Light Fuse, Get Away

Widespread Panic: John Bell, Michael Houser (vocals, guitar); John Hermann (vocals, keyboards); David Schools (vocals, bass); Domingo S. Ortiz (vocals, percussion); Todd Nance (drums).
Additional personnel: Branford Marsalis (horns).
This southern-fried jam-rock machine knows how to crank up a good time. Fans of the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Little Feat may enjoy this 2 CD offering of Widespread Panic at some of their most rippin' moments in concert. Solid classic rock gives way to extended guitar and percussion jams, only to resurface into the next electrified verse of lyrics. John Hermann's funky clavinet riffs and other key-toys lend a groovy swagger to the whole mix.
The first disc opens with "Porch Song," an anthem for "Havin' a good time." As elsewhere on the album, modal rumination gives way to booty-shakin' keyboard funk-ercises. The simply titled "Rock" delivers a familiar Southern rock theme of being homeward bound, with the crescendoing mantra "I'm gonna make it home...piece by piece." While boulder-sized guitar lines abound, these tunes aren't all of the flaming riff-driven kind. Resounding slide work carries the trippy-trailing "Barstools & Dreamers" into a burning double guitar eruption, yielding in turn to a slow-stepping groove that floats the listener out to sea. LIGHT FUSE GET AWAY indeed, this is the closest thing to the real stuff.