Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

Released: 1990
Tracks: [Disc 1] Running Free; Burning Ambition; Sanctuary; Drifter (live); I’ve Got the Fire (live); [Disc 2] Women in Uniform; Invasion; Phantom of the Opera (live); Twilight Zone; Wrathchild; [Disc 3] Purgatory; Genghis Khan; Running Free (live); Remember Tomorrow (live); Killers (live); Innocent Exile (live); [Disc 4] Run to the Hills; Total Eclipse; The Number of the Beast; Remember Tomorrow (live); [Disc 5] Flight of Icarus; I’ve Got the Fire; The Trooper; Cross-Eyed Mary; [Disc 6] 2 Minutes to Midnight; Rainbow’s Gold; Mission From ‘Arry; Aces High; King of Twilight; The Number of the Beast (live); [Disc 7] Running Free (live); Sanctuary (live); Murders in the Rue Morgue (live); Run to the Hills (live); Phantom of the Opera (live); Losfer Words (Big ‘Orra) (live); [Disc 8] Wasted Years; Reach Out; Sheriff of Huddersfield; Stranger in a Strange Land; That Girl; Juanita [Disc 9] Can I Play With Madness; Black Bart Blues; Massacre; The Evil That Men Do; Prowler ’88; Charlotte the Harlot ’88; [Disc 10] The Clairvoyant (live); The Prisoner (live); Heaven Can Wait (live); Infinite Dreams (live); Killers (live); Still Live (live)
Best tracks: [Disc 1] I’ve Got the Fire [Disc2] Phantom of the Opera (live) [Disc 3] Genghis Khan [Disc 4] Total Eclipse [Disc 5] The Trooper [Disc 6] 2 Minutes to Midnight [Disc 7] Sanctuary (live) [Disc 8] Wasted Years [Disc 9] The Evil That Men Do [Disc 10] The Clairvoyant/The Prisoner/Killers
Track to skip: let’s be consistent and skip Can I Play with Madness

The packaging of this box is really nice, with cool new artwork and a booklet with the history of the band.  Well, I assume it is as it’s in Japanese and I can’t read it!  The discs themselves have full artwork for all 20 singles with (sometimes incorrect) lyrics in Japanese and English.  Very cool.  Let’s dig into these!

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Released: 1969
Tracks: Yellow Submarine; Only a Northern Song; All Together Now; Hey Bulldog; It’s All Too Much; All You Need is Love; Pepperland; Sea of Time; Sea of Holes; Sea of Monsters; March of the Meanies; Pepperland Laid Waste; Yellow Submarine in Pepperland
Best track: It’s All Too Much
Track to skip: none

It took me years to finally buy the original issue of this album, with the orchestral film score.  Of course I’d heard the pieces in the film itself, but it was a cool experience to hear this music for the first time on disc.  I admit it, I quite like the orchestral music here (mostly written by George Martin).  Am I the only one?  Maybe.  The pieces that stood out to me most on this “side two” were Sea of Time (yay for incorporating the Indian influence!) and Sea of Monsters (love how it just goes all over the place compositionally).  The reprisal of the theme in Yellow Submarine in Pepperland is a nice touch and I like hearing what George Martin did with this otherwise familiar song.

All that said…I don’t think the inclusion of the orchestral tracks really works here, not as a continuous “album” at least.  It’s just so different from songs like Only a Northern Song (love the mono mix on there!  Holy crap is that cool) and It’s All Too Much.  Obviously there was a record flip on the original issue of this, but it’s still too different to really work cohesively.  I mean, that’s a minor complaint because The Beatles really didn’t have much to do with this album anyway.  The four new tracks were all extra songs that didn’t make the cut on Sgt. Pepper’s, Magical Mystery Tour & The White Album.  Maybe All Together Now was specifically written for this film?  If it was, it shows you how much the band really cared about it.

I’ve been listening to the remixed “Songtrack” version of this album for about 10 years now, so I’m definitely more familiar with those new mixes.  It’s certainly good, but I think I prefer the original mixes of these four new songs.  Yes, All Together Now is quite silly, but it’s fine.  I really like Northern Song, Hey Bulldog and especially It’s All Too Much.  I think that’s my favorite on the album, made even better with the remastered original mix.  So I don’t have a problem of the quality of the new songs, I definitely like them.  I’m not as down on this album as so many people seem to be.  It’s not supposed to be a REAL Beatles album, it’s just background music from the move with some unreleased tracks and two favorites that you can’t go wrong with.  The combination of these elements doesn’t really work, but…who cares.  It’s a fun, non-serious Beatles album and I enjoy having it in my collection.

Rating: 83

I’m a few days late with this, big deal.  Just like the list of Top Historical/Archival albums for the decade I wanted to put together a list of my favorite new albums from the past decade.  Live albums can count in here, but only if they’re released right after the tour they were recorded from.  No historical live releases here.  Reissues don’t count in either list, even though there have been some fantastic reissues the past decade.  I mean, do you really want this list to be a bunch of Beatles albums?  No, no one does.  This is all about the NEW stuff that was released from 2000-2009.  There was a lot of great music released this decade so it was REALLY hard for me to come up with a Top 20.  I think my initial list started at 50 or so and it took some time to whittle it down.  I know that some of these may not be consistent with the grades given for the album reviews.  I approached it with the thought in mind: what’s my top 20 *today*?  Not what I wrote in reviews a few years ago on some albums.  So this isn’t completely consistent with the individual reviews, but it’s close enough.  To read the reviews I’ve written for these albums (if done), click on the links in the titles.  Enjoy!

20. Dethklok – The Dethalbum (2007)

This is my newest discovery in the list and one that got in just under the wire.  While I’ve been a fan of the show for a couple of years, I didn’t really appreciate the music until I saw them live a couple of months ago.  They absolutely blew me away and I bought this a few days later.  The album is fantastically brutal.  I’ve rarely heard *any* death metal band that was this good, and this supposed to be “just” comedy music?  Hardly.  The performances of Brendan Small and Gene Hoglan on this album are nothing short of outstanding.  Dethklok are one of the best live metal bands I’ve ever seen and this first album is nearly as good.

19. King Crimson – The ConstruKction of Light (2000)

Proving that whatever decade we’re in, you can always count on King Crimson to make excellent music.  There are one or two slight missteps on here, but mostly it’s a great album and continues to push what the band is capable of.  The title track is one of the coolest things the band has done in nearly 20 years and the ending bit of Larks’ IV>I Had a Dream is an amazing moment.  I love that as Crimson age they refuse to rest on their laurels and act like “dinosaurs”.  They continue to push themselves and challenge the audiences.  The true meaning of progressive music.

18.  Chick Corea – Past, Present and Futures (2001)

Another album I got into after seeing the band live.  The compositions on this album are stellar and the playing from Corea, Jeff Ballard & Avishai Cohen make this such an exciting release.  Whether it’s rock or jazz, there’s something special about the trio.  It’s all you need in many cases and when you put the music in hands master musicians like these guys, it’s going to be great stuff nearly every time.  This album succeeds in every way.  The sound of the piano-bass-drums is perfect and the playing is outstanding.  I love hearing Chick Corea in an acoustic trio format.  This album is plenty proof that exciting jazz is still being released.

