Customer Reviews

Live...With A Little Help From Our Friends

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a fantastic live album, almost on par with the Allman Brother's Live at Filmore East. The music is similar Southern Blues, which would be expected since Haynes and Woody were formerly part of the Allman Brothers Band. Gov't Mule is a trio, but a lot of depth is added to this CD by a number of guest stars, including Derek Trucks (Butch's nephew), Chuch Leavell (formerly of the Allman Brothers), Bernie Worell (from Parliament/Funkadelic) and Randall Bramlett on sax. The 30 minute version of John Coltrane's Afro Blue is worth the price of the CD.

If you are considering buying this CD, you might want to look at the 4 CD Limited Edition. It comes in a little cardboard case with a spiral notebook, slightly bigger than a jewel box. There are a lot of color pictures (but the packaging is the reason to buy this). The Limited Edition has about 100 more minutes of music. I would be hard pressed to decide what to remove from the 4 CD version to get down to 2 CD's (except maybe the Chipmunk solo during Spanish Moon). I certainly would have kept in Mule and Jimi Hendrix's Third Stone From the Sun in favor of some of the other songs that were left on the 2 CD version. The last CD is an enhanced with video that can be played on a PC. The liner notes say that a newer operating system may be required to run it.

There are two downsides to the 4 CD set, and they may also exist on the is 2 CD set. There is a lot of talking in between songs. And, the sound quality isn't perfect. In some places, it has that echoey concert hall sound that is common on inferior live recordings.

Sadly, this two-CD set captured just part of a nearly four-hour show. Like the Dead do with Dick's Picks, this coulda-shoulda been a 3-CD set. Still, what's here kicks butt! The second disk has a slow, awesome Dave Mason cover, then cuts to a Mule original before settling in on a too kind cover of Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer." A 30-minute jazz jam follows that and wraps up the CD. The first CD is memorable for a Humble Pie tune, "30 Days in the Hole," with a bit of "I Don't Need No Doctor" thrown in. Takes me back to the days when "Rockin' the Fillmore" first came out on A&M. The Mule's version is damn near as good as Pie's. Overall, this is one fine album. I regret waiting several months to buy it. A few good reviews changed my mind. I highly recommend this! Jac in Tucson

I got turned on to Gov't Mule late in the act, but thank God I did. They are a great group of muscians who obviously enjoy playing together.It is too bad that they lost their great bass player shortly after this CD. This CD repressents a taste of how this band performs live. If you want to hear more pick up the 4 CD set of this same concert. However, the set list on this 2 CD set is excellent. It has a number of great covers including: Black Sabbaths "War Pigs" ( can't help but think of Rumsfield and the situation in N. Korea/Iraq these days), Humble Pie's "30 Days in the Hole" with a tease of "I don't need no doctor" at the end, and a Great version of Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer". That being said the two tunes that impressed me the most were Dave Mason's "Sad and Deep as You" and Coltranes "Afro-Blue". Just stellar playing throughout. If you like instrumental interplay and long laid out jams this CD is a must. Also some of the other reviewers mentioned the talking in-between songs on the 4 CD set, you won't find that on this set.If you can't afford the 4 CD set this is a excellent way to ease the pain untill that time.

I recently saw a Gov't Mule show and it was fantastic. They closed off the encores with Rockin' in the Free World, and it was an unreal ending to a concert which kept me through the roof the whole way through. This album actually does a very effective job, in my opinion, of capturing the live power of the band. Though no live album has or will ever come close to The Brothers at Fillmore East, this may come as close as any.

And as for when Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks (who is actually Butch's nephew, not son) play together, I also saw the Allman Brothers this summer, with these two and w/out the kicked out Dickey Betts, and it was probably the best I've ever seen. I don't think its unfair to say that Derek Trucks could be a next Duane Allman, and he and Warren dualing to old Allman Brothers blues classics helped me to truly glimpse what it might've been like in the heyday of TABB. If you are a fan of this type of live musical intensity, this album is a can't miss.

The music contained on this 2 CD set and the 4 CD Collector`s Edition it is culled from is intended to be a document of a special night of music. The ability of the musicians to lay out their very soul on these cuts and the way that they continue to amaze and excite on every song far out weighs any quibble about the sound isn`t studio quality. if that`s what you want listen to any number of glossy crap on the AM radio. If what you want is astonishing musicians improvising and creating jams that make you smile and wonder at the talent that can come from an individual, then buy this.

I personally have no problem with the sound, because that`s not what is important here. The soulfulness and the love of each musician here for the music is what makes this unique. The way the players are able to blend their own sound into the songs of the Mule, and the great cover versions here, that`s what is important. If you listen to a song, or a whole CD, and when it`s done you sit there in the quiet and you can`t believe what you heard, and so you listen again, and the feeling is still the same, then you know you`ve heard greatness. I can pretend to be qualified enough to critique a musicians work and act like I know more about what they did or did not play, or that their sound isn`t up to par. I can only relay the experience that I felt and heard, and try to express it. This a wonderful collection of songs from a great concert, as I feel are the majority of Warren Haynes and the Mule shows are. They bring together incredible musicians, play great covers, and they sound awesome. By the way, I give this an unofficial 6 stars.

I was fortunate enough to see this show, and this is one of the few live albums that accurately captures the live magic that was released that evening. The sound quality is killer! Turn it up man!!!

Another good live album. Not one of the all-time classics, but one of the best from a "new" band. There's only a few Mule songs here, it's mostly covers, so even if you don't like the band you might like this. Thorazine Shuffle is great as always. Also, the covers of War Pigs, 30 Days In The Hole, and Soulshine are particularly interesting. The only real throwaway song is Dolphenious, which has to be there really because of the New Year's Eve countdown. Overall, a good album, but not a must-have.

The recording was made at a long long (til 4am) jam at an Atlanta club. This version of the cd is edited from that session, but the box set has just about the whole thing, plus some multimedia. If you're a fan, you'll definitely want to go for the 4 cd set instead. Otherwise, you'll miss some really outstanding stuff.

Wow, Go'vt Mule did it again. I've seen the mule live in Seattle and I must say, its a 100% far better than listening to their CDs. This live CD is the next best thing. You couldn't imagine a live CD doing cover numbers would come out just super ............. I must say this is one of the best live records I've come across and my list goes way back to the late 60's. Hard rock for the new millenium...

The whole album is good, but Afro Blue is one of those jams that you can just put on "repeat" and listen to all day. It's one part early Allman, one part Dead, and unlike anything else being put out these days. The Mule are sort of a throwback, but there's nothing wrong with that.