Search - The Big Wu :: Cedar Cultural Center 3/13/98

Diverse, powerful, and entertaining...

07/04/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A great three disc album that demonstrates the Big Wu's unparalled jamming capabilities, and also their diversity of song selection. 3/13/99 is always among the tops of Big Wu traders' lists, and if you just listen you'll find out why. The acoustic is great, but the third disc is what does it for me. The Big Wu bust out some of their crowd favorites with Kangaroo, Gimme A Raise (with some excellent keyboard solos), S.O.S. with kashmir jam (yeah the rocking zeppelin tune), the always fun Werewolves of London, and of course, ending with Red Sky. If you like the Big Wu: buy it. If you've never heard of the Big Wu, but you like jambands: buy it. You should probably just buy it anyway. I gave it a four because the sound quality isn't always profound and superb, but it's a bootleg so what are you gonna do? I'd give it 4.5 if i could."

A Live Set Like None Other

Kevin Fiske | Los Angeles, CA | 08/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an album that sits right in the middle of the band's progression from being a cover band to becoming the full-out original jam band that they have become, which means that this album has a lot of Wu originals as well as a lot of classic blues, Grateful Dead, and even a bit of Led Zeppelin. For a bootleg album, the mic-ing was perfect, giving you a very clean live recording that still captures the sound of the CCC where they played. Listening through a powerful stereo system is nice, but listening to this album through headphones is an absolute auditory treat.
Some of the tracks are a little shaky, like Silcanturnitova and Take The World By Storm, but these can still be fun to listen to, and its the versions of Wu-original "Elani" and "Bird On The Wing," along with the classic "Dark Star" are absolutely epic. Definitely one of my favorite albums. Great for road trips!"