A few months back we dug into the YouTube vault and dedicated a week’s Pullin’ ‘Tubes to all things Classic Rock. With The Dead reforming, Ernie hitting the road and the imminent return of Phish, we haven’t been this excited about all things jam in quite some time. With that in mind, we thought we’d revisit some of the bands we dug from back in the halcyon days of the scene for a little something we’re calling Ghosts Of Jambands Past.
I have the distinct honor of kicking things off this week and there was only one band that seemed appropriate. Around the late summer of ‘95, while thumbing through the pages of Relix, I was introduced to a band called God Street Wine. I still remember going out and buying $1.99 Romances - since that’s what you did in the prehistoric days of the internet in order to hear some new music - and being instantly hooked when I popped the disc in.
The band combined Springsteen-esque bar-rock, with jazzy Steely Dan-like ballads and the general goofiness that you found in early Phish albums - all fronted by one guy that kind of bopped around the stage and looked like Animal from The Muppets and another that actually kind of looked like The Boss. Let’s head back to December 26, 1996, when the band kicked off a two-night run at New York’s Irving Plaza - and a coincidently a night before I saw them for the first time - with Hellfire. Enjoy…
In one of those classic jamband pairings, Strangefolk opened night one and the Ominous Seapods night two. After taking in my inaugural GSW show, a few days later I’d catch moe. for the first time when they rang in 1997 at the now defunct Tramps - but that’s a story for another time.
More GSW:
Jo Jo left his home in Tucson, Arizona for some California grass
This clip from the Sgt. Pepper’s movie has been floating around the intertubes for quite a while, and nobody’s ever taken the time to truly sync the audio with the video. But it’s still a trip to watch, a trip to see Frampton with hair, and a trip to believe Billy Preston as some sort of mythical fairy. So even though this one’s not very new and exciting, really, when’s the last time you saw a black guy with a trumpet dressed in all gold? If you want better, here’s the rooftop version.
- An unknown-to-me YouTube user named JoeMad84 has in the past two weeks generously uploaded a handful of God Street Wine tunes from the Wetlands in ‘99. Some audio problems exist, but if you’re like me and really jonesin’ for a GSW reunion, these badboys will do you just right — check out this bitchin’ Nightingale and pretend you don’t love GSW.
- With the Allmans taking up near-permanent residency at the Beacon, let’s watch the epic Dazed & Confused they dropped at this year’s 3/24 show.
- HT Loyalist/New Roommate Nodnoc sent me this clip last night, a weird but strangely humorous take on My Humps by Alanis Morissette.Â
- Comin’ atcha with two artists I’ve always lumped together vocally, despite their physical appearances: Billy Ocean and Rick Astley. Let’s look in on live, awesome versions of Caribbean Queen and Never Gonna Give You Up.
- Fresh Young Balki B Video — um, seriously?
- I’m gonna let Scotty take this one: “The Black Crowes play Wiser Time at the Glastonbury Festival in England on June 23rd, 1995. This early version shows off the handiwork of Marc Ford and the melancholy harmonies of the brothers Robinson. Both guitar players let it rip at the same time during the melty closing jam. Also of note is the addition of an unidentified percussion player lending yet another layer to the mix.”
Get back to where you once belonged? I thought you belonged to the city…
2007 has started off with a bang for fans of bands that have broken up. Reunion Mania has taken over the rock world, with everyone from America to Zero getting in on the act. I’m not satisfied: I want more reunions. So this week’s B List features eight more bands that need to get in on the great money grab of 2007:
1. God Street Wine: Fuck Phish, if any more jambands are planning to reunite, I’d like to see God Street Wine get back together. As I mentioned in last week’s Grousing The Aisles, both Ace and I are huge fans of this dynamic band that added a little soul to the improv scene.
2. Blind Faith: Eric Clapton has run out of bands to reunite. Cream had a successful run of shows in 2005, and Clapton is currently on the road with Derek Trucks playing a bunch of Derek and the Dominos songs. Steve Winwood is in a similar predicament with the passing of Jim Capaldi. Blind Faith’s bass player Ric Grech has passed on, but Ginger Baker can still play (for the moment). I’d love to see these three men reform Blind Faith before they wind up in nursing homes.
3. Talking Heads: If The Police can put aside their animosity towards each other for a reunion, why can’t the Talking Heads? I think all the hipsters would faint at the sight of Tina Weymouth on stage again with David Byrne. Imagine the setlist the reunited Heads could put together? I’d love to see the band put aside their differences and score one of the biggest paydays in the history of rock and roll.
Read on for the other five bands that need to reunite this year….
I’m gonna be a little mean again, like the time I made fun of the girl that looked like Ron Jeremy in that picture with Trey and the two blonde chicks. Sorry.
By the time I graduated college we had about six or seven separate, unaffiliated A cappella bands operating on campus. The school was only about 7,000 students, and about 100 of them were somehow in competing vocal choirs. I thought it was a bit much, especially for an occasionally enjoyable genre that’s really hit or miss. The problem is, like anything with over-expansive properties, the quality becomes diluted. Look at the NHL: Same thing, only worse, and much more limp-wristed.
So let it be known when I type Bruce Hornsby into the YouTube search engine, I’d rather not be distracted by the “Shabadoo-doo-doo” skat abilities of a barely mediocre, harmonizing group of college dudes in trendy bowling shirts with a cliché moniker bent on slandering the name of my alma mater. I’d much rather enjoy the virtuoso stylings of Bruce himself and suggest to you gents that if the first four groups didn’t want you, it’s probably wise not to “branch out” and start your own club. Frankly, this rendition makes me want to have children without vocal chords.