17. Liz Williams – Senseless EP (2008)

So far, this is the only album released by the Dallas, Texas, singer-songwriter, but if this is any indication of what’s ahead…watch out.  Liz knocks it out of the park in all areas on this album – fantastic soulful voice, excellent guitar playing & all-around musicianship, well-written songs and perfect production.  It’s all here on this EP.  There’s a freshness and attitude present in this music that I don’t hear much from young singer-songwriters.  The songs themselves just knock me over every time I hear them.  The title cut and Somewhere in Between are my two favorites on here.  They’re excellent compositions.  I look forward to more from Liz in the future.

16. Davíd Garza – Oh Dread EP (2005)

I originally had another Garza album in this list, but it actually got knocked out by Dethklok.  Such is life.  Of course I have his box set, A Strange Mess of Flowers, in the Archival releases, but this is his only “new” stuff that makes my top 20.  To be honest, outside of the box set and the 2005 EP’s, Garza’s work this decade has been kinda spotty.  Some is outstanding, some…isn’t.  This EP is definitely the highlight as a consistent piece of work as far as this decade goes.  He pushed some more boundaries with his songwriting here and his voice is in fine form as well.  Ill Troubadour is still one of his cooler songs in recent memory.

15. Iron Maiden – A Matter of Life and Death (2006)

Maiden’s lone representation in this countdown.  With the 3rd album following the return of Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith they finally made a consistently excellent album.  AMOLAD is most definitely their most progressive album since 7th Son, and it’s probably the overall best one since then too.  The album features a lot of intricate musical passages, great songs (check out Janick Gers’ The Legacy…awesome) and just overall outstanding playing from Maiden.  This was the Maiden album we’ve been waiting a long time for and they really delivered with it.

14. Tool – Lateralus (2001)

This album just blew me away the first time I heard it.  Everything about this album was completely unconventional, from the artwork all the way down to the songs and lyrics.  I was never a Tool fan until I heard this album.  I love the performances from all of the guys, but drummer Danny Carey completely steals the show here.  His drumming is simply inspiring throughout…and I’m not even a drummer!  There’s plenty of heaviness here, but enough of the lighter textures to keep it consistently interesting.

13. Yo-Yo Ma – Obrigado Brazil (2003)

I love Yo-Yo Ma’s cello playing on this album, but it’s really the whole package that gets me so excited.  The co-contributors all play these songs with such passion and authority that this became an instantly infectious album for me.  I love Brazilian music so this was a perfect fit for me as a listener.  Also, Ma continues to explore different areas of music rather than just “classical” and he always gets it right.  Yo-Yo Ma tackling Brazilian music?  Yes please!  This is such an excellent album.

12. Millicent Friendly – Downtime (2005)

Fantastic rock/pop music from Dallas, TX.  I haven’t heard from these guys in quite a few years, but I hope they make another album because this, their debut, is such fun.  The songs really knocked my socks off when I first heard them back in 2002 and the wait was so worth it for this album.  Singer/guitarist/songwriter Chris Machart has such a great feel for writing a pop song, just really catchy stuff with tremendous background vocals.  The Queen & Beatles influences are strong here with enough surprises to keep it from being purely derivative.

11. Djugdish – Standards (2001)

The band has since evolved into Shaolin Death Squad and they continue to create excellent music.  I’m still partial to their first album, produced under the name Djugdish.  I know a lot of the reason I love this so much is the presence of guitarist/co-songwriter Matt Talbert who left after the following album.  There’s a lot of heaviness to this music, not to mention the wonderful melodic side.  Though this early stuff may not be as theatrical as the new music, Standards remains a compelling listen.  I loved it from the first time I put this CD in the player and I continue to find moments in the music that floor me.  Talbert’s solo on No Inhibitions is absolutely the highlight of this excellent disc.

10. Zero 7 – When it Falls (2004)

I was familiar with & enjoyed a few tracks from Zero 7’s first album, but this album totally blew me away.  Even if you’re working in the “chill out”/electronica genres, you still need great songwriting and this album is just overflowing with it.  The music is more interesting this time around too, to make it an album that always puts a smile on my face when I put it in…which is often.  I haven’t been too impressed with the stuff following this one, but I’ll allways give them a chance based solely on the greatness of this album.  Great songwriting and musicianship here and a perfect album to put on and chill out to.  Love it.

9. Jeff Freling – Jeff Freling (2000)

So far, this is the only solo music released by the Grumpy/Mongol Beach Party guitarist/singer.  I really, really wish he’d release another album!  Freling’s one of my absolute most favorite songwriters and a huge inspiration to me.  Naturally, these songs are a lot more “mature” than the Grumpy and Mongol stuff, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less fun or creative.  This is a short album, only totals around 35 minutes, but it packs a punch that most bands would kill for.  Jeff’s songs are just fantastically creative and so well-written.  The music is certainly quirky so if you enjoy either of his previous bands or music like Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Steely Dan and Frank Zappa then this is highly recommended.

8. Bryan Dunn – Vicious Waltz (2009)

This is an excellent album and by far the best thing Bryan’s ever done.  To be honest, this barely missed out on being my favorite album of the year and it’s certainly the best new music *anyone* put out in the later part of the decade.  These songs are so, so excellent and the performances even better.  There’s such a high level of emotion to these songs that was never fully present in so much of Bryan’s previous work.  I think it’s more honesty and “real-ness” that make these songs so outstanding.  I mean, I just really connect with the tunes here.  Whether it’s the joy of Ballad of Emily Rose or the gut-wrenching sadness of Ten Dollar Ring or Hailey Goodnight, this album just oozes greatness.  Yes, there’s one misstep on the album (guess which one?), overall it’s an amazing solid album.  I can’t wait for the next one.

7. Radiohead – I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings (2001)

Radiohead have the reputation as a fantastic live band and so far this is the only release that shows what the band can do on stage.  I love how the band isn’t confined by how they performed these songs on the original albums and that they completely reinterpret some of them for live performance.  Absolutely ferocious playing here and the band confidently shows why they’re one of the best out there right now.  This is a short album, but I think it’s a great snapshot of what they’re about live.

6. TJ Dovebelly Ensemble – TJ Dovebelly Ensemble (2002)

This one was really unexpected for me.  I just bought this album about a year ago and it became an instant favorite.  The band is led by Saxophonist/Tape Jockey Mark Southerland and it’s one of the most creative albums I’ve heard in a long time.  There’s certainly a large jazz influence here, but the music mostly falls into the electronica category.  Just imagine mellow electronica played by a hot jazz band with the leader using tapes as a DJ uses records.  Nothing else sounds like this album, and it doesn’t surprise me considering all of the different things Southerland does in his various projects.  This is the only thing the band ever did, but it’s a truly outstanding album.

