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Mountain jam

laminar-e | 10/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"this set has one of the best versions of Mountain Jam i've ever heard. (out of maybe 35-40 i've heard, i'd say this one is in the top 3 or 4.) It also includes a jam on Blue Sky. the MJ from Atlanta a few nights later is equally good (if you can find a bootleg copy of it - no instant live), and the atlanta show, overall, is better."

A great disc one, a pretty good disc two

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 09/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"And then there's disc three, which is 14 minutes long and only contains "Whipping Post". There is really no good reason to make a three-CD pacakage when the entire concert only lasts two hours, but it must sell better or something. Or maybe the producers feel that they can ask for a couple of dollars more for a three-disc set.



Anyway, depending on how you like the 16-minute instrumental from the then-recent "Hittin' the Note"-album, "Instrumental Illness", disc one is practically perfect. Very good sound, excellent playing by the entire band, and a magnificent track list:

A tight "Don't Keep Me Wondering". "Ain't Wastin' Time No More", including two great, sizzling solos, real slow burners. The slow, soulful "Worried Down With The Blues", a great vocal performance by Gregg Allman and more excellent guitar playing. "Statesboro Blues", gritty slide guitar and a wonderful, rollicking boogie piano part. The dark, bluesy, swampy funk of "Who To Believe", perhaps the best song from the uniformly excellent "Hittin' the Note"-album...wonderful to hear that one live, and the solos are beautiful; lyrical yet completely within the blues-rock-funk-frame.

And then comes a fine, if slightly ragged, rendition of "Soulshine", before the disc winds down with the aforementioned "Instrumental Illness". Saxist Karl Denson guests on that one.



Disc two is a bit more of a mixed bag. I've never loved "Dreams" or the band's excessive half-hour performances of "Mountain Jam", and those two take up almost forty minutes.

The opening "Stand Back" is excellent, though, not least thanks to the supple but powerful rhythm section. Tough, muscular funk and more terrific guitar playing. And blues singer Susan Tedeschi, the current wife of ABB guitarist Derek Trucks, does a very good cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice".

The semi-acoustic "Melissa" is quite beautiful; good long guitar solo, too. But "Rockin' Horse" is a bit like the disc itself, a mixed bag. Warren Haynes does a Bob Dylan and significantly alters part of the melody, and it's not an improvement, quite frankly. Neither is the l-o-n-g instrumental interlude particularly inspired.



Again, a 14-minute disc three is somewhat silly, and the second disc is not uniformly strong, even if it does have its moments. But disc one a clean five stars, no reservations at all, and, hey, maybe you like "Dreams" and half-hour "Mountain Jam"s. This is quite a good, restrained "Mountain Jam" as far as mountain jams go.



All in all, this is a fine set of music. The rare cover songs that make some of the "Instant Live" CDs stand out are largely missing, sure, but you really ought to hear the magnificent first disc, at least. If that one had been put out as a single-disc live album, perhaps with "Stand Back" tacked on to it, it would have been dynamite!"