The only two tracks worth mentioning as good are the "Hungover and Hostile in Hanover" mix of "Drunk With Power" and the "Guns for Hire" mix of "Dozo". Other than these fine numbers, there's nothing here. Techno versions of so-so songs. I want to spend the majority of this review questioning Maynard's want to do such trivial shit, and I am willing to chalk this whole Puscifer project up as a mid-career life-crisis or something. But c'mon, dude, this isn't what people listen to you for, and they're not going to start. If there's one person out there who didn't know of Tool or A Perfect Ciecle before hearing Puscifer, and claims to be a big fan of theirs and especially the vocals of Maynard Keenan, I think I'd just about crap my pants. 

Which would resemble this disc. Get those two goodies from itunes, they'd make great additions to certain playlists. Otherwise, unless you're one of those Tools who follows everything Maynard does as gospel, you can safely avoid V Is For Viagra. 

It's not that "The Weight," "Jambalaya" and "Like a Hurricane" are bad, and Healy's playing is raw and right throughout. And certainly the choices of familiar songs benefit a bar band, and this was recorded with a bar band backing him, and two tracks on the record are live. But too often the playing doesn't rise above what you'd hear on a Friday night anywhere. And you know yourself, most Friday night bands sound great only after a beer or four. Other tracks like "It's Only Money" and "Mess O'Blues" are by the numbers barrellhouse blues, nothing more.

Better are the slow, sexy strut of "How Blue an You Get," or the semi-funky "Sugar Sweet."

But even here there is nothing adventurous at work, nothing that tries to take you higher. Healy, at least in the early days, was mentioned as a new blues guitar hero, only just below Stevie Ray Vaughn. What kept him from reaching that level, aside from not being able to singvery well, is that his fretwork, for all its fire and bruising potential, never made any tune his own. "Messof Blues" is fun record, one featuring several shit-hot guitar solos by an artist who'll be missed, but who didn't leave anything classic behind. Maybe some posthumous live stuff will come out and make me sound like a son of a bitch. I hope so.

As a 3-piece, the band creates something that sounds so much bigger throughout the album. The style, as mentioned, is all down-tuned grinding depression, with riffs that slowly churn on as the drums punctuate the deafening drone. Above it all soar the twisted and melancholic vocals of Patrick Walker, who's lyrics add to the overall sense of damnation and suffering through tales of bitter loss and punishing burden. While most doom fans will feel right at home, there will be many who are drawn back by this style; mostly because it doesn't change at all. The tempo might vary slightly, but only from mid-paced crawl to slow crawl to an inching crawl. An oozy pit of despair is boiled over and over...and over. Even if you love this stuff, you just might feel as loaded with baggage after one listen as the album is itself. 

So, apart from any stylistic differences you might have with it, there's nothing but good things to be said for Watching From A Distance. Despite the negativity that comes pouring from it. A true benchmark in doom metal this is, and as such any fan should indeed own it. 

Lee Combs Lot 49
North American Release Date: October 28
Lot49 Records

Lee Coombs to drop his critically acclaimed “Lot 49” mix CD stateside + new original productions, remixes and artist album in the pipeline

“Lot 49” CD set features productions and remixes from Oliver Huntemann, Guy Gerber, UNKLE Vs Black Mountain, Meat Katie, Elite Force and Lee Coombs, among others

Listen to Lee’s own bootleg remix of Meat Beat Manifesto classic “Radio Babylon”:
Go get Adobe Flash Player!

