Tape Cases
by Dan Alford
This new section is place for you to sound off
about your favorite tapes, CDRs, etc. As live
recordings are an integral part of the Jambands scene,
I hope to hear from many of you. Essentially what I'm
looking for are reviews of tapes that discuss
performances, quality, memories of the actual shows,
and so on. Don't feel obligated to write about an
entire show; if you just want to comment on a great
"Terrapin" or "Helicopters", then send it along. Also
I'm looking for interesting shows and other bands
beside GD and Phish (although they will be welcome
too); certainly no one needs to here the virtues of
2-13-70 or 12-31-95 extolled for the umpteenth time.
So pop your favorite tape in the stereo and tell us
all why you love it!
Just to get things started, I have this great tape
that I don't trade but I occasionally use as filler.
It has two concerts that I recorded off of National
Public Radio shows. The first side (the side I'm not
going to talk about) has a Bela Fleck set from West
Virginia's Mountain Stage. The program is pretty
standard weekend fare for many NPR stations, and
boasts a host of performers (such as Hot Tuna, Phish,
Zero, Bruce Hornsby, and Rusted Root), each playing
for twenty to forty minutes. The other side of the
tape comes from another, albeit less commonly heard,
NPR show (actually both are Public Radio International
productions), The World Café. Host David Dye spins
tunes for the semi-crunchy college crowd, and really
does provide a great mix of music. He also has
musicians on the show, both as in-studio performers
and guest DJs. At some point in 95 ARU stopped in
from the HORDE tour to play a set.
The tape starts with a quick version of the up beat
little hop, Swing. Oteil leads the music with loping
beats (there are no drums) and Mundy keeps up with
that perky mandolin rhythm. There is a nice bass
walk-along during the second verse, and the tune is
done. Col. Bruce babbles about his imaginary
instrument and then, at Dye's prompting, they go for a
straight out improv. piece (jam seems like the wrong
term). It's fairly sparse and disconnected at first,
although the hints of a groove are there. Then Col.
Bruce (on Mandolin) starts to lay out a lead over
Oteil's repetitions. Slowly Herring picks up on the
rhythms, fades out again and then resurfaces. He
steps up as the groove becomes busy, and then quickly
winds down to a stop. The next number is Memory is
Nothing (But a Gimmick), my favorite part of the set.
A slow moving but ultimately cheery number, it
features some great semi-surreal lyrics, presented in
an almost spoken word style. There is also a pair of
nice solos by Herring and Mundy. The final piece is
"If There Is No Future, There Is No Past, Then There
Can Be No Now, Take Three." Oteil and Jim put out a
short intro and Col. Bruce growls about the stupidity
of humanity. Jim has a noodling solo that becomes
hectic at Mundy's rhythmic prompting. Oteil begins to
bounce about and he and Jim waver on either side of
the constant mandolin, before a quick bass solo that
leads back into a nice jamlet. "Go play! I ain't
singin'!" from Col. Bruce and then he starts to ramble
out Space is the Place lyrics in honor of Philly's
son, Sun-Ra.
That's it. The whole set can't be more than
twenty-five minutes, but I really love it. So let's
hear about that quirky tape in your collection, or
your favorite set or version of Helicopters. Start
writing, and we'll see back here next month.
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