2015-10-29 El Extra Grande

3 Players: W, G & J

Game: El Grande

Choice: J

Location: W

Game One:
G (153 pts), W (140pts) & J (133 pts)

Final Tally
G was declared this week's winner.

Game Notes:

• J wanted to choose Citadels but was warned off it for the clunky play in three player games (each player ends up with two character cards each round instead of the usual one character per player)
• J was in 1st place at the end of the 1st scoring round; W was 2nd and G was last.
• G was in 1st place at the end of the 2nd scoring round; W and J were tied for second.

Music Notes:

Grateful Dead: Europe '72, Vol. 15 - 11.05.1972 - Grote Zaal De Doelen, Rotterdam, Holland

Another stop on the now famous working vacation known to heads everywhere as Europe '72. The band was evolving and this night would prove an exemplary performance for the whole band but especially worthy of note is the performance of keyboardist, harmonica and vocalist Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (who would be dead in ten months and was already paying the price for his hard-drinking ways). The night also featured incoming keyboardist Keith Godchaux on piano and his wife Donna Jean Godchaux. Donna, on this tour, really established a place for herself on stage.

This 4 CD set captures one complete show from May 1972 in Holland. Starting with an unusual choice of opening song, Playing in the Band, the boys signalled that they were here to jam and they proceed to do so. At just over ten minutes, this version allows for just enough jamming before being reigned in. The jamming is tight especially when compared to how this song would evolve over the next few years into renditions sometimes clocking in closer to the 25 minute mark. Tonight we jumped in part way through the first set and only listened to a couple of tracks (Big Railroad Blues, Good Lovin' and Casey Jones). We'll revisit this show another night that's for sure. There's lots of good stage banter, the band sound in good spirits and the show boasts an impressive Dark Star that goes to some unusual, highly entertaining places before kicking off a rocking Sugar Magnolia which itself gives way to a glorious extended Caution before giving the audience (that had been kept up late by this point) their only hit, Truckin' and closing out the show with a sweet Uncle John's Band.

 

Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago Transit Authority (1969)

Before they changed their name to Chicago and became soft-rock gods, this band released a super funky double album of politically charged jazz-rock that includes the oft-sampled song "I'm a Man" (yes I am and I cant help but love you so, o o o... sorry couldn't help myself. J said "I actually know this song!" when he heard it).

Blind Faith: Blind Faith Deluxe Edition: The Jams (Recorded 1969, Released 2001)

This cd full of jams was included in the deluxe re-release of this classic album much like the deluxe re-release of the Layla sessions. All record bin junkies know the actual album for it's, uh, remarkable cover but most have never heard these jam sessions that were recorded around the same time as the album was being produced. We listened to the first track, "Jam No.1: Very Long & Good Jam" and agreed that it was long and good but also long and somewhat repetitive. While there were some in attendance who would've enjoyed hearing the rest of the tracks, there were others who had had enough aimless noodling.

Deep Purple: In Rock (1970)

We headed to hard but safe territory after the noodling and repetition got too annoying. Opening with Speed King, this album wears it's heavy metal pride on it's sleeves and got us all head bobbing right from the start. Eventually, of course, Child In Time came on and it was time for nostalgia because, honestly, this is such an awesome tune that it always brings me back to teenage wasteland.

Cream: Goodbye (1969)

To be honest, W's iTunes just carried on in the list of recently added albums and started playing this album before anyone noticed. That kind of thing can happen when we're gaming. Anyway, we enjoyed what we were hearing so we let it play. Recorded during Cream's farewell tour after only three years together as a band and only three albums to their name, these guys went out in style. Perhaps an uneven effort, it nonetheless features some great performances including Politician and Sitting on Top of the World (a traditional bluegrass song here turned into a purple, electric blues romp that paints the room with psychedelic fire or maybe it was just me but man, do these guys ever smoke! even on these slower tempo numbers).

2015-10-22 The Adventures Have Begun

4 Players: K, M, W & G
Game: Dominion, Adventures + Prosperity
Choice: W
Location: K


Game One:
Card Setup: Last Will and Monument
G (68 pts), K (62 pts) & W (46 pts)

Game Two:
Card Setup: Think Big
W (93 pts), G (63 pts) & K (59 pts)



Final Tally:

W (139 pts), G (131 pts) & K (121 pts)

Scores from both games added together to get final tally

W was declared this week's victor
  

Game Notes:

• "You stole my heart, er, I mean, my hoard"
• There was some discussion about the Radical Marijuana Party and what makes them so "Radical"
• It was confirmed that 3 year olds are very effective infectious disease carriers
• "All Colony, All Platinum, All the time!"