5. Mike Keneally – Guitar Therapy Live (2006)

Man, this band is on fire!  This live album features some of Mike’s most ferocious guitar playing ever put to disc.  The band just sounds so amazing on this disc.  Both old tunes and new tunes alike are played with such intensity and fun that I can’t get enough of this album.  It’s raw, but also tight.  The band were so connected on this tour, it’s no wonder Mike wanted official documentation of it.  There’s a reason that Keneally fans travel all across the country to hear his shows.  The phrase commonly used for Keneally’s live performances is “Mike Keneally ripped my head off”.  No doubt about it, total head-rippage on this album.

4. Radiohead – Kid A (2000)

Don’t get me wrong, I also love Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief & In Rainbows, but this is definitely the best album Radiohead’s made this decade.  There’s not remotely a bad moment on here.  I love OK Computer, it’s actually my favorite Radiohead album, but Kid A somehow pushed their creativity even further than OK Computer did.  Just knocked it all into the stratosphere.  I could have never, ever predicted that the band would make *this* music just three albums after “Creep”.  No way.  It’s like it’s not even the same band.  As far as creativity goes, no one did more than Radiohead the past decade.  Kid A is the finest example of what these guys were capable of in the past 10 years.

3. Bebel Gilberto – Tanto Tempo (2000)

I’m probably one of two people in the world who would say this album is better than nearly everything else produced this decade, but I don’t care.  Tanto Tempo is simply a beautiful album.  I’ve enjoyed Bebel’s following albums, but none of them come close to her debut.  The combination of the bossa nova/samba music with just enough electronica to make it interesting is absolutely infectious.  Bebel’s voice is wonderful throughout this album and she completely melts me.  This album always puts me in the best mood, right from the first notes.  That’s all it takes, that first guitar chord and I’m gone.

2. Mike Keneally – Wooden Smoke (2001)

This is THE perfect fall album for me.  I always associate it with my first Autumn in North Carolina and it seems the acoustic textures here are perfectly tailored to the changing leaves.  This album was a complete change of direction from Keneally’s previous album, Dancing, and that’s one of the reasons I love his music so much.  While that album explored pop, prog & rock in such a fulfilling way, this album feels like the players are in your living room with their guitars playing this amazing music just for you.  There’s a lot of subtlety on Wooden Smoke and I think the delicateness of the recording really brings this out.  It’s one of the best headphone albums by anyone and one that I can just soak into.  Every time.

1. Mike Keneally – Dancing (2000)

Yeah, Mike gets 3 albums in the top 5 of the decade.  To say he was “Artist of the Decade” for me is an understatement.  I think more than any other music I encountered over the past 10 years, Mike’s definitely made the strongest impression on me.  It all started with Dancing.  It’s such a perfect combination of pop and prog with really well-written songs and inspiring performances from Mike and the band.  This is one of those few albums that on first listen I knew it was automatically one of the best albums ever made.  BY ANYONE.  I mean that sincerely.  When I first had the idea to do this list my immediate thought was “well #1’s easy – Dancing”.  No question about it.  Dancing is easily the best album of the decade, written by the musician of the decade who just also happens to be the best live show I’ve ever seen.

It’s time for everyone’s best _____ of the decade/year to come out so I thought I’d contribute a bit. I decided to split up the “best albums of the decade” because I think that the accomplishments in NEW albums should be singled out from the archival stuff. We’ll get to the list of new stuff soon enough, but here’s the list for my top 10 historical/archival releases of the past decade. Boxsets definitely count here, as do albums of previously unreleased content. When it comes to live albums (and there are a few here) I thought that any “historical” releases would go on this list, and anything that essentially came out soon after that tour was considered “new”. I did not include straight up reissues here, but compilation albums were fair game. On to the list!

10. Phish – Live at Madison Square Garden, New Year’s Eve 1995 (2005)

To celebrate the 10^th year anniversary of this famous Phish show the band released it in full in December of 2005. It can’t be overstated that this was a welcome release for Phish fans. The band had broken up the previous year and it seemed like they’d never be back. 4 shows known as the “Island Tour” had been released in the Spring, but this NYE ’95 show was the first to be released on a new label, the band’s own JEMP Records. The new label meant that more stuff was pretty much guaranteed from the band. That this was a hugely important and landmark show for the band was equally important in this release. This show ended a year for Phish that finally brought them mainstream success after the popularity of A Live One and much media coverage about the tours that year. Live at MSG was the culmination of this year and the band is really on fire throughout the show. They sound like they’re at the top of their game here and this 3-disc, 3-set show is simply a great time.

9. The Muppets – The Muppet Show 25^th Anniversary (2002)

I grew up a huge Muppet fan and the TV/Movies continue to resonate with me as I grow older. It’s not nostalgia…this stuff is still *good*. Well-written songs, wonderful characters, great voice talent, super funny…just all around a good time. Nearly all of the Muppet Show albums & Muppet movie soundtracks have been out of print for many years, so this was definitely a welcome collection. It brings together the best musical moments from the TV show and highlights from all of the movies. You know, songs like Mahna Mahna, Can You Picture That, It’s Not Easy Being Green & the Rainbow Connection…these are classic songs. This is an absolutely fun listen that continuously reminds me how talented Jim Henson was. The only slight blemish here is that a couple of the songs from the Muppet Movie (Rowlf’s & Gonzo’s numbers especially) aren’t here, but they could only include so many without just releasing the whole album. The songs from the later movies aren’t as good, but the album is definitely weighted to the TV show/Muppet Movie songs.

8. Miles Davis – Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (2001)

Who knew one 40 minute album could spawn a 3CD set? There’s a nice chunk of unreleased stuff here, as well as songs that came out many years later after the 1969 original release of the album. In a Silent Way really marked Miles Davis’ first real big step “out there”. Most people seem to point to Bitches Brew as his first “step out” moment, but for me it’s In a Silent Way. The album proper barely hints at it, but hearing the full sessions as displayed on this box, it’s a thing of pure awesomeness. You get to follow the process of Miles Davis making an album, like you were there in the studio with those guys. It’s fascinating to listen to this box all the way through. Miles really had his band stretching out here and it’s a perfect jumping off point before the absolute madness of Bitches Brew. This was Miles completely re-writing what “jazz” could be.

7. Phish – Live Phish, Vol. 11 – 11/17/97 Denver, C0 (2002)

Released in the 2^nd batch of Phish’s “Live Phish” series, this is definitely my favorite of the whole series. 1997 was the year of Funk for Phish, starting from their covering of the Talking Heads’ Remain in Light the previous Halloween. They had a successful European tour over the summer and came back to the States in the fall and their funk just got harder and harder. This is a legendary show in Phish circles and on the first listen it was obvious why. It starts out with a rather lame Tweezer, but once the song proper ends and the band starts jamming, they find their feet and there’s no slowing them down after that. Phish is tight and funky for this whole show. It’s a lot of fun to put this show on and just shake your ass for a few hours. It’s highly enjoyable and my favorite full show they’ve yet released.

