April 18, 2001

The Vassilios jam is pretty short and simple, with Magner holding down a pretty simple and mellow keyboard line. It builds to a strong segue into relative rarity Radiator. Radiator is a standard version. Bazaar actually has a playful intro jam for I believe the first time ever. Musically enjoyable, but even more interesting for the rarity. Otherwise, the song is standard. Morph has a strong theme, almost immediately eschewing standard electro-funk in favor of a more trance-oriented theme (a la 4/30/99). It builds to a symphonic crescendo before Sammy shifts the beat towards Robots. Very cool segue. Robots has a pretty mellow funk style jam that is enjoyable but not terribly memorable (though it is interesting that this Robots jam section would disappear until fall 2002). The dnb jam out of Robots is stronger. After some mellow dnb jamming, Sammy shifts toward a trance groove around 15:30, and picks up the tempo heading into the Morph ending.

Pilin’ is a pretty standard post-99 version. Aceetobee has a drawn out intro jam. I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was, but it reaches a crescendo of almost symphonic excellence before landing in Aceetobee. The transition into Humu is labeled as a DJ segue, but I’m not sure I agree—it might just be a really smooth transition. Either way, it’s pretty cool. Humu itself is played in full, and pretty boring honestly. Barber dominates the jam, and while there isn’t anything really wrong with his playing, it’s also sorely lacking in any real theme building. The Humu “outro” is essentially a drop straight back into Aceetobee territory. I expected the Aceetobee jam to be a short and straightforward return to the middle section, but it actually manages to explore some type two territory, if only briefly. The main jam is drawn out and excellent as well. M.E.M.P.H.I.S. has a fairly drawn out, standard main jam. Barber is the driving force in this jam, and he builds patiently to a groove oriented peak. It’s fine, but it lacks the usual punch that I look for in these jams. M.E.M.P.H.I.S. does not have an outro; instead, it drops directly into a Crickets intro. Crickets is an excellent version. The first jam is a slow mellow build that breaks down into some sinister territory around the 10-11 minute mark. Strong sinister theme, and a strong peak. The funk jam is standard.

3/5. Surprised myself by how much I enjoyed this one. Aceetobee and Crickets are the highlights, and both sandwiches offered more interesting music than I had expected.

Stray Observations: This would be the last Save The Robots until 12/31/01. There is an extended “Peter and the Wolf” jam in Aceetobee.