1993-07-23 | God Street Wine

Nakamichi CM300s->Teac DAP20(master @ 16/48) DAT playback: Fostex D10 -> Sound Devices 722 digital input (@24/48) Mastered: Sox 14.4.2 to remove the pre-emphasis that the Teac A>D converter added to this recording. Soundforge Pro 13.0 for scrubbing out some digital transfer errors; hand scrubbing a few minor claps and yells, and one loud burst of feedback; volume normalization; 24 -> 16 bit dither using POW-r Dither with POW-r #3 noise shaping. Tracked in CDWav. Tagged in Tag&Rename 3.9.15

Taper Notes:

View NotesBilled as Jon Bevo's Love Orchestra.  Ominous Seapods opened

Recorded by Geoff Tischman
Transferred (5/2020), tracked (1/12-13/2021), mastered (1/11-13/2021), and posted (1/13/2021) by Scott Bernstein

Special thanks to Geoff Tischman for FedEx-ing me his master DAT tapes to transfer

Taper notes:
Setting the scene for this show.  I first heard of GSW in March of 1993, thanks to my buddy Geoff Tischman, after he played me his recording of the show he recorded at Wetlands.  I attended my first GSW show at Irving Plaza in June of 1993 and fell in love with the band.  At that show they announced that they would be returning to their old stomping-grounds, Nightingales -- which they'd already outgrown.  This was a TINY TINY place and was frankly a rat hole with a poor sound system...a loud slamming front door, and was as likely to be populated with drug dealers and prostitutes (in the back, near the pool table) as jamband fans.  But this bar holds a special place in NYC Jamband history as it is the venue that both Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors were born out of -- before they made their mark on The Wetlands.  God Street Wine (an arguably better band than BT or SD) followed closely behind in those footsteps as the "next big jamband".  Anyway, they decided to play a 3 night underplay at their old stomping grounds and I was psyched to see them in this TINY TINY place where they made their name (before I ever had a chance to see them there) -- and I chose this particular night out of the three because it was the auspicious night of my 23rd birthday.  I had already been to see The Neville Brothers at Central Park Summerstage earlier in the evening.

Geoff roudned up the taping gear, and though I had my Denon DTR-80p DAT machine for about 5 months at the time, I somehow decided I didn't want to spend $16 on the blank DAT tapes it would take to record it (or maybe I was currently out of them?), so I brought out my old Sony D6 recording Walkman and taped it on cassette.  Luckly Geoff record this show on DAT, and we are all very lucky that he shipped me those 27 year old DATs earlier in 2020 -- which amazingly still played pretty cleanly.  I have to say that in general I am not a fan of these Nakamichi microphones; but in such close quarters (less than 5 feet from the band/stage) this recording sounds warm, clear, and in your face.

Starting out with some witty Banter, Lo talks about the rights of short people to be able to see -- a problem in this venue because there was no actual raised up "stage" -- just a stage "area" where the band would set up -- in front of a mirrored background.  Lo also takes an informal survey to see who had attended the show the night before (apparently, nobody, based upon the crowd reaction...) and explains that they had taken great pains to craft 3 unique setlists with no repeats.

Things kick off unauspiciously with a false start on the song "Better Than You" (based upon the stage banter, it seems that Dan's monitor had cut out), but the band nails their 2nd take of the tune, followed by the nice reggae-ified "This Fine Town", and an unremarkable (sorry, can't win 'em all!) take on "Borderline" -- clearly the band was still warming up.  From this point forward the show kicks into high gear with a spectacular, phenomenal take on "Dirty Little Secret".  The dirty little secret here is that this version of the song is EVERYTHING you want out of a God Street Wine song -- the band really takes flight and enters the stratosphere with amazing jams which serve to remind us why it's awesome having 2 lead guitar players, as Aaron and Lo feed off of each other taking things higher and higher as we power right into "Driving West" via segue.  Obviously "Driving West" and its reggae groove cannot maintain the energy of "...Secret", but it chugs along with its own locomotive-like energy and hits its peak, jamming out very nicely.  "Crazy Iranian" flows naturally out of "Driving West" (via a brief drum solo) and does its zig zagging jazz-rock thing.  After a short breather, "April Rain" follows, and for the first time the band's namesake Bevo really digs in for a nice synth-organ (they did not bring a full hammond organ into this tiny venue) solo and brings things back up nicely for a segue into "Epiphany".  This "Epiphany" is also everything you want -- tight, upbeat, and jazzy and it powers right into one of THOSE versions of "Imogene".  You know the ones I'm talking about -- where the band lets it all go, Aaron starts harmonizing his vocals with his guitar solo, and the band goes off-script to where the song takes them -- and giving us a second THRILLING lead guitar duet in this set and clocking in at over 13 minutes.  What a way to finish up the first set, leaving us all sweaty and out of breath on a hot summer night in a venue with very little ventilation.

Lo mentions that Aaron was enjoying a game of Arkanoid between sets and mentions that they have been invited to play at the HORDE tour at the Garden State Arts Center on August 5th.  And, *** Parental Advisory ***, someone gets on the mic to tell a dirty joke.

To start the 2nd set in earnest, they dig into "Who's Driving", with its slow, slinky dirty groove which is perfect for the venue and show.  Lo has a little trouble with some lyrics, but they do a great job as a unit of not letting it impede the song at all!  In fact once he gets things back on track, Lo gives his most poignient vocal performance I've heard for this tune before bringing it home with its catchy, upbeat final section.  "Nothing Left To Lose" is a nice little ditty that never received a lot of air play serves mostly as a nice intro for a wonderful "Waiting For The Tide" which builds and builds to its guitar crecendo and final verse which carries over its infectious energy via segue into "Weird Dream", another GSW favorite of mine.  Next up, the band's beautiful, complex, expansive tribute to the Jersey Shore, "Mantoloking Town" -- and this version is absoluetly breathtaking!  This segues right into an explosive and yet also completely subtle and jazzy drum solo from Tomo and then the band manages to take things up ANOTHER notch with a rockin' "Snake Eyes".  After so much high energy music, the band gives us a minute to catch our collective breath with a beautiful and sensitive take on "Straight Line" where you can really hear the nuances of Aaron's voice.  They chose to close the set with an excellent bluegrassy take on the traditional "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", which is really the perfect way to bring this set to a close.  For the encore, the band dropped a wild "Feel The Pressure" on us to send us home.

What a show!  What a night!  What a way to celebrate my 23rd birthday!!!

Enjoy!

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