The Allman Brothers Band @ the United Palace – March 15 and 18

I have a half-written column on the Allman Brothers Band that I’ve kept, sort of knocking around, for a few years now. It’s the one I plan to write when it’s clear the memories have been great but the thrill is gone, and that there’s not really any polish left on the shoe. It’s bound to happen, right? The Allmans, to their credit, seem to be slowly recognizing as much, thanks to scaled-back touring and the de-emphasis – can we just come out and agree there isn’t going to be another album of originals? – on, well, growth.

It hasn’t happened, the column. No matter how gently or artfully I try phrase those thoughts, they still sounds churlish. What other band has given us this much justifiable magic this late into its career, or hell, this late into its third act (or sixth or seventh, depending how you evaluate lineups and general eras)? If this is a band no longer much interested in growth as it is enjoying its twilight in grand fashion, fine. Nothing wrong with that at all, boys. No question you’ve earned it. No question you can still bring the heat.

This year’s March NYC run has felt a little muted, but only from afar. You wouldn’t call it a dearth of buzz and excitement – if you were in the seats for any of the United Palace shows so far, you still heard the roars and felt the radiant energy – but the move uptown, the hangover from last year’s 40th anniversary extravaganza (each show every bit as good as the hype, as those who were there and the Beacon Box will attest), and the decision to cancel the last five nights of the run cast something of a pall. But in two very different shows this week, Monday and Thursday, I found the confirmation I needed: the end is near, but I’d be out of my mind to quit on the Allmans until they say they’re done.

READ ON for more from Chad on the Allmans @ United Palace…

We’re down to the final eight contestants in our bid to crown the best cover among all the Cover Wars winners of the past 12 months. Thanks to everyone who came out to vote in the last round, which featured a couple of close bouts including Built to Spill winning by the smallest of margins over the Foo Fighters. Perpetual Groove gets the award for biggest ass-kicking as they nearly tripled the votes that Primus received.

Let’s take a look at today’s four bouts…

1. Trey Anastasio – Sultans of Swing vs. YARN – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
2. Built To Spill – Cortez The Killer vs. UM – Can’t You Hear…
3. Phish – The Ballad of Curtis Loew vs. Pearl Jam – Baba O’Riley
4. GUTML – Godzilla vs. PGroove – This Must Be The Place

Four our first matchup, we’ve got Trey Anastasio and TAB’s version of Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits going up against Yarn’s take on the Velvet Underground’s Oh! Sweet Nuthin’…

Trey Anastasio – Sultans of Swing

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YARN – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’

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READ ON to place your vote on all four Elite 8 matches…

The Grateful Dead were a revolutionary act in a number of different areas. The Dead were one of the first major groups to change their setlist on a nightly basis and succeeded in making each show different. Throughout the years, the Grateful Dead built up a massive repertoire that made it easy for them to let certain songs fall by the wayside. Also, the group – or particular members of the group – weren’t interested in performing several tunes from their early days in the later years. Yet, the fans always seemed to wanted to see these rare songs and once in a while the band obliged.

This week’s B List looks at what I think are the ten best bust outs the Grateful Dead broke out over the course of their career. Some of the entries contain songs that disappeared for over a decade while others feature tunes that only went away for a few years. What mattered most to me was a combination of the crowd’s reaction, the quality of the tune and the quality of the performance. Let’s get down to business…

10. Cryptical Envelopment – 9/23/1972 > 6/16/1985 [791 Shows]

Downloads: Cryptical > The Other One > Cryptical
Stream: 06/16/1985

The studio version of That’s It For The Other One on Anthem of the Sun contains four sections, one of which is sung by Jerry Garcia and called Cryptical Envelopment. The Dead would play Cryptical into and out of The Other One from the late ’60s through the early ’70s, at which point the tune disappeared from the rotation until a fateful evening in 1985 at the legendary Greek Theater in Berkeley. The group performed Cryptical four more times that year and then never again.

