https://archive.org/details/db2000-06-27.flac16
Finally, some stability. This is the first show of the year not to feature lineup changes, fake bass instrumentation, guest appearances, or that infernal 505. The show actually consists of fleshed out segments for the first time all year, and the quality of the jams definitely benefits from this. This is also the first show of the year to which I will bother to apply a rating.
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| Barber, Jordan and Sammy, all looking like US Army Grunts (discobiscuits.net) |
Mr. Don is the perfect opener for a very jammy show. The jam creeps along at a steady pace with a blissful Magner-dominated atmosphere and some simple catchy licks from Barber. The jam steadily builds to a crescendo, and seems to be heading towards a standard Don ending, but around 12:45 it breaks down completely. The jam pretty quickly resolves into a type one Bazaar intro, but it has its moments even if it isn’t exploratory. Around 16:00 Barber hits on a great catchy groove that he builds to a pretty solid type one “peak” into Bazaar. Very solid jam and transition, although the breakdown in the middle of the jam was pretty sudden. Bazaar Escape itself is played standard, but just as it has a massive intro jam, it also has an equally massive outro jam, based on the Waves riff in the ending. Barber takes charge in the first part of this jam, developing a gorgeous theme that peaks organically over the 14-15 minute mark. It breaks down into a pretty clear Jigsaw Earth intro shortly after. While this was the first Bazaar Escape of the year, this wasn’t even the first Jigsaw with Jordan, as he had tackled the song on 5/19/00. I find this version way more compelling, even though the song still isn’t at the level it would attain over the fall tour. This version has a very short pre-chase jam and a slightly longer mid-chase jam. The latter is pretty solid, with great atmospheric waves of sound from Magner, but it’s over before it can get very deep. The post-chase dub jam is once again the real highlight. The jam first moves through a chaotic trance passage, with Jordan’s dub bass line anchoring it, before seemingly heading back to the song at 13:30. After some more type one dub jamming, the jam breaks down at the 15 minute mark. Some Magpie teases lead the jam into a tense, vaguely Bazaar Escape atmospheric theme, punctuated by a Munchkin ending fakeout as the band lands back into Jigsaw. Excellent version. Vassillios is patient and atmospheric like all the best versions from 1999. Barber’s touch is feather-light for the first few minutes of the jam while Magner crafts the atmosphere. By the seven minute mark Barber begins building on a simple melancholy theme. The jam moves steadily along, ebbing and flowing and finally building to a triumphant crescendo beginning around 12:30. With no steam lost, the band moves on a dime out of bliss territory into the minor key of a Shimmy ending. The Shimmy peak is explosive, and the band vamps on a short outro jam that builds to an energetic Hot Air Balloon intro. Hot Air Balloon itself is well-played, but still standard.
Decent turnout for Tuesday night in New York City (discobiscuits.net)
The second set opens with the dyslexic completion of Shimmy. The jam out begins in a mellow yet haunting territory. Magner crafts an atmospheric soundscape that breaks down into a tense passage around 10:30. The jam smoothly builds up to a triumphant bliss passage, sounding at times like a Run Like Hell intro. Around the three minute mark the jam appears to be heading back toward more sinister territory, and it builds to a terrifying crescendo before Barber signals the Basis drop out of nowhere. Finally, a Basis without Mauricio! The bass slap section is the first time in this show where I can definitively feel Brownie’s absence; it’s not poorly played (on the contrary) but it lacks his specific touch. There is a nice drawn out middle jam (about four minutes) which features some solid full-band improv. Crisman gets to show off his chops in the main jam, which starts off pretty formless. Magner lays down a theme, but it’s a few minutes before Sammy comes in with a regular beat. Barber begins playing some mournful notes and Magner layers on waves of atmospheric synths, giving the first part of this jam a distinctive note of melancholy. Around the sixteen minute mark the jam begins to steadily move toward happier territory. The jam moves into some incredible atmospheric bliss before an effortless segue into Story. The Story jam is excellent, wasting no time in developing a trance-rock theme and building to an energetic, Magner dominated crescendo as the track changes. Barber takes over and moves the jam to distinctly sinister territory, and builds up to another Shimmy peak. After the Shimmy fakeout, the band drops into Pygmy Twylyte. This Pygmy reminds me very strongly of the 12/30/99 version, in that it immediately drops into a slowed down, type two jam. The jam moves through a remarkable stretch of territory for its unassuming length: from mellow jazz trance, to a chaotic breakdown, and finally to a gorgeous rock jam with a spectacular Barber crescendo. The jam breaks down after a beautiful uncomposed peak and drops into a Eulogy. After this spectacular jam, Eulogy has a short type one intro, but is otherwise played standard. After a strange rendition of You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate (tracked