From: Charlie Dirksen
12/16/95 Olympic Arena, Lake Placid, NY Thanks to Gordon Sh-sh-sh-sharpless for this crispy AUD-1 from NAK guns
and his ancient 550 NAK deck. MikeS opens up quickly, and stays unduly upbeat. Trey jams right from the start of the tramps
segment (there weren't tramps at this show, based on the ferocity of this jam), along with Mike and Page, who are funking along
at this exceedingly upbeat tempo. And yes, these tapes are the right speed.. ;-) This MikeS is just incredibly pumped and
quick!! Trey's jamming in this 2-6 minute period is not at all off-key and dark. No eerie sustain. Lots of melodious noodling,
with some typical Mike's Song chords thrown in. The jam, quite unlike any other Mike's Song I've reviewed of late (incl. Fall
versions), is just so fast paced that it is nearly Antelopian in its majesty. It is 6:30 and I am still @#^#% waiting for the closing
chords of the tramps segment, if not the Mike's Song as a whole, but Trey is trilling and wailing away without end!! It is hard to
hear Cactus, unfortunately, but Page and Fish are pounding away in typical MikeS fashion (only much faster). Trey is still
wailing away o'er the top at 7:30. This is just an insane Mike's Song, folks. Not at all typical. Sure, there are no true theme jams
in here, akin to 12/30/93, but so what. Just a total hose of a Mike's Song ... !! Finally, at 8:28, the tramps segment ending
chords kick in (not the complete ending chords of Mike's Song!!), and at 8:44, Trey starts playing Simple in the opening of
what would ordinarily be the post-tramps segment. Right off the marker. This Simple, like the Mike's Song, is upbeat, but this
tempo is standard for the stand-alone versions of Simple that have been visiting us periodically since Fall 1994. Again, though,
Mike's Song was not finished -- the ending chords that were played before Simple are those that have traditionally (well, over
the last couple years) closed the tramps segment portion of Mike's Song, only to start a post-tramps segment eerie jam. Here,
as on 10/8/94, for example, Simple *IS* the post-tramps segment jam. Trey dances with us in Simple for a bit, then heads
elsewhere, and Page gets into a theme around 13:20 with him. This is total Hose in here!!! Just great improvisational grooving,
akin to the 12/9/95 Albany YEM!! Yeah!! Booooogiee!!! What a month December was, eh!? Still no Simple theme at 14:40..
they are just grooving harmoniously. Some excellent fills from Page. Trey is primarily noodling rhythmically along with Fish. This
would be a great time for Trey to jump onto the percussion kit, but no, Fishman just starts kicking in the Weekapaug beat in
here, around 15:40 or so. Not a smooth segue by any stretch.. everyone was just jamming, when Fishman just decided to
switch into Weekapaug. Nothing that I would call smooth or pretty... oh well. Weekapaug is a touch faster than it often was
o'er the course of '95. The opening of the jam segment contains some lazy stuff from Trey.. lots of effects and sustain.. from him
and Page, really. He jumps onto the percussion kit fairly quickly, as Page grooves on the Clav. I can hear Mike better now,
with Trey off the 'doc, and he is funking along nicely (oh, fwiw, no Mike opening bass solo to this 'paug, if you noticed..).
Around 19 minutes, though, Mike is funking along repetitively on this rather dry theme, while Page just wails. Trey is still hitting
stuff on the 'doc while simultaneously smackin' the Fisher Price (DM) percussion kit. THIS jam has the typical Weekapaug
tempo, but otherwise sounds nothing like Weekapaug for these first few minutes. Page plays a recognizable chord or two
between 20-21 mins, but really, this ain't no Weekapaug. This is just the boys having fun improvising... can't describe it to well,
except to say that there are no teary-eyed themes. THE HOSE IS ON, THOUGH, so don't get me wrong.. Damn!! AJ, you
were saying you had problems with '95 Weekapaugs because you couldn't dance to them as much anymore. Well, I suppose
you have never heard this one.. I would have been losing my shit while dancin to this ferocious improv!!! At 23:17, Page teases
the Weekapaug theme, and continues to hint at it periodically, but Trey is still screwing off with weird effects on the 'doc and his
percussion kit. Fish is still laying out the 'paug beat without hesitation, and Mike is funking along merrily with Fish. Trey is letting
loose alot of sustained effects after 24 minutes, before seriously returning to the 'doc around 25 minutes, opening with some
chords, and then the true Weekapaug chords... At 25:27, the groove drops back a notch, into what I've often called a "quiet
mode," and well, this is THAT, but just isn't nearly as quiet as most of those jams have been. Mike is going nuts in here, folks,
and is PROMINENT, since Trey jumped back on his percussion kit. Lots of low funk from Mike's 'doc, and Page is pretty
silent in here. Cheering from the audience around 26:46 or so (?why?).. just a quiet jam in here.. Trey is back on the 'doc at
27:20 or so.. but spacily plucking a note here and there. Sustained chords from Page. Occasional notes from Mike.. Fish is
STILL keeping the Weekapaug tempo, until he drops it at almost 28 minutes, when the jam gets exceedingly spacey, as if they
will sing KUNG or hit us with the vibration of life. At 29 minutes, still spacey sustain from Mike and Trey, when, at 29:10 or so,
Page plays some delicate notes on the piano for a bit. Coil at precisely 29:30. I thought that this segue into Coil was quite
serene. A beautiful way to mellow everyone out after that total hose of a Weekapaug Groove. Unfortunately, this MikeSGroove
lacked melodious theme-jams that would compel me to RAVE about it. It was just a lot of high-powered, set the gearshift for
the high gear of your soul, antelopian-like jammin. Just nothing that TRULY caught my ears -- viz., nothing so harmonious as to
inspire teary wonder. But this was one hell of a MikeSGroove to dance to!!! Damn!! This Mike's Song -> Simple -> (no return
to Mike's) JAM -> Weekapaug -> Jam -> Coil was quite a Groove, and I must recommend it. It beats the hell out of most
MikeSGrooves I've heard from all years, solely based on its intensity (since in this version, both Mike's AND Weekapaug were
technically unfinished!). It would have been nice had Trey solo'ed on the 'doc more in the Weekapaug, but his jamming in the
Mike's Song and around Simple made up for this, in my opinion. A-/A rating. anti-anal-retentive-elitist-dumbass420