The
last few albums, Govt Mule has fallen into the trap of a really solid opening
half that tends to fade away during the second half of the album. They still remain one of the best live bands
you will ever see and Warren Haynes is undoubtedly one of the best guitarists
to ever play, so picking up the new album, Shout!
was a no-brainer. While this album was a
little more even and not so top-heavy, it definitely adds to the recent
tradition of good, not great albums from Warren Haynes and company.
The
technical precision of the musicians is not lost on me at all in regards to
this album. The songs are very well
done, in terms of both the lyrics and the music itself. They seem to fit very nicely into the
pantheon of good work that Govt Mule has put out over its history. Whereas some bands can change throughout
their tenure and that is effectively marked in their discography, Govt Mule is
nothing but consistent. I could craft a
playlist of Govt Mule tracks dating back to their self-titled release from the
early 90s and, aside from recording quality, you would probably not be able to
tell which album or era the music came from.
Not only that, but Govt Mule carries that consistency over to their live
shows with amazing regularity.
That
being said, that consistency leads to some less than stellar results. Sure, the album is good. Aside from the reggae-infused Mighty High there isn’t an album in the
Govt Mule catalog that is anything but good.
Maybe if I listen to it a bit more some real standouts will emerge, but
at this point, an album like Deja Voodoo,
not to mention the self titled debut are the standard bearers. They are full of tracks that can be described
as seminal Mule tracks. I could see a
few of these being worked into the live sets (in fact I first heard “No Reward”
at the show in Rochester last summer) but it may be more of a shoe-horning
process for the sake of promoting the album as opposed to a natural thing.
One of
the big selling points for this disc is actually the second disc. The second disc is basically the first disc
repeated, just with different singers on the original songs. Think of Slash’s self-titled album from a few
years ago. The thing here is that we get
to listen to the tracks in their original iteration on disc one, then see what
a different vocalist does with the same material. Predictably, some of the songs are better and
some are worse, but most toe the line of just as good as the originals. I’ve always been a huge fan of Warren Haynes
as a singer, thinking that his voice is expertly suited for the kind of music
the band plays. While I will not renege
on that view, I will say that the different “flavors” that those other
vocalists bring to the Govt Mule music is a welcome change. The band doesn’t stray too far out of its
comfort zone in terms of choosing vocalists, but they all add a little
something that Haynes doesn’t.
In
short, if you like Govt Mule, or the blues/jam band type of music in general,
this is an album you want to have in your library. The songs are not the best in the band’s
catalog, but it’s new Mule music and honestly, that’s better than nothing. The bonus disc is just icing on the cake.
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