“Sick as you like, and flawlessly put together, the chances of you finding more oomph for your hard-earned buck are limited at best. Marvelous” – IDJ

“Coombs has done well by enticing fans of breaks, house and techno and creating something they can all dig.” (Compilation Of The Month) - DJ Mag

Lee Coombs has been at the forefront of the electronic music scene for the better part of 15 years. He’s released groundbreaking mix CDs, remixed the world’s most acclaimed artists and knocked out dancefloor destroying productions considered classics years after their release. While often associated with the Breaks genre, this labelling does not begin to tell the entire story. A boundary-less approach is truly Coombs’ trademark and he’s famous for mixing up breaks, house, electro, techno and acid with dexterous assurance. Prime example: Lot49 Presents: Lee Coombs

For this compilation, Coombs has pulled out all the stops, digging deep into a treasure trove of breaks, house and techno and pulling out pure gold. Opening with the rocking drums and simple catchy riff of Coombs & DJ Icey’s “Duo Drive The Ride,” the mix shifts effortlessly through an electronic landscape taking in earth shuddering basslines, deep brooding grooves and a blatant disregard to genre boundaries. Here. Offerings from Tiga’s Turbo label sit alongside productions from German wunderkind Oliver Huntemann and rough breaks and bass from Dopamine rub shoulders with the house sound of Guy Gerber. Amongst the gems is an unreleased Meat Katie remix of Alloy Mental and the much sought after “No Hits” from Black Mountain vs UNKLE.

Lot49 Presents: Lee Coombs is just one of several new releases this Producer/Remixer/DJ has planned for the next few months. In October top breaks label Fingerlickin’ Records will release Coombs’ “The Future Sound of Retro 2008 remixes” and include the track on it’s 10-year anniversary compilation. In November, Lot49 Records will issue Lee Coombs feat Katherine Ellis “Control.” The package is set to feature three remixes and will be available in both vinyl and digital formats. Looking towards 2009, Coombs looks to offer his collaboration with Uberzone entitled “Right Now” and plans on the release of his latest original artist CD. While still dancefloor focused, Coombs views this album as his most ambitious project yet. It will feature a range of tempo from 100 – 128 bpm and collaborations with the likes of Meat Katie, Seasunz, Katherine Ellis, Uberzone, among others.

Further proof of Coombs’ versatility and talent as a producer arrives with his own bangin’ white label remix of Meat Beat Manifesto classic “Radio Babylon.” Call it what you want, but this one truly kicks ass. Download it while you can free by clicking here

Lot49 Presents: Lee Coombs is released in North America on October 28

Lot49 Presents: Lee Coombs
Tracklisting:

1. Lee Coombs – “Tech Intro
2. Lee Coombs & DJ Icey – “Duo Drive”
3. Drama Society – “Crying Hero”
4. Dopamine – “Come Closer”
5. Longrange – “Vultures Over Croydon (Lee Coombs Remix)”
Longrange feat Meat Katie, Elite Force and Roland Clark “The Answer (Accapella)”
6. 30Hz – “Daddio (Miles Dyson Remix)”
7. Oliver Huntemann “Zum Goldenen Handschuh”
8. James Harcourt – “Galia Melon ( Lee Coombs remix)”
9. Aaren San – “Oslo Nights (Blende Remix)”
10. Elite Force – “Engine”
11. Alloy Mental – “God Is Green (Meat Katie Remix)”
12. Lee Coombs and Nick Thayer - “TFM”
13. Dopadox – “Ballistic”
14. Guy Gerber – “X Factor”
15. UNKLE VS Black Mountain – “No Hits (Unkle Surrender Sounds Session #3)”
16. Lee Coombs – “Tech Outro”

LEE COOMBS BULLET POINTS

* In 1998 Coombs made his first massive strike on the breaks scene as the prized recruit of then ‘up and coming’ label Finger Lickin’, with the man’s acclaimed album of 2001 ‘Future Sound of Retro’ signalling his arrival on the world stage. Such was the impressive nature of Coombs’ debut that respected industry figurehead Pete Tong noted him as the ‘man to watch’. An ‘Essential New Tune’ accolade soon followed courtesy of Tong, with Coombs’ re-rub of Quivver’s ‘One Last Time’ making dance fans weak at the knees the world over.
*Such was the demand for Coombs, that luminary Paul Oakenfold signed him to mix 2002’s acclaimed Perfecto Breaks album.
* Coombs has remixed world-class acts including Moby, New Order and Lamb
* Lee Coombs released his debut artist album Breakfast of Champions in 2004. The album signalled a significant evolution in his sound by traversing the ambitious new territory of Tech Funk and injecting the Breaks sound with butt-shaking elements of House, Electro and Techno.
* In 2005, Coombs’ relocated to San Francisco and launched his Thrust club nights. These quarterly events would become one of the city’s hottest tickets.
* in early 2008, Coombs was married and relocated to the historically breaks-friendly land of Orlando, Florida