9. Casey Jones – 11/02/1984 > 06/20/1992 [549 Shows]

Download: Casey Jones
Stream: 06/20/1992

There were all sorts of theories as to why the Dead stopped playing Casey Jones after 1984 including that Jerry promised not to play it – with its reference to being high on cocaine – as part of a plea bargain stemming from one of his arrests. We’re not sure what the actual reason was, but Deadheads went fucking bananas when the group busted out Casey Jones at RFK Stadium in 1992. The drummers used a locomotive airhorn during the Drumz segment and then used it again to kickoff the break out at the end of Space. READ ON for my eight favorite Grateful Dead break outs…

Sure we’re a bit ahead of the NCAA because we’re already down to sixteen contenders. Voting turnout was great in the first round, thanks to everyone who made their voices heard throughout the last week. Some races were very close, Primus (The Devil Went Down To Georgia) inched out Widespread Panic (Skin It Back) 51% to 49%. Some were blowouts, Bruce Hornsby & Trey Anastasio took down 90% of the vote when matched up against The Waybacks. Clare & The Reasons did their best to fire up their Facebook fans, but they could not overcome the built-in Phish advantage here on Hidden Track as they lost 57% to 43%.

In the first round we did our best to match up the artists that had won multiple Cover Wars ver the past year. We’ve still got two left as we’ll see Bruce Hornsby & Trey Anastasio take on Trey Anastasio’s solo band. And there are still two Phish covers in the mix. Once we’re down to the round of eight on Friday, we’ll have this all cleaned up.

1) Bruce Hornsby & Trey Anastasio – Standing On The Moon vs. Trey Anastasio – Sultans of Swing
2) Jeff Tweedy – I’m Only Sleeping vs. YARN – Oh! Sweet Nuthin’
3) Built To Spill – Cortez The Killer vs. Foo Fighters – Band on The Run
4) Umphrey’s McGee – Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ vs. Max Creek – Eminence Front
5) Phish – Sweet Virginia vs. Phish – Ballad of Curtis Loew
6) Pearl Jam – Baba O’Riley vs. Grateful Dead – Ballad Of A Thin Man
7) Give Us The Money Lebowski – Godzilla vs. of Montreal – Moonage Daydream
8) Perpetual Groove – This Must Be The Place vs. Primus – The Devil Went Down To Georgia

For our first Round of 16 matchup, we’ve got Trey Anastasio teaming up with Bruce Hornsby to cover the Dead’s Standing On The Moon taking on Big Red’s cover of Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits…

Bruce Hornsby & Trey Anastasio – Standing On The Moon

Trey Anastasio – Sultans of Swing

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READ ON to vote and for the other seven Sweet 16 bouts…

Mike Gordon Band @ Pearl Street – March 13, 2010

Mike Gordon’s solo project combines a good dose of funk with a lot of boundless improvisation. The band stopped at the Pearl Street nightclub in Northampton, MA on Saturday to prove how capable and willing they are to put on a fresh, exciting, and unique show. In a post-show conversation with percussionist Craig Myers, “Mike is constantly pushing new sh**. Sometimes the hits come late, but then other times we’ve just created something new.” And more often than not, they’re creating something new.

His backing band is not so much of a “backing band” when you look at how guitarist Scott Murawski and keyboardist Tom Cleary took the helm during portions of Saturday’s show. Murawski’s solos are smooth and story-like, concluding gracefully as Mike subtly brings the band back to a chorus. While Murawski is off on his own improvising, he’s clearly locking into Mike’s playing at all times. Cleary, on the other hand, usually lays low adding color when necessary to every song. However, when it’s his turn to solo, Cleary is unstoppable and wild – he often ends up halfway through his jams standing up and spinning around while playing.

The Saturday show kicked off with Can’t Stand Still, an original song that evokes ’90s era alternative pop. Mike’s voice harmonized and blended well with the voices of the other members of the band who sang backup. While everyone danced in sync to the opening song, Spiral, which followed, was a little hiccup in the setlist. The groove was a little hard to grasp for an audience that wanted to dance. Things quickly changed however when Mike invited Mark Mercier, one of his favorite musicians and Murawski’s Max Creek band mate , to take over Cleary’s position on the boards. Mercier sang lead and jammed on Columbus Stockade, and Cleary came back to do double duty on keys with Mercier on Voices, a standout track from The Green Sparrow.

