Album Review: Steez — Creepfunk Crusade
The debut offering from record label, Mason Jar Records, is Steez’s Creepfunk Crusade. This mid-west five piece ensemble, consists of Matt Williams (keyboards, synthesizers, and accordion), Steve Neary (guitar and vocals), Rob Bessert (drums), Chris Sell (bass), and Andrzej Benkowski (saxophone, oboe, and violin) can really cook, shake and groove.
Let me start by saying that this is a party album, no singer/songwriter, crying in your beer fare. Clocking in at roughly 72 minutes, you get bang for your buck with this release. This album is stylistically all over the map. Starting with a slow creep of groove, “Trouser Snake” builds into a steady rhythm and quickly devolves into Moog and horn showcase. Each player is able to showcase their skill and lays a sonic landscape of funk. In Wrapping It Up, we see sketches of surfin’ safari with panache and deep pockets of crunch. Rufio is a Latin-tinged offering that rushes in some places but offers sweet reward. Swirls of sounds tickle the ear and keep this almost 9 minute piece interesting and very well may be a show stopper in a live setting. The song concludes with a dense layering of voices that reminded me of Polyphonic Spree. Crunch funk with interesting and stylistic shifts typify Scoring Position. Electric Mr. Boston is another funk piece that intrigues. I must say that this is a hugely impressive debut album from Steez that I cannot recommend enough. Catch this band and see for yourself.
Widespread Panic — Boulder, CO (11/3/94)
1: Fishwater, Jack > Travelin’ Light*, Heroes > Pleas > Disco > Walkin’ (For Your Love), Weight Of The World, West Virginia > Ain’t Life Grand, Love Tractor
2: Wondering > Proving Ground > Papa’s Home, Can’t Get High, Stop-Go > Driving Song > Junior > Driving Song > Tie Your Shoes >Blackout Blues, Send Your Mind > Chilly Water
E: Airplane > Knocking ‘Round The Zoo
* with Simon Horrocks on percussion
“Route 66″
“Route 66″ was written by Bobby Troup and first recorded by Nat King Cole. The song was written during a road trip to Los Angeles traveling on (you guessed it) Route 66. The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles. Here are the Stones performing the song in ’76 at Knebworth.
R.I.P. — Bob Moog (1934-2005)
Inventor of the Moog synthesizer and theramin, Robert Moog (rhymes with vogue) died of brain cancer on this date in 2005. The first rock album to feature the Moog was The Doors’ Strange Days, the recording of which began 42 years ago today as well. Click here to read Joel Cummins of Umphrey’s McGee discuss Bob Moog and working with the theramin and synthesizer. Here’s the recently released Moog guitar.
Lennon interview tape from ’70 disusses Beatles break-up
ABC:
Secrets behind the Beatles’ split are about to be laid bare in the pages of rock magazine Rolling Stone, thanks to unearthed interviews with an angry John Lennon.
The Imagine singer sat down with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner shortly after the Fab Four parted ways and revealed a few home truths about the real reasons behind the split, something the four former Beatles have rarely spoken about.
Wenner released the tapes for celebrated rock journalist Mikal Gilmore’s study on what tore the band apart, which appears in the upcoming issue of the publication.
The 1970 tapes have also been released to Entertainment Tonight, which aired Lennon’s comments on Wednesday. (more…)
Disney and Zemeckis to remake Yellow Submarine
Variety:
Disney and director Robert Zemeckis are negotiating to remake “Yellow Submarine,” the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles.
The studio has been quietly brokering a complicated rights deal that would give Zemeckis access to 16 original Beatles songs for a movie he will direct in the performance-capture 3-D digital production format he employed for “A Christmas Carol.” Disney opens that film November 6, with Jim Carrey playing Scrooge as well as the three ghosts who haunt him in the Charles Dickens tale. (more…)
Show Of The Summer?
Mr. Miner weighs in on his pick of what he feels was Phish’s finest show of the ’09 Summer Tour.
I am never one to rank Phish shows- or even compare them much for that matter- but sometimes one night just shines brighter than the others, leaving you with an unmatched feeling of awe . While there is clearly subjectivity in preferences of musical style, sometimes virtuoso improvisation cuts through subjectivity, creating a virtual consensus about particular shows. In discussion with many people who saw all the shows this summer, the central talking point always comes back to first night of The Gorge. While there are plenty of other shows that standout, there was a certain ethereal quality to the band’s improv throughout this show that was unmatched for the rest of the summer. Trey wasn’t playing guitar-god, and became but a piece of a complex musical puzzle, fitting within the whole, and rarely on top, of the music. The entire second leg is littered with highlights, but no show featured the consistently patient and organic jamming that defined August 7th at The Gorge. (more…)
R.I.P. — Bobby Sheehan (1968-1999)
Blues Traveler’s original bassist died 10 years ago yesterday in New Orleans of an overdose. Check out this Blues Traveler show from Red Rocks ’98.
