Outside Inside

String Cheese Incident

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 15, 2001)
• Original Release Date: May 15, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sci Fidelity Records
• ASIN: B00005B69L
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #28,012 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If the term "jam band" conjures up any number of negative stereotypes, Colorado's String Cheese Incident happily turn nearly all of them on their heads with this collection. The band's ostensible bluegrass roots are all but obscured by an adventurous tack that winds its way through R&B, soul, reggae, country, and Latin influences, borrowing, mixing, and tweaking as it goes. Indeed, it's almost jarring when the band finally returns to its mountain-music origins on the Cajun-flavored "Up the Canyon." There's a distinct Grateful Dead sensibility at work throughout, with Bill Nershi and Michael Kang's fluid, lyrical lead lines occasionally recalling the best of Garcia and Weir. But there's a decidedly un-Dead economy of purpose in both the songwriting and soloing. The loping rhythms and tight, fat grooves seem more pronounced, perhaps the influence of Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, who produced this solid pan-American musical adventure. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Another Inheritor Of The Grateful Dead/Phish Scene?, August 2, 2001

By	Bruce Crocker "agnostictrickster" (Whittier, California United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The String Cheese Incident is an excellent band and Outside Inside is an excellent album. The key to this excellence is the musical talent in the band, both in the playing and the songwriting catagories. The music is what it's really all about, Charlie Brown. The scene is fun, the crowd rocks at the shows, the fans wear funny clothes, and, yes, that is marijuana you smell, but when push comes to shove, it's the music that matters.

I saw the show at the Greek Theater in LA last night [straight, as always] and listened to the new album for the first time last night [straight, as always] and I think that puts me in a position to offer some pithy insights. The show and the album are different animals, but definitely of related species. As has been pointed out about studio albums by many a jam band, the songs just aren't the same on the album as they are in concert. Duh! It's a jam band. But as someone once said about the Grateful Dead [while expressing disappoinment about the lack of a final studio album], the studio album represents a starting point, the core of each song from which the jam starts, an original document. Without that core song, there would be no jam. That said, this studio album stands on its own without the anticipation of jams to come. Your local DJ could play these tunes on the radio without embarassing herself or inflaming the PTA. I dare you to play Rollover and not dance [or think heavily about the lyrics]. You don't have to be a neo-hippie to like the tunes on this disc. The Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers/Phish influences are there for all to hear [gee, I wonder what these guys listened to as youngsters?], but SCI isn't into mere imitation of their myriad influences. This album is a monument to SCI's unique musical mix. As a fan of Los Lobos, I must mention Steve Berlin's contribution as producer. I think this is SCI's best studio album and I think Berlin should get his share of the credit.

Get Outside Inside AND go to A String Cheese Incident show. Enjoy both. And dance!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars String Cheese Incident is Hoop-a-riffic!, August 1, 2001

By	Tim Geisenheimer "hoopinfreek" (NYC) - See all my reviews

I must say that I am a tad bit subjective in rating this album because I am a certifiable FOC (Friend of Cheese). That aside this album is a perfect introduction to the depth and breadth of String Cheese Incident's (SCI) unique musical offerings. In the confines of one single disc they offer the listener a glimpse of exactly what a band should be. Not that I'm saying all bands should sound exactly like SCI, rather all bands should experiment with their sound as much as SCI does. On this one disc, the listener is bombarded with a myriad of different types of sound, from latin, to Carribean, to reggae, to straight-up rock, to Grateful Dead-esque psychdelic jamming, to a techno infused rendition of a SCI favorite (courtesy of DJ Logic), and finally to a sweet bluegrass tune. Very few bands are capable of such extreme shifts in musical focus all on one CD, yet SCI does it with ease.

I guess that's enough reviewing for right now, I have two suggestions though: 1) Buy this CD, and 2) See SCI live! It's imperative that you do this for it will change the way you think about music. Please do this and you'll thank me later.

Keep on hoopin'

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outside Inside is a must, May 28, 2001

By	Richard Gehr (East Coast) - See all my reviews

Somewhere between Phish's avant-arena highwire act and the Dave Matthews Band's coliseum Keg party lies The String Cheese Incident. A tripper-friendly improv-rock quintet with bluegrass roots, the Incident goes concise and crafty on their third studio album. Highlights range from the title track's southern-fried acid funk to electric-mandolin whiz Michael Kang's 10-minute prog-reggae ode to Gaia, "Rollover". Stylistically, the group adheres to an anything-goes policy, indulging in everything from r&b to afropop, but in the end, acoustic flat picker Bill Nershi brings it all back home. -Richard Gehr