Live With a Little Help From Our Friends
Gov't Mule's arsenal of endless jams that somehow perpetually build in intensity make it natural that this Southern power trio has so quickly returned to the live-record format. The Mule's second concert recording in four years is as virile as the title is impotent. Recorded in Atlanta on New Year's Eve, 1998, this four-disc collector's edition will please fans who weren't satiated by the original 145-minutetwo-CDset.With a Little Helpserves as a road map through their array of influences, as the band wends its way throughBlack Sabbath,Humble Pie,Free,Elmore James,Traffic, andNeil Young & Crazy Horsebefore settling in for the night at theJohn ColtraneInn for a half-hour of "Afro Blue." Despite all this prime cover material, the highlight may still be Warren Haynes's original "Soulshine" (first recorded while Haynes and bassist Allen Woody were with theAllman Brothers), a gritty and spiritual Muscle Shoals soul number that finds Haynes bouncing guitar licks off young Derek Trucks while the unlikely keyboard tandem ofBernie Worrelland Chuck Leavell dig in behind them. The steady stream of guests--including formerBlack Crowesguitarist Marc Ford, formerARUguitarist Jimmy Herring, and reed man Randall Bramblett--keeps things moving along, but in truth, Haynes, Woody, and drummer Matt Abts hardly need any help generating incendiary, densely packed music. This powder keg is a mission statement and a mission accomplished all in one wrapper.--Marc Greilsamer