Date:    Wed, 2 Sep 1998 12:12:05 -0700
From:    Tim Wade 
Subject: RebaReview 32: 10-18-94 Nashville

Wake Up To Find Out (RebaReview #32)
10-18-94 Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt U. Memorial Gym, set II
Time: 16:45/ 18:12

This one was a wonderfully pleasant surprise from the Frogman in
Memphish.

Trey (after the end of SITM): "Ladies and gentlemen, the Creature from
the Black Lagoon on drums."

I love Fishman.

THE DIRECTIONS (0:00): Trey trips over the very first note, but other
than that, the directions are darn near perfect, though standard.  There
is some hooting and hollering initially, but that dies quickly and stays
dead...not even any melted wax clapping to report.  I like quiet crowds.

THE SIP (2:30): Dead solid perfect is about all I can say.  Trey's
swishing things around already as we head for

THE SWALLOW (4:53): They miss the very last note on the first gulp, but
other than that, very nice.

THE CHILL (6:14): Standard Chill intro for just a few measures, and when
Page flutters away for a moment, Trey picks up on the bass line and
grooves with Mike.  Page moves to soft electric keys...a steady clap
develops as we are just kickin' it...Trey really comes in at 6:54,
beginning to noodle around up high and explore some sweet licks...we're
still groovin', and Trey eventually drops back down and hooks back into
it...he's got new ideas down there, causing Fish to throw in some stops
and Page to chime prettily...and we're still with the groove.  Trey
opens up and explores up high again, but he's much quieter now and he
doesn't disturb the groove a bit...lots more sweet licks.  There is the
hint of a shift around 8:13, and Trey follows a line up the ladder,
disappearing at the top like a whisp of smoke...he repeats this four
times, illiciting wonderful stutters and fills from Fishman, and
everyone else for that matter.  Trey wraps that up with a big chirp and
heads for the noodles again, hopping downwards into a shift at 9:01...

...Fish suddenly lets go of the beat with a wonderful snare
roll...wow...they all begin to swell and fade along with Fish, very
nice...they come together on the quiet end, beginning to build slowly,
Fish still rolling on the snare...but now it starts to get a little
spacy...hmmm, better make that a lot spacy, and a touch odd... Trey
begins to come down from...well, somewhere, and finds a new lick around
9:52.  Here I have to defer to Charlie Dirksen's explanation, for
reasons I'll give later...Charlie says this is pretty much the chord
progression to "Eyes of the World"  (Gdead), but in a much darker (and,
I will add, WIERDER) key.  It's really hard for me to explain
further...they jam with this for quite a while, with one little shift
upwards before Mike kind of drops out and Trey and Page focus on the two
notes at the end of the phrase...Mike hooks up with Fish again and
shades of the original groove return...Page sticks with those notes
while Trey plugs into the rhythm section again...there are some new
notes floating around now as the groove begins to intensify...Page is on
piano now I think...Trey breaks away around 11:45 and Mike brings some
Reba back to the Reba...Trey finds another really good lick to work
with...wow, they are really in tune now, and this groove has become a
hose!  Trey adds more sustain, and Page is just jammin'!!  Fishman rolls
out a shift, but nothing shakes loose...Trey finally does let it go with
an uncomfortable sound at 13:10.

Trey noodles for a moment to get his bearings, then drops gracefully
back down in the arms of the groove as Page perfectly revisits the EOTW
jam...they all pick that up a little, and to me it sounds much nicer
like this...they continue to let this fade...and fade...soon it's just
Trey, with that underwater sound, and little tinkles from Page...Trey
scales up and grabs the rhythm boys again...shortly this is a very
quiet, very Reba jam...a shift solidifies this a little bit, and Trey
responds by playing with a couple of notes, hooking the others, and
skipping up the ladder to another shift at 14:36.  Fish is drawing my
attention now with his stutters and rolls, which accent Trey and Page
nicely...there's another shift, and a classic Reba lick...another shift
to take us up a notch, and a pretty nice one...Trey noodles around in
the mid levels, Fish continues his snare work...at 15:30 Trey hits
something...yes!  He falls perfectly into the main Dave's Energy Guide
lick and hangs with it!  It builds into a great release at 15:51!!
WOW!  High level Reba wailing now!!  Trey revels in it, takes it through
one shift, hears some warning toms from Fish, and sails triumphantly
into the sunset at 16:30!

THE WET WHISTLE (16:45): Good, solid, standard whistle...with maybe just
a little more mmmph to it than usual.  Final blap at 18:12.

* * *

First thing's first - wow.

As far as Eyes of the World goes, I am not a huge Dead fan and have only
heard the song once (on Dick's Picks, vol. 3 I believe), so I have to
take Charlie's word on that score, and I believe Charlie knows what he's
talking about.  That being said, I can't say for sure whether I like
that section of this jam.  It's very different, and I'm a big fan of
that, but it's also kinda creepy.

None of this is meant to detract from the jam...that ^Ñcreepy' jam is the
result of a fabulous groove as well as Fishman taking the dive over the
cliff and sending us into type II teritorry, where few Rebas tread.
Fish really shines in this one.  In addition, it really ends up adding a
lot to the rest of the jam.  The hose they open up after that EOTW
section reminds me of the 8-16-93 St. Louis version, and I think it's
pretty great.

To top all of this off they segue wonderfully back into Reba territory,
then Trey drops that Dave's Energy Guide tease in which fits *perfectly*
and results in a tremendous release.  How often do you hear some DEG?
Again, wow.

Now comes the part where I'm supposed to assign, somehow, a grade.
Unfortunately, grades are reserved for -Reba-, and this is Reba and much
more.  It's definitely, IMNSFHO, a stand apart version like St. Louis,
and therefore I'm gonna cop out again.

Finest in the Nation?  Who am I to say?

N/R

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