Widespread Panic: Uber Cobra : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"I'm wasted/and I can't find my way home." That line, from a Blind Faith song covered by Widespread Panic on Uber Cobra, might fit many members of the jam-band nation. But this veteran Georgia sextet knows where it's going most of the time on this semiplugged concert recording, reaffirming its status as the most subtle and soulful of the neohippie combos. Singer-guitarist John Bell sounds like a pirate raised on Wet Willie and the Staple Singers; his gritty vocals punctuate spirited interplay between new guitarist George McConnell and pedal-steel ringer John Keane. Languid tempos drift into an inspired reinvention of Talking Heads' "City of Dreams" and a heartbroken take on Vic Chesnutt's "Expiration Day." Best of all is a transcendent original, "Mercy," in which the band's acoustic intricacies and Bell's voice move in inspired unison.