October 26, 2007

''Corrinado moves with ease Eluding all authority with his own agility Ducks down an alley to the center square bazaar Soldiers yell, soldiers scream, don't let him get too far..."

(I smell a whiff of hashish, sweat, body odor, camel dung and spices when fully engulfed into this song as well as Manilla, in a black dishdasha or kandora, equipped with a 30 inch Talwar and a kard dagger in his belt. Corrinado is as fast as the wind in escape, carrying but a dagger in his boot and a light, mobile chechia with a thin multi-wrap. His mind is his weapon, Manilla on the other hand is filled with rage, greed and a torn acl....his troops will let him down once again)

11 days of heaven on Earth. I won't analize the show as Treeman did a good job. October 23 - Boone NC

November 4 - Buffalo NY

One of the greatest weeks (week and a half) for the Biscuits. Although I only saw the final 4 shows from Albany to Buffalo, All 4 were consistent, fresh and include some of the most memorable jams to date. My buddy taped this show and the next in DC at the Warner. I'll never forget the call from his hotel at 3am announcing the wave the band was presently riding and to get on tour asap...things are sounding the best they have since 2002-03. OK, Sweep, meet ya in Albany on the 1st. Btw, this is the only time I ever in my life found a ticket right there in the grass. Crazy. Plenty of miracles and such but a kickdown from God!? never happened until this night. Everything that night was running on fate...it was meant to be. Then it just happened to be one of the funnest shows I've ever seen. Anyway, back to Rams...

from the 7-11 jam outro ~> Hot Air Balloon ~> Digital Buddha(inv) ~> Hot Air Balloon (yes the whole set) is an exercise in pacing your dopamine hits for they are everywhere tonight and just might blow a gasket if not prudent. Without a doubt, this is one hell of a well jammed out 2007 1st set, very close to Albany Nov.1 and the underrated St. Pete's show Oct.10. Please be careful with this HAB, it will drive you into a ditch or make you spill your bong water all over those nice new Eddie Bauer First Ascension pants. It's one of the best EVER!

Mr. Mags is dialed in like a gangster tonight. From 7-11 alone, you become aware that he's in a frisky mood and aside from the gorgeous grand piano it stays true to the psychefunkadelic nature of this set.

The opening Voices in II is pretty original and quite beautiful with the ambience groove.

{Bazaar Escape ~> Spaga(inv) ~> Crickets ~> Astronaut} This Bazaar is crazy. It's an all-time for me as I look at the 'ole note binders of Biscuits show reviews, experiences, highlights, tours, people, trips, setlists, etc. It's an all timer for me, strictly IMO...It's just technically perfect with a smooth vocal run by Barber. Nice horn patch/pedal section jam.

The approach leading into another perfect segue for the top notch inverted Spaga is awe-some. This one is fire. I absolutely adore inverted Spaga's. Firstly, they are pretty rare(sorta). The beginning is the ending of course so that means a lot of psychedelic space rock coupled with Ozric Tentacles-like keyboard action straight from the mind of GAIA. Lots of whistles and bells in the opening jam, pretty fun but spacey. Then Barber arrives and knows where he can fit in....no rush, just listen and contribute. At around 5:30 in things get manic as Allen is drumming like he's putting out a fire, great stuff. The re-entry after this is all Magner...his steel-drum sound is exquisite. We're off. At 10 minutes-ish in Magner 'Slays The Beast For All To See' Barber>Magner vocals. 17:30 transition groove towards the ending power cosmik couple of "cketsCristronaut" a 40 minute interlude very much worth your attention! The ending jam is one of the sweeter Spaga keyboard takes you will hear (before opening lyrics).

The name of this song is "Splattums" aka Song II of the South, ask. How can you not love a song about sex and cumming "splattums" all over the place? Cover your eyes honey "look out...splattums!!!" hey, I just report it. The way Mags and Barber enter Crix from the backside (hehe) is as good as it gets for a Crickets entry. It's airy, mellow and suspenseful. It sounds like a RLH might be coming but neh.... The splattum section and it's front basslines get a good reaction, they could do no wrong here. A magnifique 25+ minute Crickets that stays unfinished. Straight ahead, full effort. This version kills and shows the dare I say ''growing up'' they've done during this time, it's chilled and funky. The type 1 starting at around 14-15 minutes in is what 2007 is all about vis-a-vis- the 2009 monster year. Allen deserves massive Molock praise on this ending jam. PLEASE listen to his rhythm!? I have not heard such complex beats in my life. It starts as a wake up call to the others, secondly he uses around 5 different rhythm segments as they climb that happy-hill toward Astronaut. Wow. The last 7 minutes of this Crix is largely Barber of course. It ends up into a speedy stargate of opiate sensibilities before >>>>

