Date:    Wed, 2 Sep 1998 12:05:03 -0700
From:    Tim Wade 
Subject: RebaReview 31: 7-8-94 Great Woods

Grabbin' My RE-BA (RebaReview #31)
7-8-94 Great Woods
Mansfield, MA set II
Time: 11:55

More HUGER THAN HUGE thanks to the great Jake Morrill for this one.

THE DIRECTIONS (0:00): This one might be a little fast...ooh, nice fill
from Fish in the first verse...there's the woodblock, and there's the
melted wax clapping, there's a touch of feedback...good directions.

THE SIP (2:20): Sounds a little frenzied at first...yeah, there's
trouble a brewin' in this Reba, I think...hardly any miscues from
anyone...scary...build up to the swallow is standard...here we go!

THE SWALLOW (4:35): *Applause*

THE CHILL (5:54): GordoFish, layin' it down...Trey almost, then does
come in with a sharp lick, heads down and starts to tap and pluck
around...strong clapping...Trey steadily hops his way up the ladder,
taking Mike with him...up high he hits a lick that Mike echoes...now
that's _very_ much Manteca!  Sweet!  Trey switches down low, but they
continue to groove on the Manteca theme through for a while...Trey
abruptly puts an end to that with a shift back to more standard Reba
noodles, but Page echoes Manteca again...they begin to fade together
into a delicate shift around 7:20.  Trey is way up high and dancing
around faintly...woah, everyone is starting to evaporate...a little tom
tap from Fish brings things back in focus, Trey still noodling around up
high.  Some stops and starts from the rhythm boys, nice licks from Trey,
woodblock taps...working to a shift at 8:00 that finds Mike laying some
SERIOUS funk on the floor...Trey starts to flutter and Mike lets it go
with a blap...we're evaporating again...little swallow chord from
Trey...Fish lets the Chill beat go completely, Mike starts funkin' out a
beat...this swells and recedes, like they can't quite decide whether to
build at this pace or shift back to the chill...strange...the beat fades
again, and Trey grabs the moment with a sweet lick at 8:49.  He repeats
this lick once, preceding a more definitive shift...Mike starts to funk
out again, but Trey is off doing his own thing while Fish is starting to
toy with a plodding 4/4 time.  Trey brings it down a notch while Fish
hangs with the march he's got going...Trey now switches to muted
scratching and chopping, and everything steadily builds to a respectable
release at 9:38.  Nice sustained riffs from Trey now as this Reba starts
to get her feet under her...it's not long before Trey slips back down
again, thrashing around and stirring the tub, building up to a
semi-release...Trey has that madman thing going again...Fishman throws
out a few crashes to grab his attention...Trey almost instantly hits on
a lick that he solos around, really starting to cook...more and more
tension as Trey works his way up the ^Ñdoc...LOTS of tension...and a NICE
release at 11:15!  Top level of the jam now...I can barely hear Page
banging away on the piano, but I'm sure he's lost a little more of his
sanity...Trey continues to let loose up here, and I can sense this one
isn't much longer for the world...Fishman prevents a vasoconstrictor
emergency by letting the toms fly at 11:55.

THE WET WHISTLE: There's a scant three to five second pause before
"Jerusalem, City of Gold", one of my favorites and a joy to hear in
place of a whistle.  (Ain't no way I'm gonna try to spell the Hebrew for
that, either).

* * *

Well, Fish kept his eye on the ladder, unlike two nights earlier in
Montreal.  Which brings up my first point - July 1994 seems to be a damn
good month for Rebas.  These three in a row - Old Orchard Beach 7-3,
Montreal 7-6, and Great Woods 7-8 are all very impressive, coming on
each other's heels.  There is one more from this month that I have yet
to hear, 7-15-94, so if anyone out there reading this happens to have a
copy of that, I'd love to hear from you.

As for this Manteca business...it's just plain sweet, though I wish they
would have stuck with it a bit longer.  Of course, it's not like Manteca
is a jamming vehicle to begin with.  But it makes a lovely addition to
the first part of the Chill.  There are a few more nice moments
throughout, but nothing out of this world.  The ending is better than
average, if only slightly.  As I said at the beginning, though, my copy
seems a touch fast, as you might guess as it clocks in under twelve
minutes, so perhaps it would sound even better cleaned up a tad.  But
who says good things need large (or long) packaging?  This Reba is worth
several listens, just for the Manteca teasing, and is a solid version
taboot.

Finest in the Nation?  Surely a nice appetizer...

B

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