6. The Beatles – Let it Be…Naked (2003)

This was a much-welcomed release in 2003 as Beatles fans worldwide (who didn’t collect bootlegs) were finally able to hear this “final” Beatles album as it was intended. Gone are the garish Phil Spector overdubs and we finally have the album as it should have been released. It’s not the best album the band ever did, but this is a huge improvement over the original release of Let it Be from 1970. I don’t hate that album at all, but I definitely prefer this version. It’s so great to hear The Long and Winding Road and Let it Be without the orchestral/choir overdubs. They weren’t needed. Finally, 33 years later, we got the band’s original intent for this album. It’s a great listen and I’m so thankful Paul McCartney finally took the leadership to get this release out there.

5. Jellyfish – Fanclub (2002)

I love that a band who released only 2 albums can come out with a 4-disc boxset 10 years after they broke up. And it’s all unreleased songs/rarities! If you’re a fan of Jellyfish (and you should be) then this box is such a wonderful addition to their small catalog. You really get a broader sense of the band after listening to this and it shows how truly great of a band they were. 2 discs of demos for the respective albums and 2 discs of live performances supporting those albums. There are originals you’ve never heard, interviews, surprising covers and radio spots here, in addition to the songs already known and loved. This is out of print, but I highly recommend seeking it out if you already love Bellybutton & Spilt Milk. This is how boxsets should be done.

4. Iron Maiden – Eddie’s Archive (2002)

This is also how boxsets should be done. 6 discs of rare/unreleased music plus the usual Maiden “extra crap” like a parchment family tree and an Eddie shot glass, all housed in a big metal box. It’s Maiden, they’re not gonna do it any other way. I could care less about the box, shot glass or the family tree, but the music here is *excellent*. Three 2-disc sets are included here and it’s such a good release. There’s the full Beast Over Hammersmith show from 1982 (a truly excellent show, performed about a week before Number of the Beast was released), collected BBC live sessions from 1979, 1980, 1982 & 1988 and 2 discs featuring the “best of the B-sides”. My only complaint is that it wasn’t the full cache of B-sides, but it definitely hits the most important ones so it’s not a very big complaint. As I’m a collector, I knew all the B-sides already so the stuff I was really excited about was the 4 discs of previously unreleased live stuff. It’s all excellent. I hold out hope that the band will continue to release archival stuff in the future. Maybe another box with more live shows and the rest of the B-sides? I could go for that. As is, this is a tremendous set and essential for Maiden fans.

3. Journey – Live in Houston 1981 (2005)

It’s available separately, but the one I have is the CD/DVD combo of this show. This is Journey at their absolute best. As a live band, they were never better than in 1981. This show was recorded for a very early MTV broadcast and it’s crazy it took over 20 years for this to see the light of day. The DVD is perfect quality and the audio is as well. The setlist was constructed in an interesting way: a few faster songs followed by a big batch of ballads and finishing up with huge block of rockin’ tunes that bash your face in. As I said, this is the band at their live best. They sound utterly fantastic on this show. I love this release so much.

2. Davíd Garza – A Strange Mess of Flowers (2004)

Hm, another vote for “how a boxset should be done”. 4 CDs with plenty of unreleased tracks + a DVD…all for $25. I think at least a quarter of this box was unreleased. That’s pretty impressive. Davíd Garza’s a really prolific songwriter and it shouldn’t be any surprise that he would have so many GOOD unreleased songs. I love the way this box is constructed, all the songs from different eras of his solo career put together with nothing chronological. In a way, it forced me to listen more actively, esp. to the newer material that I had missed. You get a definite sense of consistency over Garza’s career. Whatever direction he was moving in with the arrangements, when you break it down it’s just consistently good songwriting. There were so many surprises for me in this set – new songs, unreleased gems, old demos, rearrangements of familiar tunes and then the classics. I like that this set wasn’t just his “hits”. I actually think that his most popular songs aren’t here. That’s something truly great, when a musician can put out a boxset, not include the most popular songs and still come out with something phenomenal. Many DG fans think this is the best thing he’s ever done. Hell, it might be. It’s a great collection that shows once and for all what a true talent he is.

1. Frank Zappa – Lumpy Money (2009)

This one gets my vote for best album of 2009. I knew that as soon as I heard it, nothing would probably come close for the rest of the year. For me, this 3-disc set was simply revelatory. In the basic sense it’s about two of FZ’s most famous/important albums: Lumpy Gravy & We’re Only in it for the Money. In the grander sense, I developed a massively deeper appreciation for him after hearing this. The original, all orchestral, Lumpy Gravy & the unreleased 25-minute LG outtake “How Did That Get in Here” absolutely floored me. The 80’s remixes of the albums were cool extras, as was the mono Money, but the orchestral stuff and the LG & Money outtakes (a whole disc) completely knocked me out. This is Frank truly flexing his compositional muscles in a way he never really did on the original releases of these albums. Like I said, it was a revelation hearing this music…and I’m deeply familiar with Lumpy Gravy and Money. This set completely changed what I thought about those two releases, as well as the man himself. Hands down this is the best album of the year and the best archival release of the past decade. Incredible.

Released: 1988
Tracks: Moonchild; Infinite Dreams; Can I Play With Madness; The Evil That Men Do; Seventh Son of a Seventh Son; The Prophecy; The Clairvoyant; Only the Good Die Young
Best track: The Clairvoyant
Track to skip: Can I Play With Madness (yuck)

I feel better now.

Man, 1988 was such a great year for metal.  Metallica’s …And Justice for All, Living Colour’s Vivid, Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime and this.  So many others as well, but these are at the top of the mountain.  Except for the dreck mentioned above, this album is stellar and knocks me on my ass every time I put it on.  Honestly, if it wasn’t for Madness, I think this album would be equal to Somewhere in Time.  As it is, it’s a hair under.  Like Mindcrime, this is a concept album.  A very ambitious concept album.  Maiden always had their progressive leanings, but they threw it out there in full force here and produced such a detailed and complex work that it’s very nearly the greatest thing they ever did.  If you’re paying attention, that means this album is very nearly the greatest thing EVAR.  At least as far as I’m concerned.  Still, even *with* Can I Play With Madness intact, the album still manages to be such an incredible piece of work.  That’s how strong it is, how powerful the playing is, how strong the songwriting is.

The Clairvoyant still is and always will be the best song on this album.  That transition from the acoustic guitar at the end of The Prophecy into the gorgeous bass at the beginning of The Clairvoyant is my favorite thing in their whole catalog.  If you’re an avid reader, you’ll already know that The Clairvoyant (specifically that intro) is the sole reason I’m a musician.  Those 8 seconds changed my life.  I’ve listened to that song literally probably a million times and it NEVER fails to fill me with that same sense of…everything.  Pick an adjective; that’s it.  It’s truly a brilliant song and somewhere along the way it took the position as my all-time favorite song from Revelations.  So, yes, OF COURSE it’s the best one on Seventh Son.  It’s one of the few songs that only gets one guitar solo and Dave Murray makes the most of it.  It’s definitely one of his best solos.  I also can’t say enough about Steve Harris’ work on this song…just utterly perfect.  Honestly, all over this entire album he’s just on fire.  I think the challenge of making a proggy concept album really pulled at the core of his musicianship.  He rose to the challenge in such a huge way that it’s impossible not to be in awe of what he does here.