READ ON for more of Balaji’s thoughts and photos of the MGB…

While album reviews typically fall under the domain of the Glide main page, we’ve decided to make a very rare exception to review the Disco Biscuits long awaited LP, Planet Anthem, which comes out on Tuesday.

The Disco Biscuits have never been afraid to polarize, and make no bones about it, with Planet Anthem they are about to do it again. Upon a first pass of the LP, listeners will ponder a slew of questions in trying to digest the new release from the Philly electro-jam act. Is this an identity crisis or a reinvention? Who did they make this album for? Did everyone agree to this?

With a bouillabaisse of sound chock full of club bangers, auto-tuned hip hop, thrash romps, Radiohead-eqsue introspectives and synth-laden techno grooves, the visceral reaction screams, “Oh my god, they made album for undulating dudes in banana hammocks at the Jersey Shore.” At first, these songs seem better suited to be played by a toned-up MC than by a musical ensemble who wields jaw-dropping instrumental command and improvisational prowess.

You have to sit with it. Once the shock value wears down, the album grows on you.

Ironically, despite all the guest vocalists and auto-tuning, both of which likely cater to the frequent quips about the quality of the Disco Biscuits’ singing abilities, the song The City, stands out as the best track on the album with Marc Brownstein’s vocals coming as a total breath of fresh air. The song also holds most true to the title of the record, as it contains the most distinctive melody, stellar production, and heavy doses of “oohs” and “aahs” to capture the cathartic, anthemic spirit that the Biscuits so successfully developed throughout the years.

READ ON for more of Ryan’s thoughts on Planet Anthem…

Back on Tuesday, we kicked off our annual Cover Wars – March Madness tournament by asking you to vote on the first eight matchups in our Round of 32. Today, we’ve got the other eight first round bouts for you to check out and vote on. As we mentioned on Tuesday, we took 32 Cover Wars winners from the last 12 months and pitted them against each other as we start a competition to crown the best cover from this year’s column.

All of the winners’ audio/video has been embedded for you and we have linked back to the corresponding Cover Wars that led to each artist’s victory. We have enjoyed running this piece for you every week (or maybe, three times per month?) and hope you enjoy Cover Wars March Madness.

First, we’ll list each of the matchups followed by audio (or video) of each cover, so check out the bottom half of the bracket…
1)Life On Mars? (Phish) vs. The Ballad Of Curtis Loew (Phish)
2)Tomorrow Never Knows (801) vs. I’m Only Sleeping (Jeff Tweedy)
3)Going To California (Great White) vs. Band On The Run (Foo Fighters)
4)Baba O’Riley (Pearl Jam) vs. Harvest Moon (Pearl Jam w/Sleater-Kinney)
5)Moonage Daydream (of Montreal) vs. Bohemian Rhapsody (Pink)
6)The Devil Went Down To Georgia (Primus) vs. Skin It Back (Widespread Panic)
7)Standing On The Moon (Bruce Hornsby & Trey) vs. Dupree’s Diamond Blues The Waybacks)
8)Helpless (YARN) vs. Oh! Sweet Nuthin’ (YARN)

For bout number one, we’ve got Phish taking on themselves as the legendary jammers’ cover of David Bowie’s Life On Mars? goes up against their version of The Ballad of Curtis Loew by Lynyrd Skynyrd…

Phish – Life On Mars?

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Phish – The Ballad Of Curtis Loew

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READ ON to place your vote for all eight of today’s bouts…

We’re honored to welcome journalist Bob Doda to Team HT. Today, Bob makes his Hidden Track debut with an extensive profile on one of our favorite bands – The McLovins…

On a sunny afternoon in Brooklyn, all three members of The McLovins stand with their backs to a retro-style bowling alley and watch a video of a seal & penguin fight to the death, in some sort of psychedelic nature video.

[All photos courtesy of Carol Huffman]

“That seal kicked that penguin’s ass,” says Jake Huffman, 16, the band’s lead singer and drummer. Obviously, this isn’t your average bowling alley.