Music Notes:
The Grateful Dead: Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead (2002; recorded in 1972) Discs 1 & 2 (out of four)

[Notes from MusicBox-Online] The Grateful Dead’s 1972 tour of Europe is legendary. The band’s prior jaunts across the Atlantic had been quick ones, but this undertaking was a working vacation that found the group taking a leisurely stroll across the continent, absorbing the sites, and turning in a series of epic performances. It’s no wonder, then, that Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead marks the third collection of material from this two-month affair. The first was Europe ’72, a polished, but powerful album that many purists decry for its studio overdubs. The second was the two-disc compilation Hundred Year Hall, which these same purists argue is less than satisfactory simply because it doesn’t contain a complete show. (For the record, both of these albums are exquisite representations of the Grateful Dead at its finest, and passing them by most certainly would be an unfortunate decision).

Nevertheless, for the definitive Europe ’72 recording, one need look no further than the recently released Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead. This four-disc package compiles music from seven of the Grateful Dead’s eight concerts in England, fusing the fragments together to form a rather cohesive collection of monumental proportions. No doubt, the purists are crying foul once again, but either taken as a single mammoth show or four individual sets, Steppin’ Out succeeds brilliantly. All one needs to do is sit back and listen.

Pigpen fans, in particular, will have a blast pouring through the music on Steppin’ Out. Though he was thin and frail — this was his final tour — one wouldn’t have known it from the power of his performances on this set of songs. Indeed, where Bear’s Choice felt flat in its tribute to the Grateful Dead’s first keyboardist, Steppin’ Out radiantly shines. Good Lovin’, Turn on Your Lovelight, and Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks) all basked in the sparkly glow of Pigpen’s improvisational raps. And, his wordy rants only served to egg on the band, pushing the group further outward into its own unique brand of blissful space. If Pigpen’s passionate vocals were the jet fuel, Jerry Garcia’s guitar was the rocket ship, blasting straight through the center of each song’s heart with inexorable incandescence.

In early 1972, there was something different in the air as well. The Grateful Dead had already shifted from jug music to blues to folksy Americana, but it was about to embark in a new, jazzier direction. Part of this transformation was due to Pigpen’s failing health, which prompted the addition of keyboardist Keith Godchaux and his vocalist wife Donna. Then again, this broadening of style could hardly be called a surprise, given Garcia had long been infatuated with the music of John Coltrane and later Miles Davis. As Dark Star began to take on a slower, more deliberate, jazz-fusion pace — like the version reproduced on Steppin’ Out — it blossomed with even more potential than the rapid-speed early renditions. Though this metamorphosis would not be complete for another year, the seeds had been planted: Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad embraced a looser, freer groove, the pairing of China Cat Sunflower and I Know You Rider swung mightily, and Playin’ in the Band thrived in a more open-ended setting.

In addition, the members of the Grateful Dead were in the midst of their most prolific period of songwriting. Tunes such as One More Saturday Night, Jack Straw, Ramble On Rose, and Comes a Time had all found their way into the band’s sets just a few months earlier, but it was the tour of Europe in 1972 that put them in perspective and allowed them to come into their own. And there were plenty of relatively old favorites, too. Songs such as Truckin’, The Other One, Sugar Magnolia, and Uncle John’s Band had begun to take on fresh shapes and sizes, moving into a myriad of new directions — sometimes all at once.

For this reason, the Grateful Dead’s concerts from 1972 through 1974 are what many consider to be the band at its best. Though it delivered many outstanding performances both before and after this period, the group was never so consistent, its sets never so diverse, its music never so exploratory. The 1972 European tour may have only been the beginning of this new endeavor, but while listening to Steppin’ Out with the Grateful Dead, it’s hard to imagine any collection of material to be any better at encompassing what the band was all about.