FORTHCOMING ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS

Lee Coombs feat Katherine Ellis*
“Control”
Lot49 records
Nov 2008 vinyl and download formats

“Original mix”
”Rogue Element remix”
”The Dolphins remix”
”10 Rapid Remix”

Lee Coombs & Uberzone*
“Right Now”
Lot49 records
Release date TBA

Lee Coombs
“The Future Sound of Retro 2008 remixes”**
Finger Lickin’ records
Release Mid-October 08 download-only format

Untitled Lee Coombs Artist Album
Release early 2009
Lot49 records

*Tracks will appear on Lee Coombs’ forthcoming artist album
** Part of Finger Lickin’s 10-year anniversary CD released this October

FORTHCOMING REMIXES

Bassnectar– “Riddiculous Wobble” - OM Records
30 HZ – “Consume Daphne” – LOT49
Hyperion – “Gotta Hold It” – U & A RECORDS
UNKLE – “Keys To The Kingdom” – Surrender Sounds
Uberzone – “Alphawave” – Nitrus Records

Links:
www.leecoombs.com
www.myspace.com/leecoombs

Coral Caves is a new Italian five-piece formation that has delivered a wonderful, often compelling debut CD that scouts the borders between neo-prog and symphonic rock, the warm native vocals add a ‘healthy Italian Progrock factor’ to the music. The sound on the 9 compositions is very melodic and accessible, from dreamy with flute traverse and acoustic guitar to tight mid-tempo rhythms and bombastic eruptions with a tasteful keyboard colouring by the EMU Proteus sound module (Hammond, Mellotron and Moog ). But the focal point on this album is obviously the excellent duo-guitarwork: biting wah-wah drenched in Sorridi, Santana inspired in Cliff Of Moher, Gilmourian in Senza Di Me and Ricordi (exciting slide guitar) and lots of moving solos with often howling runs in most of the tracks, shivers down my spine! My highlights are Senza Di Me (great build-up, from mellow with twanging guitars to bombastic with a wonderful vintage keyboard sound, beautiful guitar and emotional vocals) and the long and alternating final composition Il Dolce Canto Della Terra: first a slow rhythm with organ and warm vocals, blended with dreamy parts featuring classical flute and guitar, halfway a moving electric guitar solo, culminating in a very compelling final part with fat synthesizer flights and a sensitive electric guitar solo, accompanied by a lush organ sound, goose bumps!

I am sure this album will please both the symphomaniacs as the neo-progheads, what a very promising first effort by this unknown new Italian band!

by erik neuteboom


CORAL CAVES Music Online:
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• Sheet Music and Guitar Tab Downloads — Sheet Music Plus
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• Norton Anti-spyware, Antivirus and Internet security — Symantec

By Kat Renz

I was in the throes of a particularly conflicted love/hate relationship last weekend. The first Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in Golden Gate Park - so much to appreciate (the music, scenery, intention), so much to loathe (the overlapping performances, long lines, the great green marketing strategy).

"We deserve a festival," folk-rocker Matt Nathanson told journalists during a press conference on Saturday, Aug. 23, the second day of Outside Lands. And though he was being ironic, he echoed the sense of entitlement sweeping through Speedway Meadows on down to the Polo Fields, like the restless ghost of a spoiled brat. Between concert-goers tearing down fences and elbowing relentlessly (and pointlessly) through the audience, or getting so pissed they could barely make out Thom Yorke on the giant TV screens and littering like motherfuckers, the scene got pretty obnoxious.

But, duh, what else did I expect with 150,000 people?

Hat club for men: Sean Hayes.

