The most recent live set from the northeast's hottest jazz-rock-funk-jam band. Features five new Deep Banana Blackout tracks, including a cover of the James Brown classic "Shake Your Funky Soul." Liner notes written by C... more »hris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads.« less
The most recent live set from the northeast's hottest jazz-rock-funk-jam band. Features five new Deep Banana Blackout tracks, including a cover of the James Brown classic "Shake Your Funky Soul." Liner notes written by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads.
Rachel Schneider | MA SS. United States | 07/03/2002
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I've been following DBB for a few years now. I bought this album after admiring the other live album "ROWDY DOWDY" (which was incredible). But unfortunately "RELEASE THE GREASE" fails to convey the band's tremendous energy onstage. The sound quality is not the best (as is often an issues with live albums) and die-hard fans of Jen's renditions of the earlier songs may be disappointed - this album lacks some of the earlier albums' funky grit. If you want to hear DBB live - SEE A SHOW!!! - or purchase "ROWDY DOWDY"... but pass on this album."
Not So Deep Tonight!
01/03/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"I love Deep Banana Blackout. Their album "Feel The Peel" is easily one of my all-time favorites. I purchased realse the grease expecting the same kind of energetic funk with complex horn lines and funky vocals. While the album has its good moments, the vocals are ocasionally off pitch and the songs lack the complexities and soul of previous albums. and the final big bottom cover is just stupid. maybe they broke up for the better. Sorry guys, but you shoulda stuck to the peel."
Happy DBB Fan
claytonmaxwell | lexington, virginia | 07/30/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Any live album that DBB puts out is worth buying and this album is at least as good as the others if not better. I really enjoyed hearing the newer members in the band and the whole thing does well to capture the energy of a DBB show - something's that usually difficult to do with live records."
Spirited but unfocused and largely uninteresting
loce_the_wizard | Lilburn, GA USA | 09/30/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Recorded before an overly enthused crowd that takes pleasure in nearly ever note played, "Release the Grease Live" documents Deep Banana Blackout live, front and center. Certainly this jam-band set is nothing if not spirited, but the music too often descends into a cacophony of noise that sounds unfocused and largely uninteresting.
The band's good performances on Sweet `Tater Pie (the only track here that is too short), Homo Lingo, Fashion, and I Believe avert total disaster of the sort typified on Devil's Harvest, where a shrill, unpleasant noise created by an "electronic valve instrument" would likely work to keep one's yard free from moles and rodents.
I had hoped for some of the energy and complexity of say, Ten Wheel Drive, given that Deep Banana Blackout matches that long-lost band's instrumentation pretty well and Hope Clayburn is one heck of a vocalist (not that I'm putting her in the league of Genya Ravan). Oh well, listen and learn.