, attached to 1999-12-16

Review by Campster

Campster This release was a cool one - you don't get a lot of '99 stuff at times.

The set opens with a nice Wilson>Chalkdust Torture combo. The Wilson is pretty typical and works well in the opening slot. The Chalkdust has a nice patient jam. It's one of the better moments of the first set.

Lawn Boy is it's usual self.

LXL is really solid. I like this version a lot. Pretty patient, good jamming, and Trey is on fire at the end.

Horn and BOTT are both perfunctory.

Roggae is serene, although I prefer the modern incarnations of this tune.

Heavy Things.

Camel Walk and Possum are both welcome treats in a pretty mellow set I, without being overly necessary listens.

Not the finest first set, but nothing bad really. There are some energy lulls with a lot of more mellow song selections, but LXL, CDT and Camel Walk, Possum are plenty of fun.

Set II opens with a long Sand. This versions doesn't necessarily do a ton for me personally. That said, it's a pretty good version, and carries some of that '99 mini kit keys jamming from Trey and some cool sonic layering. It does come to a strong conclusion as well. If you like '99 this might be right up your alley, if not, I still think its worth a listen.

Mango Song follows and I like the placement. It's nice after the spacey Sand jamming.

Most fans might look at Wading here and groan, but this is not your grand-daddy's Velvet Sea. This is a great expansive version that finds it's way beautifully into Tweezer with some excellent spacey stuff.

Tweezer is the big ticket item, and I LOVE this jam. It's long, it's got plenty of layering and looping, giving it a beautiful serene feel. Even when Trey puts the guitar down, the jam remains very engaging for me. Trey comes back in with a cool rhythmic intent, providing some delicate notes to compliment the rhythm section. They play around with this for a bit and then navigate to a nice chord vamp. Trey fires of some bluesy soloing, but then takes and inspired (Page led?) turn to the major key with a beautiful full band shift. They milk this am segment for all it's worth, really with Trey just offering different shaping of a two chord sequence (although he throughs in some tasty melodies here and there) and the band builds to a glorious sound. The hose is turned on full blast here. Must listen. Eventually they give way to some new space that winds into Runaway Jim.

Jim is a good version as well, although it's more of an afterthought after the Tweezer. That said, this contributes well to the sequence and ends the set in considerable style.

The encore is Bittersweet Motel> Tweeprise, which is a nice pairing if for no other reason than to juxtapose one another.

The second set is quite good. Perhaps my least favorite part is the 23 minute opening Sand!? So with that in mind, you will be likely to enjoy this set quite a bit. Much like the Boise '99 release, the big jams of this era are really great listening in SBD form with all the looping and layering that they were doing.

Comfortable 4/5 with a must listen Velvet Sea>Tweezer


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