Let me diverge, briefly, from the rantings of my inner curmudgeon: Oakland's bluesy outfit Howlin' Rain struck an inaugural chord on the tiny Panhandle Stage, jamming through a half-hour set fueled by the soul rasp of front-howler Ethan Miller and Joel Robinow’s organ harmonies.

In the swim: Rupa and the Fishes.

I skipped to the nearby, larger Twin Peaks stage on the east end of Speedway Meadow to catch Vancouver, BC's Black Mountain. The fivesome's warm psychedelia nestled perfectly into the white sky and pine trees, augmented by eerie emanations from the Moog synthesizer and the wails of bored-looking vocalist Amber Webber. Aptly dubbed “stoner rock for the masses” by The Word, Black Mountain was easily one of the heaviest bands of a three-day lineup largely devoted to indie-folk, jam-bands, and pop rock.

Time to sprint a quarter mile ocean-wards to the very opposite end of the festival for Manu Chao at the main Land's End Stage (not a misnomer in the slightest). This necessitated ditching Black Mountain halfway through their set, a frustration that recurred throughout the festival and was a common complaint: there were too many concurrent shows, and too much physical space between them. As great as it is to have a smorgasbord of acts, it's painful having to choose. The combination of hefty treks and weaving through a shit-ton of equally determined festival-goers means a enjoying a full set and catching each act on your list are mutually exclusive endeavors in constant opposition.

This, paired with the high cost of tickets ($85 per day) and the fact of the schedule was released only about two weeks prior to the show, created some disgruntled fans for sure. On Friday, Aug. 22, for example, Beck, Manu Chao, and the Black Keys all overlapped. On Saturday, the question for a lot of folks involved Primus, Cake, and Ben Harper.

Watch the player: Devendra Banhart.

During Saturday’s press conference, performer Kaki King compared the competitive lineup to a buffet, which Les Claypool called, "One of the best festival analogies I've ever heard." The ensuing conversation went like something like this:

Kaki King: I'm kind of the cauliflower, broccoli, sunflower seed thing. (Turning to Les) You're the pig with the apple in its mouth. You don't even have to worry.

Matt Nathanson: I want morbid obesity to happen in front of my stage.

King: I want to be the bacon platter! I'm pancakes covered in whipped cream! Don't leave!

Fired up: Liars.

And so we tried to gorge but never felt quite full.

I was thrilled for an opportunity to see Manu Chao, the pentalingual Latin punk singing about Zapatistas and immigration, since rarely plays in our evil empire and I’ve been improving my language skills with his Clandestino (Virgin France, 1998) for the past decade.

The show was all the high energy you’d expect, though with the crowd of college kiddos jumping up and down I felt stuck in the middle of a House of Pain video. It was here I formulated a new rule: If you haven't found a good enough spot by the second song, you probably won't, so just relax and enjoy the show from your vantage point, even though it’s not the best.

People’s incessant quest for the front, though understandable, got tiresome; I’m generally pampered, accustomed to getting as cozy as my little musical heart desires, up close, at local clubs, but I quickly realized Outside Lands – save for the smaller stages like Panhandle – was a different beast. Aside from the multi-performances-happening-at-one-time gripe, not being able to see your favorite performer was the most frequently heard bummer.

Predictably and wonderfully, Chao called our Prez "the most dangerous man on the planet.” He gave numerous shout-outs en español to all the Mexicanos in the overwhelmingly white, ostensibly pretty well-off-looking audience. Que hora son, mi corazon?

Still a 'Lost Cause'? Beck.

As soon as the last hearty applause began to wane, I spun around and made my way over to Beck, tucked down in the eucalyptus trees on the Sutro Stage, to listen - but again, not see - his last few songs, including the tear-jerker “Lost Cause” and a thankful blast from a happier past with “Where It’s At.” The space between the two shows was where my hope for still loving the newborn festival, despite the annoying throngs making me feel ancient and the eenie-meenie-miny-moe-catch-a-show-or-let-it-go conundrum, really took a dive.

Light and shadow: Radiohead.