The Brooklyn Bowl is half bowling alley, fitted with leather couches and half staging area complete with flashing lights and dance floor. On this particular Sunday, the Bowling Alley is hosting their first Bar Mitzvah. Upon first glance, it would appear that Jake, Jason Ott (bass) and Jeff Howard (guitar) would be there to bowl a few games and down a few cold coca-cola classics, not melt one face at a time with catchy riffs and jams that could only be classified as organized chaos.

Entering their second year as “the band that killed YEM on YouTube,” The McLovins are poised to stay busy in 2010. They will be opening for legendary jam rockers, Max Creek, who are on the verge of their 40th anniversary, in May. They are also on the Snoe.Down bill scheduled for a lunchtime set in Killington, Vermont, and the StrangeCreek Festival in Greenfield, Massachusetts Memorial Day Weekend. Another huge milestone for The McLovins is their own show at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut on May 7th. Most recently, they played a gig at the celebrated club, Nectar’s, in Burlington, when a local piano player walked through the door.

READ ON for more of Bob’s interview with The McLovins…

Soulive @ Brooklyn Bowl – Friday, March 5, 2010

Words – Carla Danca
Photos – Jeremy Gordon

No one out there that can deny the energy that Eric Krasno and Alan and Neal Evans have as the trio Soulive, but when you add in a rotating casts of special guests, a giant disco ball, all night bowling and fried chicken you end up with so much more.

Many have spoken about how Pete Shapiro’s Brooklyn Bowl complex has changed the way people go to shows. With the Blue Ribbon kitchen cooking up tasty food till after the show is done, the only thing that you need to worry about is if you should go for the white or the dark meat. Bowlive on Friday night exemplified exactly how well this concept can work, a total carnival for the senses, creating an adult playground at its finest.

Scanning the crowd, there was interesting mix of people, young and old, hippie and hipster but everyone was in it together when Soulive started up a set that included their originals and some jaw dropping covers. As the first notes of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby and I Want You (She’s So Heavy) rang out, everyone was looking around in disbelief. But before most people even realized, they were part of it, singing along and acting as one as Krasno broke out into the biggest smile.

READ ON for more from Carla & Jeremy’s fantastic photos…

Welcome to the 2010 edition of Cover Wars – March Madness. We are taking our efforts from last year and doubling them: this year we’ve got 32 covers in the running for the Championship. Over the past year, we’ve had six different artists win Cover Wars more than once. For these winners, we have paired them up against each other in the first round. For example, if you were going to vote for Trey Anastasio because of your loyalty to him – now you have to decide if he plays a better O-o-h Child or Sultans Of Swing. We have also paired up original artists whenever possible – Did Joan Baez or The Grateful Dead do better justice to their Bob Dylan cover?

All of the winners’ audio/video has been embedded for you and we have linked back to the corresponding Cover Wars that led to each artist’s victory. We have enjoyed running this piece for you every week (or maybe, three times per month?) and hope you enjoy Cover Wars March Madness. My personal highlight would have to be us running The Ballad Of Curtis Loew edition in early May and seeing Phish pull the cover from deep off the shelf three weeks later at Fenway Park. Let’s look at the first eight matchups…

1) Cortez The Killer (Built To Spill) vs. The Maker (DMB)
2) Sultans of Swing (Trey) vs. O-o-h Child (Trey)
3) Will It Go Round In Circles (The Bridge) vs. Godzilla (GUTML)
4) Ballad Of A Thin Man (GD) vs. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (Joan Baez)
5) Sweet Virginia (Phish) vs. Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Clare & The Reasons)
6) You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Max Creek) vs. Eminence Front (MC)
7) Naive Melody (Perpetual Groove) vs. Time (Flaming Lips)
8) Lenny (Umphrey’s McGee) vs. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ (UM)

For bout number one, we’ve got Built To Spill covering Neil Young’s Cortez The Killer vs. DMB’s cover of Daniel Lanois’ The Maker…

Built To Spill – Cortez The Killer

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Dave Matthews Band – The Maker

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READ ON to place your vote in this matchup and to check out and vote on the other seven March Madness bouts in this part one of our Round of 32…