THE BIG WU
3/13/98 (Biveco Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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With the Dead, well, in demise, Phish on hiatus and the jamband scene splintered into dozens of camps revolving around bands playing everything from straight funk to electrified bluegrass to classic mindless noodling, where's an unreconstructed hippie to turn for a dose of the vibe we counted on for so long to get to the zone?

Would you believe Minnesota? I would, because that's home to the Big Wu, a band whose studio efforts I've admired and who, with the release of this 3-CD live set of a 1998 performance in Minneapolis, have earned my vote for Best Damn Jam Band In The Land.

Everything you could want is here - great original songs, creatively selected covers, a fine acoustic set to open and 2 and a half hours of electrified (in multiple senses of the word) performances. Fine musicians, a sympathetic audience and did I mention the songs? One of the things that the band's studio output has revealed is that they've come up with one of the strongest catalogs of original material in a very crowded field, and ultimately no matter how great any player's chops are, it comes down to what those chops are applied to. The solution to mindless noodling by jambands? Have great songs to start out with and great songs to get back to.

The Big Wu have great songs.

They do, by all the evidence here, a great show, too. Over three hours, in this case, so well paced that even without the ambience of a live show they can hold your attention for the duration and leave you wishing for one more encore.

This is the first new release on the band's own Bivco Records, founded in the wake of the collapse of the label they were last signed to. It's joined on the shelves by three catalog titles that disappeared with that collapse. While I'd suggest grabbing the new one first, I happily recommend that you collect the whole set soon, including Tracking Buffalo Through The Bathtub, Live At the Fitzgerald Theatre and Folktales.

Track Lists:

Disc One:
Intro * Dark Hollow * The City Of New Orleans * On The Road Again * All Around The World * Dreadful Wind & Rain * Diamond Joe * Take The World By Storm * Last Train * House Of Wu * Elani * Precious Hands * Bird On The Wing * Kensington Manor

Disc Two:
Minnesota Moom * Mister Charlie * The Ballad Of Dan Toe * Tangled Up In Blue * Silcanturnitova * Good Lovin' * "...too high!" * Dark Star (w/Other One jams) * Two Person Chair

Disc Three:
Kangaroo * Gimme A Raise * SOS (w/Kashmir jam) * Werewolves Of London * Red Sky

[Pick up this CD at http://www.thebigwu.com/.]

© 2002 - Shaun Dale