Subject: AMSTERDAMNED: Smoking 7/12/96 Gin
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 13:29:32 -0500 (EST)
From: benjy eisen
BathtubGinFiles #12 7/12/96 Melk Weg (Milky Way); Amsterdam, Holland
GinStats: Encore! Time: 6:19 Interestingly enough, this is only the second time that Bathtub Gin appears as an encore. On with it - Trey plays a little warm up noise and then: Opening at 0:00 and from there it quickly becomes....well, sToNed. Okay - *really* sToNeD. But it sounds like it has "high" pot-ential at this point. Who stole all the dank hash nugs? Um... Page jumps in at 0:19, although he doesn't really "jump" in, so much as waddles, hesitantly and in a haze - PAGE STOLE THEM! na na-na na-na-na! Page stole the hash balls, Page smoked the kind bud, na na-na na-na na! No Rhapsody...but then again, there's no nothin'. After a few seconds I'm thinking "Is he done already?" But Page plays another mellow elevator-music run and then Trey realizes that if he doesn't intervene things will meander like this forever...He steps in at the Lyrics Segment: 0:34 (Which means Page started late and ended early) Page Fill 1: 1:08->1:17 But again this is nothing el grande...in fact, ....harmonically it's fine, but the skill and musical complexity has dropped back down to elementary. Yes, Watson, sometimes they keep it simple on purpose for the sake of art. Othertimes, my dear Watson, this is not the case. This is not the case. Fill 2: 1:50->1:58 A little better, but not much. I don't know what to say about it really, because it really is pleasing to the ear from a harmonic standpoint...it's even very pretty and quaint. So I don't know why it just doesn't work for this tune - it just doesn't. FAUCET: 2:12 after Page makes a rare rhythmic miss....It's extremely rare that Page is the one to make such a mistake. This Faucet attempt isn't bad at first but then it sinks into deterioration. There is little effort that I can sense, and definately no energy. I'm sure that this matched the crowd at the Melk Weg as through the haze this Gin amazed, but they say that only the music remains... SINGING W/THE FAUCET: 2:57 Singing - WHAT singing? Well, I'll be amsterDAMNED! This wearysome dreary-eyed meandering melts right into the... WATER FROM THE FAUCET: Sometime after the 3:15->3:33 mark when eveyone in the band sort of realized that they weren't singing anymore....then it was lucid-dreaming with thoughts of the Faucet Theme making fragmented appearances. Again, harmonically there is nothing wrong with any of this...no "sour" notes, or ugly note buzzes, etc. And I'm all for the scaled-back "simplicity is beauty" jamming, like the Simples as of late, but there is a difference between "simply beautiful" and "simply barren." This is the later. If this is a Bathtub Gin, it is a dry bath...we just hopped in the tub to roll up a phatty. At 4:20 something is hit. Then recouperation follows. 5:05 Page plays Trey's CFL on piano -- now this is cool!!! 5:30's there's a little bit of uncertainty on behalf of all, a li'l choas, a li'l destructive pounding, then Fish kicks in a new rhythm. Some mellofunk from Mike. 5:40 Return to the CFL....well, sort-of but then, without the benefit of first splitting open, this just sort-of melts into nothing....'till, contending for the most hilarious *whispered* statement of '96, Trey whispers "Rock n' Roll, man." I can just see him shaking his fist :) At 6:09 the silent-mode is on...or are they done? Under normal circumstances they *could* kick things back in here, but at 6:19 the audience cheers and the band gives in. It's all over. ENDS AT 6:19 Trey says "We'll play some real rock 'n roll." and they rip into JBGoode. As slow as this version was, tempo wise, all the sections still clocked in early. Go figure... I'm not sure if it'd be fair to rate this version or not but I am sure that I refuse to do so, in the traditional sense. Being that it's in Amsterdam and this version clearly reflects that, I'm going to have to give it a Rating: Stoned! (N-A for Non-Alcoholic) It wasn't smokin', but it sure was stoned. Walk with light my friends, Benjy