- For a taste of the real Hornsby, here’s a recent (and quite excellent) version of End of the Innocence, a song he actually co-wrote with his friend Don Henley, who obviously made the tune famous.
- As the blog world continues to justifiably gush over all the reunion news, I feel as if we should prepare ourselves for the coming onslaught of rock. No time like the present — let’s hit Van Halen on Runnin’ With the Devil.
- And from the World of Genesis, let’s ramp up with a little Abacab.
- From the Newly Added To YouTube file, here are a couple from a user called Zodiac Productions: Pearl Jam playing Once at NYC’s Limelight in 1992 and God Street Wine ripping Nightengale at the Wetlands in 1999.
- I’ve been trying to keep this space relatively clear of the old standbys, but I keep failing miserably. The problem is that great shit keeps flooding the tubes and clogging the pipes, and I gotta play the role of Town Crier (or Jon Cryer) as best I can. Here’s an incredible clip of a Phish Ghost jam from July 6, 1998 that finds Trey just ripping the ever-loving shit out of this thing, so much excellent shit-ripping that there’s no more shit inside when he’s done with it.
And that’s that. Anything on the ‘Tube catch your eye over the past week?
One of my favorite parts of collecting live music is listening to shows from early in a band’s career. In yesterday’s Pullin’ Tubes, Ace featured a video of Phish playing Run Like An Antelope from 1987. While Phish wasn’t ready to conquer the world at that time you can tell the band had a special sound. I love listening to the progression of music from different phases of artist’s careers. This week’s Grousing The Aisles looks at early gigs by some of my favorite bands:
Zero 7/17/85 SBD (FLAC):
I can’t believe I’ve been writing this column for over three months and I have yet to mention John Cipollina. Cipollina is one of the better guitar players ever to hail from San Francisco. He got his start with the Quicksilver Messenger Service before going on to play with The Dinosaurs, Gary Duncan’s Revival, and finally Zero. With Zero Cipollina surprised everyone by taking a secondary role to an unknown guitarist, Steve Kimock. In listening to this early Zero show, you can see why Cipollina gave Kimock the lead role. Check out the Tangled Hangers for an example of Kimock’s chops and songwriting abilities. Other highlights include Cipollina’s understated playing on covers of Little Wing, Gomorrah, and Higher Ground. Sadly Cipollina passed away in 1989, but the band played on for nearly a decade.
Read on for more downloads from God Street Wine, Jimi Hendrix, Blues Traveler, and The Flecktones
I’m off to Miami for two days of beach-free work, but as always you’re left in the capable and sensitive hands of Scotty B. He’ll have his usual Thursday edition of The B List up shortly, and I’m sure there’ll be some debate in the comments.
In the meantime I’ll leave you with a handful of tracks from the first band I ever really obsessed over and listened to nonstop (usually while kickin’ a little Bill Walsh College Football Sega Genesis arse). I’ve said it here before, but if there’s one reunion I’m dying for in 2007, it’s God Street Wine. It won’t be the same without the Wetlands, but it should happen nonetheless. I can sell 50 tickets tonight.
Make the comeback, gents. Whatever’s holding this inevitable reunion back, it’s definitely not as important as making me happy. So cut the shit.
If Shakedown Street is the sketchiest block in all the neighborhood, then Sesame Street is clearly the funkiest. The kids are pickin’ up what Stevie’s layin’ down…
I’m not claiming this is the freshest clip on the cyberwebs, but even if it’s an oldie to you, it’s always pleasant to force-feed yourself some Stevie Wonder throughout the year. I mean, talk about slapping down some serious funk…then as we pan out, you just realize that this is a friggin’ Sesame Street taping from April 1973. Good lord, now this is a musical education. I joked earlier this week that Nancy Pelosi is the new Bill Graham, but I may have sold Jim Henson short in this whole equation. Stevie, take us away with a little Superstition:
And now, little man, I give this watch…to you:
- If Sesame Street ain’t your bag, here’s a somewhat poppier and rockier Superstition from MTV that features the other famous musical Stevie. Well, it’s not Nicks, so I guess I didn’t limit the options far enough. I was referring to Stevie Ray Vaughn there. A reader named Matt D. sent me that link, along with the line “How the hell did MTV go from that to Laguna Beach?” The answer, Matt? Youth is wasted on the young.
- Everyone’s waiting for the inevitable reunion announcement from the popular rock band Phish. That can wait, methinks. It’s actually God Street Wine that tops my list of Bands That Must Reunite Soon, if only for a night. I’ve often conjectured that I’m one of 100 people in the world that own all five GSW studio albums, and some of my fondest memories involve those guys strumming in the background. Here’s Borderline from 3/3/98.
- I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if I walked by the following bag of ragtag musicians playing for change in Grand Central Station. They just look so…ordinary, no? Just take one look at Eric Gale on the guitar; that guy looks more like an extra in Uncle Tom’s Cabin than a traditional rock star. But the music, she is incredible. These dudes do it right — here’s Paul Simon with a cool cast of characters on Late In The Evening.
-
An HT Tip: If you read Pullin’ ‘Tubes regularly, you won’t make much money, but you’ll get more pussy than Frank Sinatra. The Hawk told me that.