Intro, Star-Spangled Banner-> Sweet Talking Hippie, Love & Greed, Her & Me, Happy Birthday, Dropping Some NYC, Mountains Win Again, The Path, Crystal Flame, Shotgun Shell Fake-Out, All In the Groove, Great Big World, Traveler Suite, Yours, Love of My Life, Stand, Psycho Joe, Chan’s Groove*#->Gotta Get Mean#, Shotgun Shell, Crash Burn, Band Introductions, Escaping
Crosby, Stills & Nash — “Southern Cross”
From 1982, shortly before David Crosby’s drug and gun arrest. Crosby eventually served 11 months in a Texas prison.
Umphrey’s McGee with Matisyahu
From Rothbury ’09.
42 Years ago today…
The Doors started recording their second album, Strange Days.
Music Box:
Strange Days benefits immensely from the revisionist history of its new presentation, more so than any of The Doors’ other efforts. Unlike the restoration of the previously censored bits of The Doors’ self-titled debut, the adjustments that were made to Strange Days actually have improved the endeavor. Released in late 1967, just nine months after the group launched its opening salvo, the outing was a bold step forward, one that not only embraced the psychedelicized sounds of the era but also shoved them down a far darker, more demented path. In the liner notes to the recent reissue of the affair, engineer Bruce Botnick outlines how he had scored a pre-release, monaural acetate of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and he tells how it had liberated The Doors to experiment in the studio. There always has been a spooky deliriousness to Strange Days, but the crisp, clarity of its new mix gives the collection’s contents considerably more room to unfurl their lysergic tentacles. Most of all, the interplay among The Doors’ members is highlighted magnificently, and the worlds that are conjured oscillate, at the flip of a switch, between being strikingly beautiful (You’re Lost Little Girl) and chillingly horrific (Horse Latitudes). (more…)
5 Years ago today…
08/21/04 Minnesota Zoo, Apple Valley, MN
Floodplane and Heiruspecs opened
Set I: Ringo, Dump City, Much Obliged> In the Hall of the Mountain King, Anchor Drops, Prowler> Africa, All in Time
Set II: Bridgeless, Making Flippy Floppy> Miss Tinkle’s Overture> The Crooked One, Visions of Parin1> Phil’s Farm, The Triple Wide> Hangover
Encore: Plunger
1 with Roundabout tease
Eric Clapton — “Hello Old Friend”
From the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1977. Nice, sentimental song.
Steely Dan — London (5/20/74)
CD 1:
01 – Intro Bodhisattva
02 – The Boston Rag
03 – Do It Again
04 – Brooklyn (Owes The Charmer Under Me)
05 – King Of The World
06 – Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
07 – Pretzel Logic
08 – Band Introductions
CD 2:
01 – My Old School
02 – Dirty Work
03 – Instrumental (Your Gold Teeth Ii)
04 – Reelin’ In The Years
05 – Crowd And Tuning
06 – Show Biz Kids
07 – Crowd And Tuning
08 – This All Too Mobile Home
Backwards Down The Number Line
From Phish’s upcoming and soon to be released album, Joy. Click here to download.
The Jerry Site
Click here to check out this site that has great photos and documentation of Jerry through the years.
Happy Birthday — Robert Plant
Little Robert Anthony came out to play on this date in 1948. Perhaps you’ve heard of the small band he fronted, went by the name of Led Zeppelin. Sound familiar? I may have to do a little research on this Mr. Led Zeppelin fellow, they may be worth checking out.
Which one is Led?
R.I.P. — LeRoi Moore (9/7/61 – 8/19/08)
LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band passed on this date last year. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since his passing, yet his legacy lives on through his music. Since Moore’s passing, the band has paid tribute to its co-founder with a Live Trax installment of his final show and an entire album dedicated to his memory, Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King.
Here’s Proudest Monkey from 12/29/95:
The Beach Boys — New York, NY (6/27/71)
01. Intro: Bill Graham 0.29
02. Heroes And Villians 3.29
03. Do It Again 3.00
04. Cotton Fields 2.52
05. Help Me Rhonda 4.06
06. Wouldn’t It Be Nice 3.30
07. Your Song 5.17
08. Student Demonstration Time 4.52
09. Good Vibrations 4.56
10. California Girls 2.44
11. I Get Around 2.18
12. It’s About Time 3.51
Crosby, Stills & Nash — Atlanta (8/17/09)
Last night we went and saw Crosby, Stills & Nash play Atlanta’s Chastain Park. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these late 60′s icons could still put on a compelling and entertaining show with equal amounts of both showmanship and love. Reaching into their back catalog of era defining tracks and grooves, the guys also pulled songs from Dylan, the Stones and the Dead. Both the acoustic and the electric portion of the evening was littered with the songs you’d expect, “Wooden Ships”, “Guinevere”, “Southern Cross”, “Just A Song Before I Go”, “Wasted On The Way”, etc., etc., yet their songs are comfortable and just make you feel good.
Nash and Crosby can still hit all the notes they could in their 20′s. Stills’ voice, on the other hand, possesses more gravel than honey, but he more than makes up with his soulful and inspired fret work and mere presence. Only the great ones can pull off a rainy Monday night show with such panache, class and relevance. These guys did it and did it well.
