Customer Reviews

Live at Roseland Ballroom

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

 

 

This is my favorite Mule album. Hard to find, don't know where I got it. Best sound of all the Mule albums, sharply defined in a medium sized concert space. The bass oh the bass!

Anyway, the music is also wonderful. My favorite is the first cut, "Trane". John McLaughlin fans take note: in the middle of Trane, Warren quotes Eternity's Breath from the Mahavishnu Orchestra's Visions of the Emerald Beyond NOTE FOR NOTE.

It really is overwhelming when that breaks out.

Explosive playing, no dross.

Buy this album!

For me this is Gov't Mule best record. Hard rocking blues with a twist of jazz. This is very raw and straight forward and I know they don't make records like this way anymore. Only the Mule could and play this kind of music that other bands dare not to trend. My favorite is "Trane" ala Mahavishnu style with more blues put in it. All the numbers in this record is an "A". I would consider this a collector's piece. It's the next best thing seeing the band live. Warren Haynes, Allen Woody and Mat Abtts, these guys know what they're doing and they are doin it good.

Live at Roseland Ballroom is yet another excellent example of the musical prowess of Gov't Mule. As usual, Warren, Allen, and Matt each bring their best to the table, which leads to one amazing CD. The tracks flow incredibly as the band continues to outdo itself as the album goes on. A loose, jammy feel permeates the CD and results in an extremely enjoyable listening experience. Like one of the other reviewers said, if you can actually find the damn thing, buy it!!! And check out more Gov't Mule!

Want to know what Mule's about? Buy this album--if you can get your hands on it. From the octave accented "St. Stephen" tease to the swinging rendition of "Kind of Bird," this release will absolute floor you.

What I actually mean is the song "Mule." This one version alone is easily worth the price of admission, while the rest of the disc rocks very well. The band is well recorded--a really great sounding live album. I'm surprised it's gone out of print. (?)

This was supposed to be the opening act for Blues Traveler's 1995-6 New Year's concert, but Gov't Mule stole the show with Traveler's set acting more as an afterthought (no offense Popper, you guys were great, too). It is the only Mule album I own, and to this day, I haven't found reasons to buy anything else in their repetoire. Some bands are better live, and this is a fine example of that.

Quite possibly the best album Gov't Mule has ever released. Amazing raw and raunchy blues. Can not go wrong. Allen Woody RIP we miss you.

From the initial rumblings of Allen Woody's bass on the album opener, "Trane", to the closing fury of "Mule", Gov't Mule's 12/30/95 performance at New York City's Roseland Ballroom, captured here, in its entirety without overdubs or edits, stands as a testament to the excitement an energized, creative rock band can produce. Steeped in the blues, as well as extended improvisational jazz and rock jams, Matt Abts on drums, Woody on bass, and Warren Haynes on lead and slide guitar, and vocals, produce a take-no-prisoners sound that makes comparable power trios like Cream and Mountain sound weak by comparison.

The opening track, "Trane", a 16+ minute instrumental which begins as a modal jazz tribute to John Coltrane, teases bits of Hendrix and Mountain in the middle, and closes with a turbo-charged 4-minute jam on the Grateful Dead's "St. Stephen" serves as a fine example of where rock should have gone in the post-hippie malaise that was much of the 1970's.

The next two songs, "Temporary Saint" and "Painted Silver Light" highlight Haynes' pained but soulful voice and his knack for equally heartfelt songwriting. A cover of the 70's pro-pot song, "Don't Step on the Grass, Sam", follows, and then it's another instrumental, "Kind of Bird". Originally conceived by Haynes along with Dickey Betts when Haynes and Woody were in the Allman Brothers Band in the early 90's, "Bird" starts as another jazz tribute, this time to Charlie Parker. However, Gov't Mule twists and molds this number into several different forms before rejoining the original theme in a simply jaw-dropping 9+ minutes.

The show, and the album, finishes with the Gov't Mule original, "Mule". Though Haynes' extraordinary slide guitar work leaps at the listener here, the piece is yet another showcase for the astounding musicianship Gov't Mule constantly displays. In mid-song, Gov't Mule breaks the jam off into a one-verse take on the Townes Van Zandt-penned classic, "Who Do You Love?" before quickly, and very deftly returning, following a numbing slide solo from Haynes, to "Mule" for its conclusion.

Gov't Mule isn't charting unexplored musical waters here. They're simply expounding on, and quite possibly perfecting, a classic musical style, rock and roll, that too many others have prematurely written off as dead.

Great heavy/blues stuff. All three players are on fire.