Hundreds of people, crazy-eyed, were storming the gates, literally, in anticipation of Radiohead, set to play in an hour on Land’s End. Fences were down, and it wasn’t even like new paths were being carved but rather entire swaths of the park were getting trampled, mindlessly. Maybe this herd-like disrespect wouldn’t have been so personally irksome had the promoters not been so hyped on the festival being a celebration of the park and the city, of their histories and uniqueness. All I could feel was, “Ha! Like these kids give a shit! Beer, brah!”

True, whoever engineered the walkway between Lindley Meadows (home of the Sutro and Presidio stages) created a bottleneck incapable of supporting an impatient mob horny for Kid A. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder if these brats ever had to do shitty manual labor like putting up fences – and then having to work security to ensure they remained standing – and then put them up again.

Canned: The post-Radiohead view oF the recycling.

Plus there was the “greening” aspect, another pat-on-the-back for the organizers. As Claypool put it, while acknowledging the attempts toward sustainability, "Right now I'm leaving a carbon ass print." And though Kaki King chimed in about feeling less guilty playing a green festival since “it's crazy how much musicians pollute,” are carbon credits and an organic wine tent really enough to assuage guilt when hundreds of kooks who flew in on jets specifically for the festival can’t even get their biodegradable corn polymer disposable beer cup into one of the many compost bins dotting the smothered landscape? If you gave all 6 billion people in the world a Prius, is that greening the planet? C'mon.

I mean, is it not slightly ironic that Radiohead fans were eroding hillsides in frothing attempts to bask in the solar-powered glory of one the most environmental of mainstream rock bands? I love music, and I think large parties in its honor are worthy celebrations, in theory. But it doesn’t take a carbon mathematician to calculate the most ecological equation: support your local music scene!

And so, despite having heard some cool live music, I’d had enough and had to get outside Outside Lands and inside my house haven before I throttled someone with their hot pink keffiyeh. I’d wanted to catch Radiohead, a band I may be alone in for not really caring about but figured would be nice to experience nevertheless. But the prospect sounded too gruesome.

All that glitters: Radiohead.

Word on the streets the next day was, again, frustration with the inability to see the band. People were getting carried out on stretchers (drunk or smooshed or both?). My co-worker lamented that they only played their hits. Festivals appeal to the common denominator, at the very least. How else to keep 100,000 ticket-holders happy, to keep fences up?

But alas, Saturday, Aug. 23, was another day. If Friday was for the iPod generation, Saturday was for the KFOG one, bookended by aging Englishman Steve Winwood and the likable, three-decades-strong Tom Petty. There were enough fogies and hippies to balance the ubiquitous hipsters, and the vibe was palpably more easy-going.

I’d planned to see Winwood mainly to make my mama happy, but his performance ended up being one of my favorites, busting out "I'm a Man" from his teenage days with the Spencer Davis Group and finishing his set in minimalist style with only a trio on organ, drums, and Winwood on his pale seafoam Stratocaster.

The Walkmen generation.

On the recommendation of a new journalist-friend I caught New York indie rockers the Walkmen. The contrast between the massive audience at the headlining Land’s End and the wonderful intimacy of the Panhandle stage was flattening – I’m not sure if it was the closeness factor or the sound engineering or just typical of these well-dressed men-boys, but the Walkmen were fucking blaring. I’m used to seeing metal shows but god, I had my fingers in my near bleeding ears.

They played a lot of new songs off their soon-to-be-released album, You and Me (Gigantic Music), which is currently available on AmieStreet.com, with $5 going towards the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and which you should buy because the songs are pretty darn lovely, sung all Dylan-esque and floating on the sweetest carousel melodies.

Loving Primus' Les Claypool.

Primus, next up, was a must-see. Les Claypool had promised he’d be “kicking off the dust,” trying to remember how to play the creeping bass lines of mid-‘90s hits “Here They Come,” “My Name Is Mud,” and the like. And they did, prompting – in tandem with getting hot-boxed in the open air – major flashbacks of fragrant afternoons accompanied by Pork Soda (Interscope, 1993). The space-bass jams and Claypool’s distinctly odd voice were singularly weird treats for the munchie crowd.