For instance, take the title track.  The main song portion is great…but…then we get to the ending instrumental bit.  It’s one of his greatest compositional achievements.  The melodies and the solos and the entire construction of it simply brilliant.  It’s art, pure and simple.  Then check out his compositional chops on Infinite Dreams, probably the second best song in total on the album.  Another beautiful song with great lyrics and superb musicianship.  Dave Murray on this especially – you can really hear his Hendrix influence here.  Bruce Dickinson is the absolute master of rock vocals and he turns in an excellent performance, esp. in his nailing-it-on-the-first-take stab at Moonchild.  So what about Nicko and Adrian?  Too many excellent moments.  I always go back to their work on the title track, though.  Just stellar.  Or Adrian’s playing in The Evil That Men Do.  Everything they do here is great; just absolutely fantastically great.

I said it earlier, this album is awesome.  It’s certainly one of the best metal albums of all time and to be truthful, Maiden’s second-best work.  Yes, it’s better than Number of the Beast and Powerslave.  It’s that good.  A truly amazing piece of work.

Rating: 98

Released: 1969
Tracks: Come Together; Something; Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; Oh! Darling; Octopus’s Garden; I Want You (She’s So Heavy); Here Comes the Sun; Because; You Never Give Me Your Money; Sun King; Mean Mr. Mustard; Polythene Pam; She Came in Through the Bathroom Window; Golden Slumbers; Carry That Weight; The End; Her Majesty
Best track: Something or Here Comes the Sun
Track to skip: none

All five of them (that includes George Martin) really outdid themselves here.  They nailed it; went out on top.

In talking about the music, there’s no better place to start than track 1, Come Together.  This song has such a great groove.  Who knew they could groove like this?  Starting on this song and continuing through the whole album, I was constantly struck how great of a presence Paul McCartney’s bass is here.  All the way through, he’s just a monster.  His work on other albums, particularly Rubber Soul, is outstanding, but on Abbey Road he’s an absolute monster.  Grooving songs, loud songs, quiet songs…he’s everywhere.  You know, as great as the Lennon/McCartney songs are on here, George Harrison steals the show song-writing wise.  Something and Here Comes the Sun are definitely the best songs of the bunch.  I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my favorite tracks on my two favorite Beatles albums are written by Harrison, who’s definitely my “favorite Beatle”.  Something is the band’s best love song, hands down.  It’s a supremely beautiful song.  I wonder how many “first dances” were done to this song in the past 40 years?  It’s sweet without being cheesy.  I think it’s genuinely emotional and cuts through everything for me.  Absolutely fantastic.  Here Comes the Sun once again shows how far Harrison’s songwriting came in 6 years.  It never fails to put a big smile on my face.  The sound on this song is just gorgeous.  You can practically feel the sunshine.

George also gets some tasty guitar playing in on Ringo’s Octopus’s Garden.  This is actually my favorite “Ringo” tune, of the two he wrote and of all the rest he sang.  It’s such a fun song.  I love the “underwater” background vocals!  Maxwell’s Silver Hammer > Oh! Darling > Octopus’s Garden all provide a nice bit of levity before getting into the obsessed heaviness of I Want You (She’s So Heavy).  Another great groove on this one, not to mention more excellent bass from McCartney.  It’s the perfect way to end the first half of this album

Side two starts off with the aforementioned Here Comes the Sun before we get bombarded by Because.  This song sounds so effortless…it’s just sickeningly good.  The rest of the album is taken up with The Suite.  It’s a brilliant way to work together these 8 songs.  Quite a few aren’t fully developed, but they got around that by joining them all together.  Simply a brilliant move and in an era where we were starting to get “concept albums” and “rock operas”, this still wins.  The songs are all good in themselves, but joined together they become this 16+ minute extravaganza of greatness.  The Beatles compositional ability really shines through here.  I have to give special mention to Polythene Pam – I love the drums and background vocals on this!  It’s definitely one of the cooler songs Lennon wrote.

Abbey Road is definitely the best sounding Beatles album.  Without a doubt.  The production & engineering here (and of course, the playing/singing) are unequalled in their catalog.  Since Let it Be was recorded prior to this, I consider Abbey Road their final statement to the world.  In a year full of tremendous and amazing music, this is the best one.  Hell, it’s the best album of the 60’s, by anybody.  What a way to close it all out.

Rating: 98

The Beatles are releasing newly-remastered versions of their catalog on September 9th (09/09/09…number 9, number 9…geddit?) and I’m seriously disappointed that they’ve chosen to continue this absurd notion of the “Past Masters”.  When The Beatles’ albums were finally released on CD in 1988 they decided to release 2 additional CDs that contained all of their non-album tracks – mostly A- and B-sides that featured some of their more famous songs, stuff like Hey Jude, She Loves You, Day Tripper, etc.  The original goal was to have all of The Beatles’ tracks available and these two CDs would be essentially “everything else”.

Taken on their own, both CDs are certainly very good.  I mean, OF COURSE they’re good!  The Beatles had so many great non-album tracks that it should go without saying that a collection of them would be great.  I’m not debating the quality on these discs.  My problem is that they never should have existed in the first place.  Their existence is a rip-off to fans who bought all of the albums (again, in many cases) on CD in 1988 and everyone who has bought them in the 20 years since.

My point – all of The Beatles albums total 35-40 minutes each (The White Album being a double, but still around 40-45 minutes per disc) and CD technology allowed for at most 74 minutes back then.  They certainly had the space to attach She Loves You to With the Beatles, Long Tall Sally to A Hard Day’s Night, Day Tripper to Rubber Soul and Hey Jude to The White Album.  But, for whatever reason, they decided invent these two separate collections with all of the “extra” tracks just thrown together.  I have always thought that they should have attached the songs to their respective albums from the same time period/sessions.

This doesn’t take into consideration that Strawberry Fields Forever & Penny Lane were stuck onto Magical Mystery Tour instead of with the material from Sgt. Pepper, where they belong.

They made these mistakes back in ’88 and with the release of the remasters this year they could have, and SHOULD HAVE, corrected these mistakes.  But no, they chose to perpetuate this silly idea that the Past Masters are officially part of the canon.  This means that those folks who are buying The Beatles catalog for the 1st time (or the 3rd, or more) are getting ripped off AGAIN because if they want to hear I Want to Hold Your Hand or Lady Madonna they have to spend the extra money for this now 2 disc set.  The band has the opportunity to really fix this, and yet they don’t.

I don’t get it.

So, for my own amusement, I’ve made a list of how the albums should look.  In my ideal world, there would be no Past Masters. All of those songs would be bonus tracks on their respective albums and for even more bonus tracks they could include other studio songs that found their way to the Anthology & BBC sets.  They could also fix the problems with Magical Mystery Tour (put the Pepper songs with Pepper) and Yellow Submarine.

