Album Reviews
Reggae covers and dub-wise improvising are regular features of Gov't Mule's marathon shows. Mighty High focuses on that heavy Jamaica in singer-guitarist Warren Haynes' modern-Dixie redesign of classic British blues rock. Actually, there is as much Free as Lee Perry in the opening detonation of "I'm a Ram" — from Al Green's 1971 album Gets Next to You — while drummer Matt Abts' New Orleans backbeat under the Band's "Shape I'm In" affirms the mix of Crescent City and funky Kingston in the original. The Rolling Stones' "Play With Fire" is overstuffed with weed-whacked production, and the suite of dub versions in the second half of the album could use more jolting drama. But the closing remix of "I'm a Ram," titled "Plasticine Era," is a hip minefield of wah-wah-guitar bark, snare-drum crack and singsong bravado by Jamaican vocalist Willi Williams, whose 1978 single "Armagideon Time" is a Mule cover waiting to happen.
(Posted: Nov 15, 2007)
Your Turn
Review 1 of 1
waldodio writes:
Whoa, what a cool album. It sounds like Bad Company moved to Jamaica and dropped some acid. A wonderful combination. The vocals and musicianship are uniformly excellent.
Nov 1, 2007 09:50:42
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