Technically, as Scotty pointed out to me the other day, today’s band isn’t quite in the Jamband Graveyard. But when the band in question has only played a handful of select dates over the last few years and its members have full time commitments with other bands it’s safe to lump them into this category - though it’s not a fate that we want to wish on any act.
While jambands on the East Coast in the ’90s were more rock based outfits, Colorado’s Leftover Salmon brought something new to the blossoming world of improvisational music. The band members played an eclectic mix of instruments - banjo, mandolin, fiddle along with guitar, bass and drums and played their self-described brand of “Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass” - which included elements of bluegrass, rock, zydeco, folk, klezmer, funk and just about anything else they could think of.
Combining fantastic musicianship with the wry sense of humor from lead singer Vince Herman, you could pretty much expect the unexpected when you caught Leftover Salmon - wacky covers, made-up songs and as well as the head of Mayor McCheese propped up on stage. I’m not sure I’ve seen an act that had more fun than these guys, here they are with the calypso-infused Zombie Jamboree…
You can pretty much credit LoS for paving the way for like minded acts like String Cheese Incident and Yonder Mountain String Band. Leftover Salmon will make one of their now rare live appearances on Halloween at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium. Go check ‘em out!
Normally, Phish has no problem winning an edition of Cover Wars regardless of their performance of the song in question. But the hardcore fans of Bonerama (can I call you people Boneheads?) made their virtual voices heard and their band has walked away victorious from last week’s Frankenstein Cover Wars.
This week’s selection was inspired by flipping through my RSS feed of shows added to bt.etree.org on Monday. I saw two sources of the Gov’t Mule’s show from 8-8-2008 get posted and I thought - hey, Spanish Moon could be a great Cover Wars to throw together. Written by Lowell George, Spanish Moon was first released on Little Feat’s fourth studio album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. It would appear again four years later on the band’s first live recording Waiting For Columbus. Both recordings feature the Tower Of Power Horn Section.
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READ ON after the jump to see your options and cast your vote…
Want free tickets and press access to any show you want this summer? Do you like to write about and take pictures at concerts? If you answered yes to those questions, check out Billboard’s Mobile Beat contest.
Billboard is teaming up with LG to offer the winners press passes to any concert they want and a heady camera phone. In exchange they promise to post their photos and a brief review of each performance they attend. Two winners will be picked from every major metropolitan area. Simply create a photo montage of your own photos and write a 100-word essay on why you want to be a Billboard blogger. Check out the Mobile Beat web site for more information or to enter the contest.
We hope someone from our audience wins — we don’t want bunch of emo kids filing dour rants on why Dashboard Confessional has sold out.
We got plenty of links this week, so let’s get down to business:
This week’s Grousing The Aisles is all over the place. We start out by digging deep for some rare soundboards from Frank Zappa and Blind Faith before checking out an epic Leftover Salmon show in honor of its upcoming reunion. Finally, we’ll end with a set from the terrifically wacky Give Us The Money Lebowski.
Frank Zappa’s estate has done a superb job keeping the literal tons of soundboard tapes from his career out of bootleggers’ hands. In fact, there aren’t many great Zappa recordings that circulate that weren’t released directly by him or his estate. One of the better sounding shows that circulates, though, is this amazing concert from Berlin during FZ’s 1978 European tour. That ‘78 tour featured an incredible lineup of Zappa, Adrian Belew, Tommy Mars, Peter Wolf, Terry Bozzio, Ed Mann and Patrick O’Hearn.
The show starts off with a crazed Dancin’ Fool, followed by a spot-on Peaches En Regalia. The band proceeds to tear through Zappa’s greatest hits, playing incredible versions of every song they played. Frank also kept it light with some funny banter throughout the show, although I wonder how much the German audience understood. My favorite part of this show is the closing combo of Camarillo Brillo and Muffin Man. Those two songs feature what I love best about FZ’s music: face-melting solos and absurd lyrics. Be sure to download this show while you can, before Gail Zappa finds a way to charge you for it.
Read on for more from Blind Faith, Leftover Salmon and GUTML…
