Recorded: 1994
Tracks: My Sister; Now You Can Open Your Eyes; Long Walk Home; Lockjaw; Devour; Amnesty; Tell Me Why; John Lennon Song; Scatterbrain; Influence; Big Stick
Best track: this band smokes, but Tell Me Why might be the best on here. Maybe not, because Big Stick is so insanely good
Track to skip: absolutely none
Oh my gosh I love this! Yup, there’s the review right there. This is a live show (not officially released) recorded at Rick’s in Denton, TX, probably in early 1994. I guess it could be late ’93, but I’m just guessing it’s ’94. The band on this particular night was of course Davíd Garza on guitar and vox, Clay Pendergrass on bass, Jim Cocke on keys, Michael Hale on drums and Chris Searles on percussion. This was almost released as a real album with the title of “Throb Throb Throb”, but I guess Davíd decided to keep it in the can. It’s too bad, because this show is excellent. Thankfully we did at least get two songs from this night that came out on the next studio album Conmigo: I’d Rather Be Lost (not on this tape) and an edited version of Long Walk Home. I wish that this was the full show, since it’s only 45-50 minutes long and his shows were around 90-120 minutes back then. Oh well, I enjoy what I have. I am very thankful that we get the full version of Long Walk Home on here, since I heard the shortened Conmigo version first. Since Searles guested with the band on this night, the songs naturally had higher percussion content than normal. Chris does a nice solo in Open Your Eyes (they all do) and there’s just such a great jam in Long Walk Home.
It’s annoying that this isn’t the full show, because you can hear the first few seconds of songs like Steer Clear & Forget Song and then they cut off. Also the sound isn’t exactly perfect. There’s a bad dip in the volume of Lockjaw, but you know, this *is* a bootleg so it’s not going to sound perfect. It sounds like it was recorded from the soundboard as opposed to the audience, because of the clarity of the instruments. The volumes may be low at points, but I can hear Clay’s excellent bass just fine. Oh man, this version of Devour is great! That just came on and the biggest smile came across my face. I love it! Jeez, and then comes Tell Me Why…this version grooves harder than just about *any* studio recording David’s ever done. This bad was so immensely talented. I know there’s always the danger of falling into a nostalgia trip, especially when a musician is always changing and fans have their particular favorite period, but I don’t feel like a crappy fan in saying that this group and this period of Davíd Garza’s musical existence was clearly the best. All of them, all 5 of them, are just so excellent. Excellent musicians, excellent performers, excellent listeners. These guys and this show in particular just knock my socks off.
I hope someday soon to transfer this cassette to CD, or hopefully even get a hold of the full show. The previous review, the Wacky’s show, is great, but this one is better (even if it’s severely edited). The band was on fire this night and the audience is wonderfully enthusiastic. If you can get a hold of this show grab it because it’s fantastic and probably the best example of why Dah-veed was the best band touring around Texas in the early-mid 90’s.
Rating: 95
Write a comment