2015-10-15 Standing starts @ 9:23pm



Moo

4 Players: K, M, W & G
Game: Caverna
Choice: W
Location: K


Game One:
G (94 pts), K (79 pts), W (55 pts) & M (46 pts)


Final Tally:

G was declared this week's victor

 

Game Notes:

• K tested out the egg carton solution - success!
• W was the first to stand (at 9:23pm)
• M resisted temptation and did not eat a single chip this evening (he was very proud of himself)

the egg carton solution

Music Notes:
The Doors: K's cd mix (1967 - 1971)

The Dave Matthews Band: Before These Crowded Streets (1998)

DMB

[Notes from AllMusic.Com] The Dave Matthews Band made their reputation through touring, spending endless nights on the road improvising. Often, their records hinted at the eclecticism and adventure inherent in those improvisation, but Before These Crowded Streets is the first album to fully capture that adventurous spirit. Not coincidentally, it's their least accessible record, even if it's more of a consolidation than it is a step forward. Early Dave Matthews albums were devoted to the worldbeat fusions of Graceland and Sting, but his RCA efforts incorporated these influences into a smoother, pop-oriented style. Here, everything hangs out. Old trademarks, like jittery acoustic grooves and jazzy chords, are here, augmented by complex polyrhythms, Mideastern dirges, and on two tracks, the slashing strings of the Kronos Quartet. Some fans may find the new, darker textures a little disarming at first, but they're a logical extension of the group's work, and in many ways, this sonic daring results in the most rewarding album they've yet recorded. The Dave Matthews Band haven't completely vanquished their demons, however -- songwriting remains a problem, especially since relying on grooves, improvisation, and texture allows them to skimp on melody, and Matthews' lyrics can be awkward and embarrassing, especially if he's writing about sex. Still, these are minor flaws on an album that relies on tone and improvisation, both of which are in ample supply on Before These Crowded Streets.


crazy, man

Jimi Hendrix: K's cd mix (1967-1970)


East Coast mixtape featuring Stan Rogers

All together now!

2015-10-08 Belongs in a Cave

Now that's a dwelling

5 Players: K, M, J, W & G
Game: Caverna
Choice: K
Location: K

Waffley, County, Chatty, Angry & Doc

Game One:
G (39 pts), J (37 pts), M (35 pts), W (29 pts) & K (27 pts)

Here Piggy Piggy Piggy

Final Tally:
G was declared this week's victor


Game Notes:

• Game called early (only 9 of 12 rounds played)
• Judging by the used score sheets, it appears that every time we've played this game it was won by either G or S, usually by G

Music Notes:

9 Lazy 9: Electric Lazyland (1999)
 

It doesn't get much lazier

[Notes from AllMusic.com] The second album from 9 Lazy 9 goes deeper into the dark, jazzy world of the duo's debut. If there's one thing to set apart James Braddell and Keir Fraser's brand of cool, jazzy trip-hop, it's the quirkiness and a feeling that things could go very wrong at any moment. "B Hip & Shop" has an uplifting sax riff but noisy rattlings and shifts bring the Residents to mind. The sampled female voice on "Very Gently" could be chanting either transcendental meditation text or instructions for slow torture. The music fits, bending the jauntiest tunes and melodies and backing them up with echoing keyboards and shuffling dark beats. Braddell and Fraser must have quite a collection of golden-age Blue Note and Verve to sample from. They don't do much with Thelonious Monk's "Monk's Dream," but generally their samples and the wall of sludge constructed around them are cool and crafty.



Gabin: Gabin (2002)

Gabin: Not at all pretentious

[Notes from AllMusic.com] Milky, silken rhythms lace through this collaboration between Roman DJ Filippo Clary and jazz bassist Max Battini. Their perspectives find accord in the realm of what martini-addled old-timers might label "acid jazz." Electronic timbres are tactile and smooth, guest vocals by Ana Carril Obiols of Mano Negra and Joseph Fargier waft forth from washes of reverb, drum tracks move sensuously from the space-age bossa nova of "Sweet Sadness" to the impish manipulations of "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" on "Doo Uap, Doo Uap, Doo Uap," whose spelling as well as vibe betray European roots. Though the beat keeps things moving along, it seldom disturbs the texture, which in these appealing performances is just as important -- more so, in fact, on tracks like "Urban Night," on which Stefano Di Battista's soprano sax and Gabin's synthetic strings paint a midnight mood that recalls a much earlier collaboration, between Gerry Mulligan and Beaver & Krause in the primeval days of electronic music. The only exception to this balance of elements is "House Trip," in which crowd noise plays a major role and compensates for the less subtle sound shading. The irony might be that this delirious audience is sampled from somewhere else and looped -- if so, listeners have only themselves to blame for surrendering to this groove as well.

