From: Charlie Dirksen
10/23/96 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT Thanks for the crispy tapes, Dan Seideman!! What a sweet show! The
highlights of the first set have to be AC/DC Bag and Zero. The Theme and Antelope are typically great, PYITE could be
better.. but Boy, Man, this is the first and only Zero I've heard from the Fall tour, and I love what they've done with this song!
What a great jam! Bob Gulloti adds a lot to the second set, imo, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. ;) I looooooooooove the
Yamar!!! =^] =^] =^] It should read Yamar -> Drumz -> Yamar, in my opinion. There's no yelling from Mike towards the end
("...rectify my finger..."), of course, but there is that nice drumz... YOOOOOOOOOWWWCH!!!!!! What an opening! This
will be interesting with the the drummerS.. the opening segment of Tweezer is great, but only thanks to the addition of Bob. It is
otherwise standard. There's no screaming on "Ebeneezer," that I can make out, consistent with recent versions. Jam segment at
4:32 (typical time). Trey employs the Leslie effect (watery psychedelic sound) in the opening with Page gloriously
accompanying. Mike is fairly repetitive, but Present. Bob and Charleton provide a huuuuuuuuuuuuge bottom.. Trey finds a
theme within a minute, while noodling meldiously and darkly (tweeeeezeresquely), and kneads this theme for awhile. He's up
and down the 'doc in the first few minutes, which isn't all that uncommon, of course, but is especially pleasing in light of the
accompaniment. Fairly repetitive, though, in all honesty (but this isn't very unusual, as you know). There are certainly more
inspiring openings to the jam out there.. Around 8 minutes the jam gets especially dark, as Trey steadily climbs the 'doc from a
low octave, and the drummers REALLLY start raging. In fact, the drums are just soooo damn forceful, that the potential for any
melodious theme-jams conceived to inspire teary-eyed bliss is extraordinarily limited. Indeed, around 9:40 there's an angry,
thunderous rage of a JAM, that is truly phaaaaaaaat. Excellent, balls to the wall ROCK for the next minute, until Trey loses
interest and employs some effects via that digital delay loop device... Around 11 minutes the jam drops into a meandering,
aimless wall of sound/noise, with heavy drums and riich Mike. Page employs an odd effect using the clavinet, I believe. Trey is
still playing with his toys.. Around 13 minutes the groove is still in this chaotic & groundless state, which one could nevertheless
readily dance too. I'm sure this jamming (around 14 minutes) left some in Awe and others in agony... but around 14:40ish, Trey
returns to the 'doc, and starts soloing commandingly and sufficiently melodiously to return the formerly unbalanced jam to
something more creative and inspiring! Around 15:30, in fact, Trey solos in a nearly Tweezer-Reprise fashion, on a very
pleasant theme that contains some appropriately placed sustain! He then breaks out passionately soloing ... until the Note at
16:24, and the dying out of the Tweezer theme begins, let by Page ... no surprises in this brief ending segment. Total time 17:26.
Well, though several minutes of this jam were foggy and schwag, in my opinion, given the lack of any melody or any unduly
delicious hose, the vast majority of this Tweezer had an intensity matched by few others (and not merely because of Bob's
contribution). A significantly above-average Tweezer, easily worthy of a 7.5 rating, in my opinion. two cents, dirk420