Customer Reviews

Carnival '99

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I received this CD from SCI online, I was very excited to rush home and pop it into my CD player. SCI is an amazing band, with talent, structure, and texture almost unmatched in the 'jam band' circles today. This CD however does not portray accurately the magic that SCI projects from their shows. Their previous live CD, A String Cheese Incident, was recorded from one night at the Fox Theatre in Colorado. This live CD took highlights of the spring 1999 tour and pieced them together to bring a single show feel. It fell drastically short. There is basically no flow to this live CD, unlike similar live 'moments' CDs such as Widespread Panic's 'Light Fuse' CD. Excluding the above problem, there are some fantastic moments within both these CD's. CD 1 opens with the lightening fingers of Michael Kang working the strings. Missin Me into Mauna Bowa is a great jam that explores many different realms. Barstool and Take Five are nice standard SCI jams, followed by the Funky Meters song Hey Pocky Way. The disc closes with one an old SCI favorite, Black Clouds, that leaves you thirsting for more. CD2 definately does not hold together very well. The Don't Say>Birdland has some moments, with the keyboards being the glue that holds this funky jam together. From here, CD 2 takes a downturn. Hold, Jellyfish, and Drums are all out of place. I would have liked to hear the jam that the drums came from rather than just this segment. Jellyfish projects the SCI humor, and their imaginative storytelling continues with Texas. This live issue from SCI is guaranteed to please both newbies and old SCI fans alike. I would just prefer to hear a show in its entirety, with both the ups and downs, than just a 'greatest hits' live CD that has inconsistant flow.

First of all, I'd like to say that I would've given this album 3.5 stars if it was possible. Here we go... There are so many great things about it. It contains that infectious SCI live vibe, and just the general jam band live vibe that makes us all love this stuff. The first disc opens up just the way you would expect it, especially if you've listened to SCI's first live disc "A String Cheese Incident." Most of the the first disc is very good. Good jams, good vocals, good songs. I love the Dave Brubeck cover (it ain't anything like the original, but SCI certainly makes it fun and interesting). But then we come to the second disc. It open's with "Lester's Rant", which is hilarious, I must say, and rather interesting. But "Lester's Rant" kinda characterizes the feeling on this disc. It is almost, at times, as if SCI is trying to make a point of how weird they are. If you listen to "Jellyfish" you will obviously be laughing, but it becomes monotonous and boring. It is like they are trying to make people laugh more than make good music. Laughing is good, but long, drawn out songs are no fun after a while. One of the high points for me on the second disc is the drum/percussion solo. Mike Travis really displays his percussion skills here and it is amazing to me being a drummer. Overall, if you are an SCI fan and you like all their other stuff and you have some of their shows, etc. you will not dislike this CD. You'll probably like it a bit actually, but you'll just be dissapointed with certain aspects of it. If you are a new SCI listener, I'd reccommend getting "A String Cheese Incident" before picking this one up.

Having seen SCI more than dozen times since 1996 (although only once or twice in the last two years) I was disappointed to hear this album. Knowing what the band could do live and having witnessed it myself several times, this is almost unbelievable!

The first disc is pretty solid, and includes some extremely talented improvisation & interplay between members (all of which are EXTREMELY gifted musicians.) On the 2nd disc though, things go extremely awry! It gets into this cheesy (no pun intended) light jazz that are only a few notches above MUZAK. I didn't care to much for their Round the Wheel album either.

Their first live disc "A STRING CHEESE INCIDENT" has some of the most thoughful creative jamming I've ever heard on a live album and should be in the collection of any lover of "jam bands."

I'm all for expanding the horizons of a band and for experimenting with different types of music, etc., but this is mostly just misguided noodling. Hopefully SCI can turn it back around and not become a casualty in the often over-indulgent jam band scene.

I give it two stars because there are some fantastic jams that make up for the watered down jams, but not enough to make this worth having in my collection.

I have to concur with Matt Smith's review. I also have a large collection of audience and soundboard recordings of this band and have had the pleasure of attending a good number of "Incidents", as SCI's live performances are known amongst us Friends of Cheese. I feel that Carnival '99 is a great representation of what an Incident is like and is also a very crisp sounding disc that features a good selection of songs. The opening of Shenandoah into Missin' Me floors me every time. From bluegrass to jamrock to Latin to reggae to jazz to folk - Cheese blends their influences into an infectious mix that gets my blood flowing and my hips a-spinnin'. Obviously, I am a huge fan of this band and therefore am admittedly biased, but I highly recommend this disc to anyone - and usually choose it for friends who want to hear SCI for the first time. These boys keep getting better and better and better - and the fan base and scene keep growin' and growin'. Pick this one up and experience the carnival magic of an Incident!

I kept seeing SCI pop-up in Relix and finally decided to take the plunge...

Needless to say from the first track to the last, I was BLOWN away by not only the musicianship, but by the range of styles. I'm an inveterate, died-in-the-wool Deadhead; however, the jam bands today have taken that springboard and leapt into realms that the Dead couldn't capture night-in, night-out. Of all the top tier jam bands today, the Cheese, in my opinion, have firmly grabbed the torch from the Dead. They've got the vibe, the chops and that SOMETHING...

