Sinclair on Track

Umphrey's McGee packed Milwaukee's historic Riverside Theater over Halloween weekend 2013. For the sixth year running, the band presented their signature Mash-Up Extravaganza— a unique blend of originals, covers and improv that only Umphrey's can deliver. In keeping with the theme, the band donned multi-character costumes like "Batman and Robin Thicke" and "Silent Bob Seger," as fans in attendance followed suit. After "Night On Bald Mountain" set the stage on All Hallows' Eve, Umphrey's got down to business with mash-up performances like "Don't Fear The Doves, Snucka" and "Papa Can Change A Blurred Stone." The encore performance of "Electric Avenue To Hell," a blend of classic songs by AC/DC and Eddy Grant, raised the bar for the next two nights. Night two's performance showcased the band's untethered explosive energy. Look for Brendan & Jake playing guitar behind their heads; Saxophonist Kevin Sinclair's sit-in for a jazz-inflected jam of "Ringo," and "Wappy Sprayberry" as a massive improv vehicle…

Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in formed in Los Angeles, California by two musicians from Mississippi and one from Indiana. Best remembered for their 1993 single "No Rain", the group enjoyed critical and commercial success in the early 1990s with their neo-psychedelic take on alternative rock.

Recorded at various European performances from the spring of 1972, this is a substantial addition to the catalog of a band that only put out two studio albums. The sound is good, and the performances almost wholly instrumental art jazz-rock, not far removed from those heard in the early 1970s by the Soft Machine, drummer/singer Robert Wyatt's previous band. It's electric pianist Bill McRae who wrote most of the material. Wyatt goes off into some wordless scats at one point, but these aren't conventional rock-songs-with-lyrics at all. There is an admirable variety of textures with some distortion and buzzing, cooked up by McRae and guitarist Phil Miller, but it doesn't boast very accessible melodic ideas, preferring to furrow into angular and at times ominous progressions. The eerie, lectronically treated vocal scatting on Wyatt's mischievously titled "Instant Pussy" is a highlight. Five of the nine songs, incidentally, do not appear on the band's studio albums.

Richie Unterberger