OYSTERHEAD
Bonnaroo 2006 [ 2CD]
Live on What Stage, Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN; June 16, 2006. Very good to excellent stereo soundboard?
There are some who feel that one of the memorable moments of Oysterhead’s 2006 Bonnaroo gig was, at the end of Pseudo Suicide, drummer Stuart Copeland exclaiming over what had been a very invigorating set: “Oh you people of Bonnaroo, you’re so beautiful… I want to take off my clothes… and come and dance among you!”
To call Oysterhead an alternative band doesn’t seem to quite hit it. It’s a supergroup all right, featuring bassist Les Claypool of Primus, guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish and drummer Stuart Copeland of The Police. Experimental punk/funk metal perhaps?
Steve Bekkala, reviewing the group’s one and only album (so far), The Grand Pecking Order, for the All Music Guide, noted: “Copeland in particular appears newly rejuvenated, playing with an inspired abandon unheard from him in years; his energetic drumming practically leaps out of the speakers right from the beginning of the first track onward… With only two tracks exceeding five minutes in length, the group never loses sight of instilling concise, catchy hooks into their tunes, whether it’s the bouncy funk of Mr. Oysterhead, the circular melodies of Owner Of The World, or the whimsical Birthday Boys.
Oysterhead are nothing but spacey and heady.
According to the wikipedia, the group was originally intended for a singular live performance at New Orleans Saenger Theatre on May 4, 2000. In 2001, Oysterhead officially reformed to record and release an album entitled The Grand Pecking Order, which featured nine new tracks in addition to four songs originally debuted in New Orleans. The release of this album was supported by a brief tour of North America, after which the members went their separate ways.
Until the 2006 Bonnaroo Music Festival.
Justin Ward of livemusicblog.com noted: “It was on my radar as the ‘must-see’ set at Bonnaroo 2006 and you better believe that if I was there at the festival, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world… Oysterhead rocked the main stage on Friday afternoon and surprised everyone with how well they could actually sound by the end of the set. Musically, there are some real moments of joy in the set…”
Probably, producer and recording engineer Rich Blatt, who also posted pictures of the gig on his website, summed it up best: “The Oysterhead show was amazing. Truth is that I couldn’t hum a single melody of any of the songs they played, nor could I repeat any of the lyrics. But, in this case, it doesn’t matter at all…
“This show was a tour de force (gawd do I sound like an ’80s rock journalist or what…?) of raw jamming talent. The story is that Oysterhead had not played together since 2001. There were a few end-of-song trainwrecks that were nicely and musically covered up, but for the most part the smooth interplay of their musicianship was something remarkable to witness…
“But overall, weird sh*t and all, it was great fun to watch. Certainly part of that was the fact that these three world-class talents were themselves clearly having more fun than should be allowed in this life.”
And it certainly shows.
Thanks to Lincoln Park Mark for sharing the tracks.
Cover art pictures by Rich Blatt, posted on the net. Thanks!
Click on the highlighted tracks to download the MP3s (sample rate of 192 kbps). As far as we can ascertain, these tracks have never been officially released on CD.
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Disc 1
Track 101. Little Faces (cuts in) (6.0MB)
Track 102. Oz is Ever Floating (9.7MB)
Track 103. Mr. Oysterhead (15.4MB)
Track 104. Army’s On Ecstasy (16.5MB)
Track 105. Radon Balloon (24.9MB)
Disc 2
Track 201. Jailhouse Rock (8.8MB)
Track 202. Shadow Of A Man (6.8MB)
Track 203. Birthday Boys (8.0MB)
Track 204. Polka Dot Rose (12.3MB)
Track 205. Pseudo Suicide (17.3MB)
Track 206. Owner Of The World (7.6MB)
Lineup:
Trey Anastasio - guitar
Les Claypool - bass
Stuart Copeland - drums
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