Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Album of the Day

Live at the Murat, by Umphrey's McGee (2007): The theory is that jam bands are really in their element playing live and that studio albums can't match the groovy goodness of a live show. Why do I find just the opposite to be true? The couple of Phish studio albums I have I enjoy quite a bit, but the live stuff I've seen/heard leaves me cold. I picked up a cheapo used offering from post-Dead outfit The Other Ones (largely due to Bruce Hornsby's presence), which promptly bored me to tears. And with UM, similarly, it's the studio albums that really get me going. This two-disc set, recorded in Indianapolis, is perfectly OK, but it doesn't stick with me. Most of the tunes - even the ones I know from studio discs - run together in seamless endless jams. I dig what's happening at the time, but nothing is left behind in my brain. I had a similar reaction to one of their live DVDs I Netflixed last year. Maybe I'll change my mind when/if I ever get a chance to see them live in the flesh.

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