For Yellow Submarine, the original versions of those four “new” tracks (Hey Bulldog, All Together Now, It’s Only a Northern Song & It’s All Too Much) would be bonus tracks to the albums when they were recorded.  Then, the new official release of Yellow Submarine would contain the remixed versions from the YS Songtrack CD released a few years back and would also include (as that should’ve) the seven George Martin-composed orchestral tracks from the movie and the original issue of Yellow Submarine.  Oh yeah, and include A Day in the Life as well, since it’s in the film.  All of this would total about 70 minutes, so it would definitely fit on one disc.

Also in my dream scenario, I decided to include the previously unreleased track, Carnival of Light, to Sgt. Pepper.  I mean, if you’re going to throw in all of the non-album A- and B-sides and other studio songs from those sessions, you might as well include any unreleased compositions.  I’m sure there are some unreleased songs that I don’t mention here, but you get the general idea.  Here’s what the bonus tracks for the 13 albums would look like if the band did the right thing:

Please Please Me

Love Me Do (single version)
From Me to You
Thank You Girl
I’ll Be on My Way (from BBC Sessions)
Besame Mucho
Love Me Do (w/ Pete Best)
How Do You Do It
Please Please Me (w/ Andy White)
One After 909

With the Beatles

She Loves You
I’ll Get You
I Want to Hold Your Hand
This Boy
Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
Sie Liebt Dich

A Hard Day’s Night

Long Tall Sally
I Call Your Name
Slow Down
Matchbox

Beatles for Sale

I Feel Fine
She’s a Woman
You Know What to Do
Leave My Kitten Alone

Help!

Bad Boy
Yes It Is
I’m Down
If You’ve Got Trouble
That Means a Lot

Rubber Soul

Day Tripper
We Can Work it Out
12-Bar Original

Revolver

Paperback Writer
Rain

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heats Club Band

Strawberry Fields Forever
Penny Lane
Only a Northern Song
Carnival of Light (unreleased)

Magical Mystery Tour

(no Strawberry Fields Forever or Penny Lane)
All Together Now
It’s All Too Much

The White Album

Lady Madonna
The Inner Light
Across the Universe (World Wildlife Fund version)
Hey Jude
Revolution
Hey Bulldog
A Beginning
Not Guilty
What’s the New Mary Jane

Yellow Submarine (remixed)

Yellow Submarine
Hey Bulldog
Eleanor Rigby
Love You To
All Together Now
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
Think for Yourself
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help from My Friends
Baby You’re a Rich Man
Only a Northern Song
All You Need Is Love
When I’m Sixty-Four
Nowhere Man
It’s All Too Much
A Day In The Life
Pepperland
Sea of Time
Sea of Holes
Sea of Monsters
March of the Meanies
Pepperland Laid Waste
Yellow Submarine in Pepperland

Abbey Road

The Ballad of John and Yoko
Old Brown Shoe
Come and Get It

Let it Be

Get Back
Don’t Let Me Down
Let it Be (single version)
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
Teddy Boy

Released: 1973
Tracks: The Song Remains the Same; The Rain Song; Over the Hills and Far Away; The Crunge; Dancing Days; D’yer Mak’er; No Quarter; The Ocean
Best track: The Rain Song
Track to skip: D’yer Mak’er

One of the problems when you have albums as eclectic as this, is that some of the song transitions are just jarring.  Song Remains > Rain Song is one of these.  Now, I LOOOOOVE The Rain Song, but there’s not proper flow from track 1 to track 2.  I’ll get over it.  The Rain Song is gorgeous and one of my favorite Led Zep songs without a doubt.  It’s such a well-composed piece of music.  From the perfect acoustic guitar layering to the spot-on & stunning introductions of the mellotron and bass guitar, and yes, even extending to the lyrics here, it’s just a brilliant song.  Over the Hills and Far Away is another classic song and then there’s the James Brown Funk of The Crunge to end Side 1.  This might be the first instance of the band being truly goofy on record.  The song is decent, but it at least manages to make me crack a smile.  It’s kind of a throw-away, but it at least shows that the band could tackle funk, even if it’s a shade whiter than what James Brown offered up.

Side 2 doesn’t flow any better than Side 1, but that’s expected.  I absolutely DESPISE D’yer Mak’er.  I hate it.  I’m not alone in this either, as John Paul Jones has expressed his distaste for it as well.  I’m in good company!  An interesting take on reggae before too many people really knew what it was, but it still sucks as a song.  By far, the worst Led Zeppelin song they ever wrote.  I can’t figure out why people like it so much.  I really don’t care if it’s stupidly fun (it isn’t), it’s simply a horrible song.  So, yeah, there’s that MAJOR misstep, but the rest of Side 2 is good.  Dancing Days is fun as hell, No Quarter is possibly the trippiest thing they ever wrote and features some really cool piano from John Paul Jones.  No Quarter is a very cool song.  Houses of the Holy closes with an absolute classic in The Ocean.  I love how you can hear a studio phone ringing very slightly during Jimmy Page’s guitar solo here.  The change in this song where they go into the walking bassline with guitar solo is just awesome.  What a cool way to end the song and the album.

What to make of an album that features Led Zep’s worst and possibly best songs, is completely without flow and doesn’t quite feel like they really put a lot of effort into it?  OK, the effort’s there, but it’s lazy when you compare it to the previous 4 albums.  To be honest, I don’t listen to this as an “album” very often.  I love the songs (except one…), but I don’t love the album as a whole.  I just can’t get rid of the thought that there’s a certain degree of laziness here.

Rating: 86

Released: 1991
Tracks: [Disc 1 – 1969-1971] 21st Century Schizoid Man; I Talk to the Wind; Epitaph; Moonchild (edit); In the Court of the Crimson King; Peace – A Theme; Cat Food (single edit); Groon; Cadence and Cascade (remix); The Sailor’s Tale (abridged); Ladies of the Road; Bolero (remix); [Disc 2 – 1972-1974] Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Part One (abridged); Book of Saturday; Easy Money; Lark’s Tongues in Aspic: Part Two; The Night Watch; The Great Deceiver; Fracture (abridged); Starless (abridged); Red; Fallen Angel; One More Red Nightmare; [Disc 3 – 1981-1984] Elephant Talk; Frame By Frame; Matte Kudesai; Thela Hun Ginjeet; Heartbeat; Waiting Man; Neurotica; Requiem; Three of a Perfect Pair; Sleepless; Discipline; The Sheltering Sky; The King Crimson Barber Shop; [Disc 4 – Live 1969-1984] Get Thy Bearings (1969); Travel Weary Capricorn (1969); Mars (1969); The Talking Drum (1973); 21st Century Schizoid Man (1973); Asbury Park (1974); Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Part Three (excerpt) (1984); Sartori in Tangiers (1984) Indiscipline (1982)
Best track: [Disc 1] Epitaph [Disc 2] too hard to pick one [Disc 3] Frame By Frame [Disc 4] The Talking Drum
Tracks to skip: [Disc 1] none [Disc 2] none [Disc 3] Requiem [Disc 4] Larks’ Tongues in Aspic: Part Three