Astrofunk. With Magner as the controls. Will the SITA jam in this gorgeous Astronaut prove to be a monster? Yes. it's a very clean version, starting with the cathedral bells calling and it's really a joy to hear Marc's masterful basslines in the approach alongside electric drums and movie soundtrack synth expressions. A great SITA jam. Not a 2009-04-20 / 2008-07-19 or 2009-10-09 (w. Marley's Hammer jam; that one is way up there too and my fave) but it's up there as a SITA to remember. The final 5 is definitely vibing on the end of show reprise jam feeling. You cannot encore after this. Like Jerry said (in terms of JGB shows) "not all shows are in line, worthy of the encore. I come from an era where an encore was a huge statement on the band to audience synergy that night brought. Encore aren't automatic" [when asked why he did not encore all of his JGB shows and why only sometimes" In another way, like this night, perhaps you cannot add...it has been said and it was goooood. Or they ran out of time hahaha. The tune seems to be a celebration within a celebration... an ode to the great set they just had and the absolute scorching heat they find themselves in on this tour. A fist pumping version.

Man, the quality of shows they have played in Philtimore, the second home, is astounding.

** The Strain To Expand The Musical Heaven That Is 2007 ** [Durban Poison] Boing! Durban Poison is a really interesting strain. It’s about as close to a true ‘sativa’ as you’ll ever find today. It’s many peoples favorite for the classic alert and focusing high. It’s also usually won’t give you munchies. The unique effects are because of THC-V. THC-V is super unique in the way it interacts with your body. I don’t wanna get too into receptor activity but it’s non intoxicating in low doses and seems to be very good for brain health. Showing plaice effects on anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, and general focus. It’s the only appetite suppressing cannabinoid. THC-V may also help people with type 2 diabetes regulate blood sugar levels. It’s even been shown to promote new bone growth.

If the "normies" would bother to do a little research and speak with large sample size of people, they might, just might crossover to the positive side of this plant. One can only hope. Hope can start your car.

Love, Gone tomorrow ; here today. Michael

7-11 has a “towel jam” that gets a little further out there than this jam typically does. Still not a highlight or anything, but better than usual for sure. Second jam is mostly aimless and just a lot of filler. Near the end, they drop to half-time and Barber switches to the MIDI keyboard while Magner plays the grand piano. This is a solid segue into HAB, but the jam itself does very little for me. What follows is an all-time great version of Hot Air Balloon. Barber immediately comes up with this up-and-down riff, and Magner comes in on atop of this with an odyssean riff with a vibrato-heavy square wave patch. This is absolutely phenomenal, and one of my favorite themes from the band, ever. From there, they ditch this in favor of a darker theme, and somehow this is just as cool. Barber hops on MIDI and is not overly distracting, and Magner comes up with some ridiculously great trance leads. This is wonderful stuff, and they build an absolutely incredible Buddha peak. The Buddha jam begins with Barber again on MIDI keyboard, and parts of this are really neat, but ultimately I am not nearly as high on this jam as I think others have historically been.

Voices begins with a 2- to 3-minute long ambient jam, and this is really neat. It’s interesting that spring tour had so much of this relative to fall tour. It’s always beloved when they stretch out these intros, and I don’t know why they stopped doing it so much. Bazaar is jammed out from the ending “Hey!” section. This turns into a neat drum and bass jam. Magner uses this “trumpet” patch that is absolutely awesome, and Barber’s guitar tone near the end of this jam has heavy use of FX. This develops into a marvelous peak, even if it feels like the Spaga peak riff comes sort of out of nowhere. The jam out of Spaga into Crickts has a section that uses the same chord progression from what would become Portal. This is a coincidence only, but still a beautiful chord progression, as is the rest of this jam into Crickets. Barber has a great Voices tease as they sort of melt into the beginning of Crickets. This is deeply psychedelic and interesting, and they extend the Crickets intro significantly. Normally I would say just get on with the song, but there’s something special and unique here that warrants the extension. The Crickets jam has some great energy, and Magner has some really neat usage of the “trumpet” lead once again. After a few minutes of high-intensity jamming, they pull back significantly and have a much spacier sound as they make their ascent to the Crickets peak. This is all very solid. The SITA jam is short, forgettable. The second Astronaut jam takes an interesting turn, and rather than the usual dark second jam they develop a beautiful Blissco theme. Magner and Barber have some wonderful dueling melodies as they approach a crescendo late in the jam. Uplifting, melodic, and a stark contrast to the darkness which permeated so much of fall 2007. Beautiful, glorious stuff.

Highlights: HAB**, Buddha, Voices (Intro), Bazaar**, Spaga*, Crickets (1*), Astronaut (2**)