CASEY PHILLIPS: In the musical world, “jam band” is a polarizing term. To some, it brings to mind a band rocking on the edge of improvisational hysteria, at one with the musical moment. To others, it means a band is so drugged up they don’t realize they’ve been playing off-kilter chords for 45 minutes.
Thanks to a bad experience with a 23-minute version of “Dark Star” on “Live/Dead,” I am very much a member of the latter group.
As a result, I approached “Dirty Side Down,” the 11th album by Athens-based jammers Widespread Panic, like I would a bear I’d recently offended. I feared it would be 56 minutes of aimless solos, but the results were both solidly produced and amazingly diverse. Panic has crafted the musical equivalent of delicious garbage soup, a stylistic melting pot of everything from romping chicken-fried Southern rock to alt-grunge with nary a stretched-out solo in sight.
Against all odds, it works, and I couldn’t have been more surprised.
BARRY COURTER: I too was surprised by the record, and I have to say it has become one of my new favorites. You are right about the “jam band” prejudice. I’ve heard some Panic material in the past, and I liked it, but I’d not heard enough to have an educated opinion.
This is what these guys do, apparently. There are no rules, and they go where they want to. If they want to do a little country shuffle, they do it. The next track might have a metal grind to it and the one after that some fiddle.
It works.
CASEY: They certainly manage to keep listeners on their toes. Just when you feel like you’ve got them figured out as a group of fun-loving romping rock carnies, they whip a curve ball like “This Cruel Thing” at you. That track, a fairly somber cover of a half-finished demo recorded by recently deceased Panic collaborator Vic Chesnutt, is a surprise, but again, it works.
BARRY: I like pretty much every track, but one I especially liked is “Shut Up and Drive,” which has a great hook and is one that I could see becoming one of those 20-minute live jams that you fret about, as long as the hook stays set. It’s when the songs wander off that the Jam bands lose me also.
One track I did think was out of place was “Cotton Was King.” I actually thought iTunes had moved on to a new album when it came on. It’s not a bad song by itself, but it is hard rock through and through and just seemed an odd inclusion.
CASEY: While I found the “togetherness” of this album pleasantly surprising, I wonder whether it will disappoint Panic fans. By default, studio albums won’t have the moment-to-moment surprises and innovation of a live jam, but the studio rails may disappoint fans of the live experience. I, however, really enjoyed it.
BARRY: I really like this CD and plan to go back and listen to more Panic.
Reviewed this week
* Album: “Dirty Side Down.”
* Artist: Widespread Panic.
* Release date: May 25 (ATO Records).