Disc 1 features 67 minutes that highlight the early incarnations of the band, from 1969-1971.  Nearly the entirety of the debut album is here; only a (thankfully) shortened version of Moonchild is different.  It’s very nice to hear the tune without the plodding improvisation that follows on the album proper.  The other three albums that this time period covers are In the Wake of Poseidon, Lizard and Islands.  With half of this disc focusing on only 1 album, the other three tend to get shafted.  In my opinion, anyway.  Poseidon has 3 tracks, which is good, but I would have loved to hear Pictures of a City or the title cut on here.  Peace – A Theme is the same version, but then there’s also the inclusion of the single edit of Cat Food (along with its B-side, Groon…seeing its first CD release) and a remixed version of Cadence and Cascade.  Due to legal problems with former member Gordon Haskell, his contributions on here were replaced.  On Cadence and Cascade Adrian Belew does a wonderful job with the vocals and Tony Levin replaced Haskell’s bass on Bolero.  Bolero is the only track from 1971’s Lizard.  It works in its place on this disc, but having 1 track from Lizard really sells it short.  Lizard’s a difficult listen, sure, but the material is still good.  I have to say, I have no problem with Haskell being replaced, esp. vocally.  Belew sings Cadence MUCH better than Haskell did.  Sailor’s Tale and Ladies of the Road represent the Islands album here and they’re definitely the best tracks from that album.

To be honest, I think Fripp did a good job on this first disc.  Of course there are some songs missing, but for the most part it really represents the essential songs from the first 4 albums.  The sequencing is good and I found myself really enjoying a number of these tracks on this listen – Epitaph, Cadence and Cascade & the Sailor’s Tale especially.  Best track on the disc?  Today it was Epitaph; it continues to be a brilliant and moving song.

Disc 2 is concentrated on the brutally powerful ’72-’74 lineup.  By taking the best moments from this band, disc 2 becomes something completely out of this world.  Power, pure and simple.  Granted, there are a ton of beautiful moments on here (Book of Saturday, The Night Watch, the first section of Starless to point out the obvious ones), but the overwhelming sense on this disc is of a band that literally stomps on you.  It’s insane how good these guys are.  As I said, I was already familiar with the Discipline lineup of Crimson prior to buying this set, but it was really this 2nd disc that made me a fan for life.  Discipline is the greater album, but if you take the entirety of this lineup vs. the ’81-’84 lineup, there’s no doubt that this 70’s version of King Crimson is the best the band has ever been.  Nothing comes close, really.  They are absolutely fearless and they had the most perfect chemistry.

I think the abridged version of Larks’ 1 is quite good.  Even with excising the violin solo (and a little bit more before it), it doesn’t suffer as a composition.  Amazing piece of music.  The abridged version of Fracture still presents a great song, but I really don’t like the edit there.  I mean, Fripp completely cut out the really cool middle section.  In removing that, the song feels incomplete.  As for the edit on Starless (one of Crimson’s overall greatest achievements), it’s blasphemy.  The 1st section is absolutely beautiful, but you NEED that 2nd section!  The fade from Starless into Red is fantastic, but completely chopping off the 2nd half of the song just KILLS me.  Without that second part, there’s no tension and no release.

What I noticed more than anything else on this disc was John Wetton’s phenomenal bass playing.  Not only technically great (I love his bass line in Book of Saturday), but his tone destroys me.  He’s such a commanding presence on this disc.  It might be Fripp’s band, but Wetton’s the star here.  I simply can’t pick a best track on this disc.  Edited as they are, they’re all great.  Only this sonically-great, but slightly weak version of Easy Money is the only downer here.  It’s not bad by any means, but as I said in the Larks’ review, it’s just feeble compared to the live versions of the tune.  Otherwise, this disc is simply amazing.

Disc 3 contains nearly the whole Discipline album, minus Indiscipline – a live version of the track is on Disc 4.  Discipline is definitely the best of the three 80’s KC albums (Discipline, Beat & Three of a Perfect Pair), but 6 songs might be a bit too heavy on this disc.  Additionally there are four from Beat and then only two from TOAPP, with the only previously unreleased studio track from this bunch, The King Crimson Barber Shop ending the disc.  So this disc contains 6/7 from Discipline, half of Beat…and yet only 2 from Three of a Perfect Pair – which is a much better album than Beat.  I don’t get it.  Requiem annoyed the piss out of me on this listen.  It could have easily been swapped out for another song from TOAPP or if you just have to another Beat track, use Neal and Jack and Me.  It’s Fripp’s decision, though, so I’m just being nitpicky.

This disc is quite good, but it’s a bit much of the interlocking guitar stuff.  I thought I’d never say that!  Yes, Discipline is my favorite King Crimson album, but I wish TOAPP was better represented here.  Not that the title track and Sleepless aren’t great songs or anything, they definitely are; I just wish there was better representation from the album.  Except for Requiem, all of these songs are fantastic compositions and illustrate that Crimson was fully capable of completely reinventing themselves in 1981.  You want “progressive”?  That’s it.  Reinvention without selling out (I’m looking at you, Yes).  I could pick any number of songs that could be “best on the disc”, but the reality is that it’s still Frame By Frame.  Amazing composition.  I love the inclusion of the KC Barber Shop (all voices by Tony Levin) – it’s a fun and humorous way to end this studio portion of the boxset.

Disc four is the live disc of the box and the first instance of any “archival” Crimson material to be released.  Only Asbury Park (an improv recorded at Asbury Park, NJ, on 6/28/74) had been previously issued (from USA).  All three of the 1969 tracks (Get Thy Bearings, Travel Weary Capricorn & Mars) see their first ever appearance on a Crimson album here.  All of these songs have subsequently been released in conjunction with their respective full shows.  Quick descriptions: 1-3 from 1969, 4-6 from 1973/1974 and 7-9 from 1982/1984.

Man, I enjoy the hell out of this disc.  It’s a great hour-long slice of King Crimson as a live band.  All three versions of the band get to show off their chops and how destructive this music was in a live setting.  Only the ’71-’72 version of the band is missing here, but…let’s be honest…nothing they ever did measured up to any of the music on this disc.  The only misstep on this disc is Larks’ Three.  While Fripp’s playing is rather scorching on here, the song is the ploddy mess it always is.  The more time goes on, the less use I have for this song.  Otherwise, this disc is incredibly solid.  The version of Mars here is excellent; truly menacing stuff.  I mentioned in my review of The Nightwatch of how amazing The Talking Drum is here.  Some excellent bass playing from John Wetton on this one.  And then there’s his really cool solo on Schizoid Man – very nice.  It is SO hard to pick a best track from this disc – it could be Mars, Talking Drum or Asbury Park.  OK, I’ll go with the Talking Drum.  It’s one of the best representations of what this ’73 band could do.