2015-10-01 Super-Caverna-Tramp

4 Players: W, S, G, K

Game: Caverna
Choice: S
Location: S

Game One
G (96 pts), W (80 pts), S (73 pts) & K (68 pts)

Final Tally:
G was declared this week's victor

Game Notes:

• the etymology and meaning of "seminal" was debated
• there was an error in play on the final round that was not noticed until too late: the final harvest was supposed to be limited in that each player had to choose to skip either the field or the breeding phase. This was forgotten and all players did both phases. It was decided that the all players benefitted more or less evenly and that while the final scores would have been slightly lower, the outcome in terms of order would have remained the same.

Music Notes: Supertramp Spectacular!

Supertramp: Breakfast In America (1979)

[Notes from AllMusic.com] With Breakfast in America, Supertramp had a genuine blockbuster hit, topping the charts for four weeks in the U.S. and selling millions of copies worldwide; by the 1990s, the album had sold over 18 million units across the world. Although their previous records had some popular success, they never even hinted at the massive sales of Breakfast in America. Then again, Supertramp's earlier records weren't as pop-oriented as Breakfast. The majority of the album consisted of tightly written, catchy, well-constructed pop songs, like the hits "The Logical Song," "Take the Long Way Home," and "Goodbye Stranger." Supertramp still had a tendency to indulge themselves occasionally, but Breakfast in America had very few weak moments. It was clearly their high-water mark.

Supertramp: Even in the Quietest Moments... (1977)

[Notes from AllMusic.com] The title of Even in the Quietest Moments... isn't much of an exaggeration -- this 1977 album finds Supertramp indulging in some of their quietest moments, spending almost the album in a subdued mood. Actually, the cover photo picture of a snow-covered piano sitting on a mountain gives a good indication of what the album sounds like: it's elegant yet mildly absurd, witty but kind of obscure. It also feels more pop than it actually is, despite the opening single, "Give a Little Bit," their poppiest song to date, as well as their biggest hit. If the rest of the album doesn't boast another song as tight or concise as this -- "Downstream" comes close but it doesn't have the same hook, while "Babaji," a pseudo-spiritual moment that falls from the pop mark; the other four tracks clock in well over six minutes, with the closer, "Fool's Overture," reaching nearly 11 minutes -- it nevertheless places a greater emphasis on melody and gentle textures than any previous Supertramp release. So, it's a transitional album, bridging the gap between Crime of the Century and the forthcoming Breakfast in America, and even if it's not as full formed as either, it nevertheless has plenty of fine moments aside from "Give a Little Bit," including the music hall shuffle of "Loverboy," the Euro-artiness of "From Now On," and the "Fool on a Hill" allusions on "Fool's Overture."


Supertramp: Crisis? What Crisis? (1975)

[Notes from AllMusic.com] Nestled between the accomplished Crime of the Century album and 1977's Even in the Quietest Moments, Crisis? What Crisis? may not have given the band any chart success, but it did help them capture a fan base that had no concern for Supertramp's commercial sound. With Rick Davies showing off his talent on the keyboards, and Roger Hodgson's vocals soaring on almost every track, they managed to win back their earlier progressive audience while gaining new fans at the same time. Crisis received extensive air play on FM stations, especially in Britain, and the album made it into the Top 20 there and fell just outside the Top 40 in the U.S. "Ain't Nobody But Me," "Easy Does It," and the beautiful "Sister Moonshine" highlight Supertramp's buoyant and brisk instrumental and vocal alliance, while John Helliwell's saxophone gives the album even greater width. The songwriting is sharp, attentive, and passionate, and the lyrics showcase Supertramp's ease at invoking emotion into their music, which would be taken to even greater heights in albums to come. Even simple tracks like "Lady" and "Just a Normal Day" blend in nicely with the album's warm personality and charmingly subtle mood. Although the tracks aren't overly contagious or hook laden, there's still a work-in-process type of appeal spread through the cuts, which do grow on you over time.