The sun, hiding somewhere in the western sky, began to go down, and the moment we’d all been waiting for (at least, for those over Radiohead or not feeling Sunday’s headliner, Jack Johnson) came out: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

From the northeastern corner of the central sound booth, Petty looked about 3 inches tall when he happened to mosey into my narrow view. But I really didn’t care it felt a lot like watching a concert on VHI with really good sound and way too many strangers in my living room. They played a set exclusively of hits, universal and timeless, spanning 1979’s “Even the Losers” to this decade’s “Honeybee,” with lots of lovably cheesy crowd sing-alongs (Petty: “Breakdown….,” Crowd: “…It’s all right!”) and channeling late, great Traveling Wilburys mates Roy Orbison and George Harrison with “End of the Line.” After repeated sound problems (there were more to come, as at Radiohead the previous night), the band re-emerged with Steve Winwood in tow, rocking “Can’t Find My Way Home” from Winwood’s Blind Faith period and “Gimme Some Lovin’” from the Spencer Davis Group era.

I couldn’t keep track of the number of vintage guitars Petty and veteran Heartbreaker Mike Campbell let shine from their stash. I’d prayed they’d play “Refugee,” and they did in closing, then returned to the stage for an “encore” (how can you have a genuine encore when your festival has a curfew?) of “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” Van Morrison’s 1964 three-chord spelling lesson “Gloria,” and “American Girl.”

This was the show to end my festival buffet. Friends reported Sunday’s Wilco set was a mighty fine one, though. Yet ultimately my two days inside Outside Lands spawned more questions than answers, ones I hope I’m not alone in considering but that Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents, and the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department are thinking about, too.

Those include, can Golden Gate Park really support three days of 150,000 people? Can the city - and in particular Muni (cheers to the San Francisco Bike Coalition, once again, for providing superb, safe, and fast valet bike parking)? Was this the first year of the next Bonnaroo? Will Outside Lands affect free shows in the park, namely the equally long, way mellower, upcoming Hardly Strictly Bluegrass? How long will it take for the grass stomped to a rank decomposition at the techie Crowdfire tent to recover? How do we balance the joy and pride of hosting a music festival with everything else?

The remnants of Friday night.

I recently spoke in reverent tones about Germany’s Ohr label in the Annexus Quam “Osmose” review. We continue our Captain Trip Japanese mini-LP tour with Mythos’ debut, yet another classic from the Ohr creative freak factory. The cover’s cartoon art is quite telling: We have some sort of winged eyeball ruler sitting on a treestump (or is a rockpile?) with legs crossed, wearing a nifty pair of what looks like PF Flyers. What he’s thinking about or what’s he’s doing there is anybody’s guess, but there’s a better than good chance his brain flew away after digesting the contents of the album. The back cover may be even better: Four eyeballs wearing viking helmets stand ready to do battle with knives and… carrots … and … ice cream cones. Honestly they look like Marvin the Martian hit a tab of acid after taking in Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. All in day-glo yellow and pink. You don’t even need to hear a note and already know it’s a classic.

We begin with the 3 minute ‘Mythoett’, where band leader Stefan Kaske shows off his somewhat Tull-ian flute demonstration. A classically motivated piece, the bass and drums drive the piece forward for a pleasant, if not overly creative opener. Acoustic strumming with an Eastern motif introduces the appropriately named ‘Oriental Journey’. Kaske’s voice enters and is heavily processed. In later albums, his voice was not processed. Let’s just say - be grateful it’s affected. Sitar is added as well, giving it the right amount of exoticism. After a couple of minutes, we hit our first “Ohr moment”, as spacey flute and bass guitar are put through the mixer in a completely zoned out cosmic way. Cymbals bash, and hand percussion thumps. It’s Krautrockian. It’s Ohrrockian. It’s the work of the Cosmic Joker meister himself: Dieter Dierks. Scorpions be damned. To this point, however, the album is relatively “normal”. Then comes ‘Hero’s Death’, and it’s time to get all freaky. And downright heavy metal, with a diabolus in musica guitar riff. Disembodied voice enters in while Kaske goes Edgar Froese on us. Which means play the guitar as loud as hell and we’ll worry about notes later. You will drown in the strings mellotron against flute mid-section. The heavy metal returns. Fierce, driving and floating. The album cover art is starting to make sense. Bum-bum-bum-bum-badum badum goes the bass. Bum-bum-bum-bum-badum-badum. Epic.