as “banter”), the band launches into Dribble. This Dribble, like the version from 12/30/99, is a rare “Happy” Dribble, which eschews the traditional tension and release Dribble hits in favor of a type two bliss jam. This version is particularly excellent, and makes the return to Dribble just shy of the thirteen minute mark. The Dribble outro is extremely short and not particularly focused. It is more of a peter out than a jam, and fades into an intro to Magner’s ill-fated Little Boy on the Moon, the second and final time that song would be played. It’s not a bad song, but it’s unsurprising that it didn’t stick around with the likes of Story, Hope, Ladies, Shelby Rose, etc. The jam does not diverge in any significant way from the song structure until the final couple minutes, when it builds to a neat crescendo, but even this isn’t particularly memorable. The jam segues into Loch Ness Monster, an instrumental song written by Barber with Brothers Past keyboardist Tom McKee, which holds the distinction of being the only (original) song performed by both bands. Without lyrics it’s a little harder to discern the song’s structure, but by the three minute mark we appear to be wholly in improv, and it doesn’t seem to return to the song at any point. This jam is an excellent exploration traversing many moods, from cautious, to introspective, to triumphant, and finally to demented, as it moves towards the ending of Spaga. The jam segues into the piano riffs of Spaga a la 10/28/99, and is very much worthy of being mentioned in the same breath. Excellent stuff. The second jam in Spaga is still very short but has some electronic synths, hinting at future development. Barber introduces the band, after which they launch into a long encore beginning with the dyslexic completion of Spaga. The Spaga jam is more restrained than typical; again, Magner plays a predominantly atmospheric role. Barber hangs in the background as well, and for several minutes the jam has no distinct leader. Gradually, Barber’s guitar work moves the jam out of melancholy and towards a more triumphant territory. The band follows suit and the jam moves towards Basis. Some excellent symphonic jamming and an excellent build into Basis follow. After a stellar Basis peak, the band performs a DJ segue to hit the end of Story; it’s not my favorite technique but it is well executed. Story has a very brief, sinister outro jam into the end of Party Favor, not terribly exploratory but very exciting. After this long encore segment, the band decides they have time for one more: a cover of Les Claypool’s Riddles. Here Crisman has an opportunity to really show off his bass prowess (and I’m pretty sure it’s him singing as well). The jam is fairly by-numbers, but even still I enjoy this tremendously.
This is an easy 5/5. Everything about this show strikes my fancy: the tightness of playing, the setlist construction, the massive JAMS… This is a monster. The second set was considerably better than the first, but all my favorite highlights are delineated below:
Highlights:
The entire Shimmy > Basis > Story > Shimmy fakeout > Pygmy > Eulogy
OK, the Eulogy itself was only fine, but every other jam in this segment is incredible. Couldn’t possibly pick a favorite. I’m torn between Shimmy > Basis, Basis > Story, and Pygmy > Eulogy, and whichever I picked would be my favorite of the show.
Loch Ness > Spaga
A rare song jammed into a rare section scores it some bonus points, but the jam here is actually insanely good too.
Vassillios > Shimmy
Excellent Vassillios trance, building on a bliss theme that transitions seamlessly into Shimmy's dark ending. It recalls the best bliss Shimmies of mid-1999.
Dribble
After the Dribble jam this segment kind of fell off, but it’s a pretty sweet take on the Happy Dribble.
> Bazaar >
Both the intro and outro jams to Bazaar are something special. Excellent Barber work on both.
Jigsaw
The first two jams don’t do much for me, but the dub jam briefly gets into some interesting territory, teasing Magpie and faking out Munchkin before making the return.
Stray Observations:
This is the first, and, technically, only show with Jordan Crisman on the bass for the entire show.
True to his ramblings on 5/20/00, Barber plays Bazaar Escape. His thought process was something along the lines of “the Roxy has a similar floor to the Crystal Ballroom, which is where we played my favorite Bazaar, so maybe we’ll play it at the Roxy too.” For my money, I think they topped it at this show.
I almost think Barber’s riff in the Bazaar Escape outro might be a tease of something, but I have no idea of what. If not, it’s an insanely impressive example of spontaneous theme creation. Listen to him develop the riff from 11:30-12:30 and then reprise it as the jam peaks.
There are Magpie and Munchkin Invasion teases in Jigsaw.
There are Little Bunny Foo Foo teases from Magner in the Flight of Hot Air Balloon.
Loch Ness Monster was performed only twice by the Biscuits, at this show and the next one. However, it remained a staple of Brothers Past’s early catalog until the middle of 2002, and there are also a few versions of their take on the song available on the Archive.
There are what might conceivably be called I-Man ending teases immediately preceding the Basis ending.
This is a LONG show, clocking in at over four hours. It is only a few minutes shy of what I believe to be the longest two set show, 12/29/98
—Andy
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