Reviewer:
boogerchild
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April 27, 2008
Subject:
oxford
it wasn't a roadblock, it was a traffic jam. anyone who went in late missed the scariness of going through a small entry with a lot of people at once.
little feat was getting back on their feet and that was cool. there was talk outside about who was going to sing. they were ok.
morning dew - i wept.
Reviewer:
skr213
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February 6, 2008
Subject:
Great Night in the woods
Overall: by near unanimous decision - these are the best shows of East Coast summer 88. I don't think they are head and shoulders above others, but they do stand out (both at the time and even in hindsight with the benefit of listening to them all again). But I don't think that this night, in isolation, is a five star. Together the two nights are a five star, but this one just falls slightly short in my book. Aside from Jack Straw, the first set is not spectacular (it's very good, but doesn't hit that five star mark). The second set, however, is where things get great. The post-space section of this show can stand up to any other show I ever saw. One of the other recordings on Archive is a bit better than this one IMO (it's the SBD/AUD mix).
The scene: Chard, Peter and I drove up in the bus from Rochester. At some point I crawled in back for a nap and let Chard drive. When I woke up they were both trippin balls and we were pulling up to either a traffic jam or a roadblock - I don't remember which. What I do remember is that Chard's pupils were exploding all over his face and he was behind the wheel of my new baby with cops around. I was, uh, worried. Anyway, we made it out of that mess and wound up parking about a mile down from the venue in a little camp-type area with trees all around and only about 10 other cars. The sun was shining, it smelled like Maine in the summer time, and it was a beautiful day. Little Feat opened both nights, which was nice, but I actually enjoyed them more the next summer in Oregon. At these shows, I don't even think I went inside until they were almost done.
The music: Set I: um, can we get a sound check on Phil's bass? Yeah, that's nice. Now turn it to 11. Oh yeah, that's the stuff. Good song choices. Every song is really well played. Energy is flowing freely. Iko gets the crowd in the high energy dance mood. One of the best Jack Straw's I ever heard. Brent's piano animates Row Jimmy nicely. Blow Away keeps progressing, but at this early stage hadn't yet made it to where it ended up. His piano solo on this sounds a little bit "Little Feat" influenced, IMO. Maybe he was grooving to the opening act. Best Victim yet (in its short life span), giving a hint of the better, creepier, drawn-out jams that it would sprout later in its life. Foolish Heart is also getting better with each time out.
Set II: Crazy Fingers was just played two shows ago, but it's hard to ever argue that it's played too much, right? The jam isn't particularly special. The Playing jam, on the other hand, has Phil leading the charge and obviously everyone is really on. Jerry takes things deeper than usual for this time period (and even deeper a few weeks later at Laguna). This jam also allows more space (not in the drums>space sense) than was typical in 86-87 - that feeling that things can get loose without someone having to immediately step in and drag the jam into the next song. Towards the end of the jam, Bobby and Brent start chipping in nicely as well. UJB is good, but not great. I was fully expecting that they'd go into drums from UJB, and was very pleasantly surprised by Terrapin. The jam at the end of Terrapin is really nice. A furious space follows an interesting drums. Jerry is just going nuts all over that fretboard. As I stated above, this post-space section is as good as it gets in my book. Phil and Brent are fantastic for GSL. Listen to Phil and Jerry trading subtle beautiful chops in Morning Dew and you'll wonder, is this really 1988?? Just like Terrapin was a surprise before drums, we all expected Dew to end the set, so Sugar Mags was a great addition. Compared with most shows of this era, we really got two free extra songs this night (Terrapin and Sugar Mags). This Mags has legitimate energy - not one of those end-of-show dragging versions. Brent especially is strong on this one. Quinn ends the show on a high note.