And we’re only now getting to the side long track: ‘Encyclopedia Terrae’. We’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy, but in the land of the mutated Marvin the Martian. The planet Ohrian. The death march snare drum. The matching bass. The harmonious guitar. Loud, acid guitar thank you. Not Number 9! Bring me K-9! Then Mythos sounds the air-raid alarm. It’s serious and it’s for real. Synthesizers emulate war sounds while snare drums snap in the background. Bombs are everywhere - no place is safe. The viking eyeballs are winning! In the aftermath we hear church bells and chirping birds as we walk amongst the ruins - synthesizer and bass mournfully play along to the beat. Where better to insert a mellotron blast?

Echoed electric guitar strums as Kaske narrates in heavily accented English: A long time ago there was a man who didn’t want to live in this world of killing and fighting anymore. Fully convinced that mankind would improve and become more peaceful during its evolution, and being a man of genius, he built a machine which would enable him to sleep as in death. A hundred years later the machine was supposed to wake him at which time he hoped to find a better world, one that would be worth living in. One hundred years passed…. The machine woke the man, but although nearly everything had changed, mankind hadn’t. So the man turned his machine and kept returning to it until the 32nd time, when he awoke to find that there was no more life on Earth. (music stops except one sparsely played synth) There was no bird in the sky, no fish in the sea, no tree and no flower. Man had killed all the plants, all the animals (guitar strums again) and at last even himself leaving the Earth a dead bowl in the universe. Seeing this, the man sat down on the bleak ground and tears ran down his cheeks. His lungs inhaled the deadly air and darkness closed in about him as he followed all the others to a place of no fighting and no killing, no grief, no envy and no sorrow. Would you like to know the name of this place? It’s called Eternity and the only gate you must path (sic) through to enter it is the one which separates life and death.

Word.

Since moving to Chicago, almost a year has passed before I was finally treated to a show at the theater which bears the city's name. It was worth the wait, as I got to see Steely Dan tear up the beautiful Chicago Theater. The Dan put a second stop in Chicago on their Think Fast, Steely Dan Tour after the first one sold out in days and I'm certainly glad they did.

A good friend treated me to the ticket for taking care of what is most dear to him: a one year old Rhodesian Ridgeback named Lola. It was payment well beyond the services rendered. The enigmatic Donald Fagen was is full form -- rocking the always fashionable suit, sunglasses, sneakers and calling the crowd "gang". Walter Becker had his moments too; he broke into a narrative during "Hey Nineteen" to introduce "the Cuuueeervooo Gold" that was pretty priceless. Overall the show was tremendous and the opener, Deep Blue Organ Trio, set the standard early.

Deep Blue Organ Trio is a Chicago based jazz band centered around organist Chris Foreman. He wields what may be the greatest instrument in music, the Hammond B3. They played a great short set of traditional jazz and a little bit of funk. The stage was lit with three blue lights leaving the room spattered in pale azure; reminding us that this was Chicago and Chicago is cool. At first, the group seemed demure against the backdrop of the larger stage but as each song came and went the trio grew in stature. They locked into some seriously nice grooves thanks in large part to guitarist Bobby Broom and the band as a whole set the stage for what was to come.

Since LMB posted the Steely Dan tour announcement there has been a huge amount of feedback from fans of the band commenting on the shows that they have seen and their experiences. Its awesome to have such a response from the readers for a band that I really love and I consider this my contribution to that conversation. Most of the comments have been exactly how I expect enthusiasts of Steely Dan to respond but some have been superficial in nature. Being upset because they didn't play all of their chart toppers -- or what you consider to be the songs they should play -- is something to which I must respond.

