Live...With a Little Help from Our Friends [LIVE]

Gov't Mule

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 1999)
• Original Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Live
• Label: Volcano
• ASIN: B00000IFTG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #224,527 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > Classic Rock > Live Albums > Southern Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Gov't Mule's arsenal of endless jams that somehow perpetually build in intensity make it natural that this Southern power trio has so quickly returned to the live-record format. The Mule's second concert recording in four years is as virile as the title is impotent. Recorded in Atlanta on New Year's Eve, 1998, the 145-minute, two-CD set serves as a road map through their array of influences, wending its way through Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Free, Elmore James, Traffic, and Neil Young & Crazy Horse before settling in for the night at the John Coltrane Inn for a half hour of "Afro Blue." Despite all this prime cover material, the highlight might still be Warren Haynes's original "Soulshine" (first recorded while Haynes and bassist Allen Woody were with the Allman Brothers), a gritty and spiritual Muscle Shoals soul-style number that finds Haynes bouncing guitar licks off young Derek Trucks while the unlikely keyboard tandem of Bernie Worrell and Chuck Leavell dig in behind them. The steady stream of guests--also including former Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, former ARU guitarist Jimmy Herring, and reed man Randall Bramblett--keeps things moving along, but in truth, Haynes, Woody, and drummer Matt Abts hardly need any help generating incendiary, densely packed music. This powder keg is a mission statement and mission accomplished all in one wrapper. --Marc Greilsamer

Entertainment Weekly
For beefy hard-rock jamming, you can't do much better than this two-CD live set.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars May want to get the 4CD limited edition, April 11, 2000

By	kireviewer (Sunnyvale, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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 son), 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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Music!, March 4, 2003

By	Bluematter "Bluematter" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live...With a Little Help from Our Friends (Audio CD)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great jams from a great band, June 17, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Tucson, Baja Arizona) - See all my reviews

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