My personal favs are Missing Me>Mona Bowa (very reminscent of Little Feat and the Allmans), Hey Pocky Way, Black Clouds (check out the jam in the middle!)and all the jams on Disc 2.

Hardcore FOC will have all kinds of opinions on this disc; if you're new to SCI, you absolutely can't go wrong with this pick. I have all of SCI's studio output but they are truly a live phenomenon - if you haven't been to the real deal, then this is as close as you can get. If you're struggling between the other live disc - A String Cheese Incident - I'd say get this one since it's more in line with their live act today.

Once you've heard it, you're gonna have to see them for real...you won't be disappointed. Better hurry, though. The scene is starting to swell without Phish and the family feel of the experience is going to be gone forever.

*Friend of Cheese

I'm a new SCI fan thanks to this CD. This is truly one of the best live albums I've ever heard in my life! These guys have so much talent, they're such great musicians. I happen to like how they played light jazz on this cd, I think it adds more to the diversity of styles of music they can play. In fact, this cd made me go and see the String Cheese Incident live and believe me, they're way better live than even on this live album!

String Cheese has a thick, lush sound. True, this may not be the best live String Cheese release. But it's still a darn fine record and their sound really shows through--personal favorites of mine include the instrumental "Birdland", "Don't Say" (infinitely singalong-able), and "Mauna Bowa", a great instrumental which is probably my favorite track on the record. One of the few things I don't like about this record is the fact that it's a compilation of different shows rather than a single one, which makes the improvised transition jams seem somewhat disjointed.

Some will get it, some won't, most don't even wanna know about it.
"Carnival 99" the two disc set of live String Cheese Incident, is a fine document of music that fairly represents a Live SCI Concert of this period.

Mixing traditional Bluegrass with Jam Band looseness, this left-field musical form has been attempted by quite a few Groups over the last 20 years or so, but the Cheese along with Leftover Salmon are the two bands that just about invented this wonderful new American genre of Twirlin' Tunes. I have always perfered Live SCI over the studio releases for two reasons: 1. This Band NEEDS a stage and that die-dyed audience to make the magic that only can happen at these shows. 2. With respect to the Bands studio recordings, these live versions far outweigh their studio cousins, the X-Factor is right here, these quicksilver moments in Concert are the ones that give this music life.

From the straight Bluegrass of: "Shenandoah Breakdown" into the New Orleans Funk of: "Hey Pokey Way" many musical forms are explored. The String Cheese Incident can mix: Jazz,Rock,Caujun, lonesome Bluegrass and traditional Country Music right into free-form Cosmic Jams. This Music can turn corners on a dime, and it is so interesting to hear a 'Cool Jazz Classic from Dave Brubeck: "Take Five", transformed into a Mandolin Symphony of 'Cool Grass Music. For me, this tune alone is worth the price of admission, this is an outstanding musical adventure, amazing stuff.

The entire Band shines here but for me, Michael Kang on mandolin & violin stands out as a great soloist with the keyboard work of Kyle Hollingsworth right there in the battle. The vocal work is excellent, as The String Cheese Incident has something that is normally lacking in Slamgrass/Jam Bands, this bunch features good vocal work and harmonies.

The only thing that doesn't work for me here is the opener of disc two: "Lester's Rant". This is a Beat-Poet Reading that must sound wonderful to a Fried-Skull in the middle of the floor at these Shows, but it just sounds a little too "Dated" for me today. "Drum-Jam" is about what you would expect, a Grateful Dead/Festival Percussion solo, to work up the crowd. Again, I can see this going over Huge at the Shows for a very "Happy" Audience of Mind-Altered Spinners, but it does not transfer to CD as great entertainment value. You have to have been there!

Well here it is, 15 snippets of Live, String Cheese Incident. This is some of the finest music that is available for our ears today. I really enjoy this Band, and these are the CD's that I like to play the most. There is STILL music today that is interesting and fresh, and musicians that are willing to take chances. This ain't your Daddy's: "American Idol", this is: String Cheese Incident live on stage. When the Carnval comes to town, lose yourself for a little while. This is the Music that will do just that for you, real fine American music to take us down that long dusty road.
Four Stars !!!

This is the SCI album that I most highly recommend to others (narrowly beating out "A String Cheese Incident"), I own them all and have a collection of about 70 Incidents on disc (avg 3CDs per show!), so I do have some idea of what I'm talking about.

While it is true that I would have picked other selections [hopefully they'll finally record one of their killer Blue Bossas or Impressions (both of which can easily stretch the 20 minute mark) on their new studio album that they're just finishing up (Oct '00)], the selections here are very representative of their touring repetoir of that tour (Winter '99) and, in fact, closely align with where the songs were actually played in the set (with the exception of the Texas closer, which was the opener here in Austin during Fall '99 tour!).

This album comes closest to representing String Cheese as the rock and roll band that they have become. (and I like it)

With this record SCI have proved that they are more than a bluegrass band without losing freshness and spontaneity. Highly recommended.