Steely Dan is a rare band that has extraordinary depth of quality in their catalogue. That means you may not catch all your favorites but the ones you do hear turn you in a new direction that you never knew was there, a part of the band that before the night never existed. Its a learning experience. Eric Harvey said it best when he commented in a column for Pitchfork, "I'd earned my appreciation for Steely Dan." Amen, sir. Okay, I feel better now; back to the review.

This being the second Chicago date on the tour I'm sure they tried to get in a lot of songs they felt they may have missed back in July. This meant quite a few hits but also some hidden gems that brought a wide smile to my friend's face -- Russ is a connoisseur of the Dan. The band -- minus Fagen and Becker -- took the stage first and went into a instrumental intro that has become somewhat of the norm on this tours. They played short instrumental versions of "Everyone's Gone to the Movies" and "The Fez" but with an interesting bass line that resembled "On Broadway", which was a really cool touch. Then the duo came out to a standing ovation and started immediately into "The Royal Scam".

I considered it an interesting opener yet the beginning of the show was marked with a number of darker, more mellow songs and "The Royal Scam" certainly fed the beast. The staccato piano was a nice introductory sound and played a foil to Fagen's voice throughout the song. Though this may be a song that is known more with the versed fans it served as a really solid opener, making the statement that we were here to see them, they weren't here to play for us.

From there the band jumped into "I Got the News" which lacked that special something and that was Michael McDonald's backup vocals. Probably the only average tune on Aja, it still played well with the early theme of the show. Then two songs from Countdown to Ecstasy began to draw in more of the crowd. "Show Biz Kids" gave the female backup singers opportunity to show off some of their chops and then the Dan dropped "Bodhisattva" on everyone. This snapped any fair-weather fan out of indifference and got a lot of middle-aged men and women shaking what the good lord gave them. The group rocked the song out, especially Keith Carlock who continuously impressed throughout on the drum set.

A real surprise track mid-set was "Aja", which is one of the Dan's lengthiest and most ambitious tunes. I imagine it as a song that may have shown up on Fagen and Becker's version of "South Pacific" or if Rogers and Hammerstein were actually cool. The sonic attention, much like "Royal Scam", is focused through the use of a staccato riff that works down the scale. The live version made me love the song more now that I've heard it that way. A total of four song were featured from Aja with "Josie" and the ever wonderful "Peg" rounding out the quartet.

The middle of the almost two hour set was the strongest part of the show personally. Steely Dan delved into some solo territory when they played Fagen's "New Frontier" from his seminal album Nightfly. The synth skips through the song adding a lighter mood to combat Fagen's wry voice. This album is as underrated and unknown as masterpieces come and if you haven't checked it out, do so. Soon after, Becker got his shot on vocals during "Gaucho", which made the song very different from when Fagen sings it on the album.

The later half of the set was certainly dominated by the hits and with about five or six songs left the crowd never sat down again. One of the highlights was a rousing "Kid Charlemange" which holds new weight in Chicago now that Kanye West sampled the song for his own "Champion". Steely Dan is one of the most heavily sampled groups for a reason, they're music is intricate and crosses genres. The clavinet in the background alone with the base line could suffice as a a song for most groups but not Steely Dan, they need much more. The vocal line "Is there gas in the car? Yes there's gas in the car," really got the crowd to a peak in energy.

The main set was followed by a really nice two song encore featuring "F.M." and "My Old School", which were a great end to the show. The crowd seemed genuinely pleased with the quality and song selection of the set. I was surprised with how many hits they tackled and can't imagine how anyone would come away wondering why they didn't play this or that. The show was a great exclamation point for this part of my summer and I hope these tours become a regular thing for the Dan. The stage production, sound and the band itself all emulated professionalism during the two hours. Thanks to Ken Gilbertsen for the great photos, my buddy Russ for the ticket and of course Steely Dan for the music.

For more of Ken's great photos from the Steely Dan show and elsewhere click here.