Incident - A String Cheese Incident

Reversed the order here, largely because I found out about this one while listening to Carnival ‘99. Overall, I think Carnival ‘99 is better, but the good stuff here is quite good. Little Hands and that cover of Walk This Way are the big highlights. I mean, the juxtaposition of the bluegrass with the big rock on the chorus and verses against the bridges is really fun and exciting take on the song. Unexpected but really fun.

The Essential Performance: Walk This Way

Up Next: Jimmy Buffett - Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays

[liebzz]

Jimmy Buffett - Buffett Live: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays

I hadn’t originally planned to include this, but figured I would throw it in as tribute of sorts despite having no real exposure to his music except for Margaritaville and eating at his restaurant once. It’s interesting how music that is so purposefully bland and made for anyone looking to chill out and not think too deep can be pretty pleasurable. There’s no grand epic and sweeping gesture that makes any of this essential, yet if you had it on in the background, as I did today, it’s a perfectly pleasant time, awash in chill and no shits given. His covers of Southern Cross and Brown Eyed Girl are actually quite good, though I guess if you’re gonna chill in Margaritaville, that’s gotta be the song right?

The Essential Performance: Margaritaville

Up Next: Dave Matthews Band - Listener Supported

[liebzz]

Dave Matthews Band - Listener Supported

Living somewhere in the sweet spot between pop rock band, jam band, and chill vibes, this sort of felt like the perfect slot following the jam band run and Jimmy Buffett. These songs of course are much more substantial, and while there are dead spots in this show, there’s still much to love. Rapunzel has a great outtro here, The Stone sounds great, Warehouse, # 41, Jimi Thing and Two Step provide the jams while Too Much brings the hit song energy. My favorites on this listen boil down to Stay (Wasting Time) with the Lovely Ladies, Don’t Drink the Water which is high intensity for them, and the epic (though I have found one or two on that journey I liked more) cover of All Along the Watchtower.

I have revisited this one many times, though the most memorable was seeing a friend for the first time in a while who relayed that Dave Matthews Band was more or less kids music, akin to Kermit and the muppet band or something. I played that version of Watchtower and she had a huge about face. It wins for that.

The Essential Performance: All Along the Watchtower

Up Next: Metallica - S&M

[wease]

The only Metallica I’ve ever owned and really listened to were the live set from earlier in the 90s (Binge & Purge?) and the S&M. I remember liking them both quite a bit with S&M being more enjoyable.

[liebzz]

Metallica - S&M

The funny thing about transitioning from the jam bands to Metallica is how much it isn’t really as different as you would think. I mean, yes Metallica is more aggressive, but with a symphony orchestra, you get more of an understanding of the movement in their songs, which while planned and less improvisational, brings a similar level of appreciation for just playing.

All of this sounds really good, but the dichotomy of a band who composed in musical movements at their height versus the pure nuggets of loud as time went on is quite evident. Fuel sounds good, but its adrenaline doesn’t stand next to the composed magic that is Master of Puppets or One or even Battery for that matter. The opening trio of The Ecstasy of Gold > The Call of Ktulu > Master of Puppets is just jaw dropping.

The Essential Performance: The Ecstasy of Gold > The Call of Ktulu > Master of Puppets

Up Next: Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Mexico City

[wease]

Nice. The first time I saw Metallica and Rage (Soundgarden and Screaming Trees, too) was at the same Lollapalooza show.