This set is no longer available, unfortunately.  In 2004 & 2005 Robert Fripp released 2 box sets which are essentially expanded versions of this one: The 21st Century Guide to King Crimson.  Vol. 1 covers 1969-1974 (4 discs, live and studio) and Vol. 2 covers 1981-2003 (also 4 discs, live and studio).  In 2006 we got the “Condensed 21st Century Guide” which is a 2-disc set featuring studio highlights from 1969-2003.  That’s probably the best 2-disc summation of this wildly inventive band.  As for this Great Deceiver box?  This is really good stuff.  My favorite disc of the set is that 2nd disc, the one featuring 1973/1974 band.  The 4th live disc is right behind it.  Truthfully, the entire set is stellar.  After listening to all 4+ hours of this, you get a good sense of what King Crimson could do.  Regardless of era, they blow you away.  This is truly powerful music and just a great all-around package.

Rating: 96

The Mongol Beach Party – w/ The Afterparty (19th) & The Last Call Girls (20th)
12/19-20/08 - The Record Bar, Kansas City, MO

Setlist for the 20th:

Set 1: Scrumptious, Big Game, M – For Show, Plans & Ideas, Red Shift, Strange, Remiss, What I Find, Drive, The Grind, The Grind (Away)

Set 2: Food, Spider, Ice Head, Mr. Things, Kiss on the Lips, Jigsaw Man, Lolita, Scary Movies, Kokracha’s Homecoming, Big Hands, It’s Wrong, Gone

Encore: Silence is Toothpaste

Wow, this is truly one of my favorite weekends of music ever.  In college I was a big Grumpy fan and I was later introduced by a friend named Carolyn to The Mongol Beach Party.  MBP kind of evolved into Grumpy & featured 4 of the 5 Grumpsters and a similar musical vocabulary.  I immediately fell in love with the Mongols at the first listen of Jigsaw Man.  Technically, the first song I heard of theirs was Lolita, but I didn’t know what to think about that one at first listen.  It was Jigsaw Man that made me a fan for life.  Of course, the album Toast was even better than those two songs and there was no stopping me then.  Carolyn gave me dubs of Toast and the Mongol’s 4-song demo.  I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the actual CD a few years later which might as well have been the Holy Grail for me.  Unfortunately Grumpy only lasted another year or two once I came aboard and of course there was no chance I’d ever get to see MBP in action.  Well, until mid 2008.

The band decided to get back together and do a couple of reunion shows in Kansas City right before Christmas.  As soon as I found out about these gigs I obsessed with going.  My wife was cool enough to get us plane tickets from North Carolina and tickets to the shows for my birthday and I was ecstatic.  2 nights in a row of the Mongols!  Hell yeah, I say.

We had a great time in Kansas City anyway (first time in Missouri for either of us) and found some amazing BBQ while there.  Julie hadn’t listened to them too much (she was more familiar with Grumpy thanks to my constant musical bombardment of them) so she didn’t want to see 2 nights in a row of some band.

The show on the 19th was opened by KC’s The Afterparty who really weren’t that great of a band.  I thought it was rather boring alt-country with a distinct lack of stage energy.  Some of the songs were decent, but their energy on stage definitely took away from that.  At some shows I might get all down because of this, but I was so pumped for the Mongol Beach Party that nothing could bring me down.

Man, to see those Grumpy guys together again on stage was amazing.  Jeff Freling (guitar & vocals), Bill Belzer (drums), Mark Southerland (sax, harmonica & dancing) and Kyle Dahlquist (trumpet, trombone, vocals & more dancing) were the ones who made up Grumpy (along with bassist Thomas Montgomery, who was in the audience for these shows).  For me, these 4 guys are some of the best players around.  Top-notch musicianship all around and Jeff Freling is absolutely one of my favorite songwriters.  The other two Mongols, Christian Hankel (lead vocals & percussion) and Scott Easterday (bass & vocals), were the unknown elements for me.  Of course I enjoyed their contributions to the Toast album, but I really had no idea how good (or not) they were.  Oh yeah, I have to mention, I was decked out in my Grumpy t-shirt.  Right from the first notes of Scrumptious it was clear that Scott was going to brilliantly hold down the fort and that Christian absolutely OWNED that stage.  He’s a fantastic vocalist with a spectacular stage presence.  With those 6 guys on the same stage it’s almost impossible to catch all of the amazing musical moments that are flying by, seemingly at a million miles an hour.  I thought, “who to watch?”  Thankfully I had 2 nights to soak it all in.

I don’t have the official setlist for the 1st night, but Christian did later get me what they played on the 2nd night.  Most of the set was the same, with maybe 6 or 7 songs switched out between the nights.  Roughly the same order on both nights.  The songs (that I know of) that were played the first night that weren’t on the second were: Shiny Suit, Traveling Song & White Elephants.  This show they played all of the tracks from the album except for Gone.

The show was amazing.  I danced and sang my ass off and I had a total blast.  Whatever opinions I had on the band before this show were completely shattered.  In one evening they shot up to become one of my favorite bands and definitely one of the greatest live bands I’ve ever seen.  The energy in that place was incredible.  With the crowd full of die-hards who knew all of the words and the band absolutely ON FIRE, it was impossible that anyone in that room was not going to have a great time.  My wife loved it too.

The 2nd night was me solo and that didn’t bother me.  I’ve never had a problem going to shows on my own.  It had been years since I used that much energy as I did at the first show, but I was determined that I would do it again.  During the course of the evening I was fortunate enough to talk with the entire band except for the horn section.  All were extremely cool guys and it was great to meet them.  The 2nd show opener was The Last Call Girls who were an all-female band (dude drummer, though), hard-hitting country stuff.  I liked them a LOT better than the first night’s opener.  They had good songs and really good musicianship.

This 2nd Mongol show featured the “alternate” guitar solo for Scary Movies where Jeff Freling does an absolutely kick ass Robert Fripp impression.  This attention to detail, playing the two different solos from both recorded versions of the song, was wonderful for me.  While the 1st night had a great nervous energy, the 2nd night found the band more relaxed and seriously digging into the material.  For only rehearsing as a band for a week, they were *extremely* tight.  As great of musicians as they were back when I last saw Grumpy in ’96 or ’97, all of them had improved by leaps and bounds.  They’re all true professionals and have only improved their skills over the years.  Freaking blew me away how great they all were.  Just phenomenal.

They did indeed play Gone on the 2nd night and also the kick ass slow & bluesy Remiss where Scott Easterday took lead vocals.  That song blew me away.  One of the best highlights for the shows was during the 2nd night’s “It’s Wrong” and what seemed like the whole crowd singing along with Jeff’s middle bit, “you know I care, but I’m not always there…”.  Oh man, it was incredible the vibe that gave off.  For both nights the whole band was just stellar all the way through.  Maybe there were mess ups here and there, but I didn’t hear any.  Very few bands I’ve seen live have matched the Mongols’ enthusiasm, excellence and spirit as on these two nights.  I can’t say enough how GREAT these shows were.  Just excellent all the way through.

What a great birthday present!  Thanks, Julie.  I can’t wait to see them again this August 21st & 22nd, once again in Kansas City.  Should be a fun time!

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