Every year that four-piece band from the San Francisco Bay area joins with several other festival performers to present an entire classic album. Getting all these diverse musicians together for one show must be like herding cats so a huge shout out to James Nash and his bandmates for coordinating this show and for brining this annual miracle to Merlefest.
The theme of the show is always clouded in mystery. While there are obscure clues present online in the weeks leading up to it nobody really knows what album will be featured until the band starts playing. And even then, unrelated songs are thrown in to throw off the audience.
This year, they started off with the Beatles hit “Across the Universe” before playing a sample of Lynryd Skynyrd’s “That Smell.” I presumed that was in tribute to the recent passing of guitarist Gary Rossington who had been the last surviving original member of that southern rock band.
When the band started in on “Teenage Wasteland” I was elated. “Who’s Next” by the English rock legends The Who has been one of my favorite rock albums ever since my older brother Rob bought it on eight-track. A few songs into the classic 1971 album, however, the band continued to veer off playing a Loretta Lynn song and confusing some in the audience. One lady near me, whom I assumed wasn’t familiar with “Who’s Next,” surmised that there was no album being presented but I let those around me know what the record was. While the band does present the song collections in the order they appeared on the actual album, going off on unrelated musical tangents during does get a little distracting and does, in my opinion, interrupt the flow. On the other hand, I did enjoy how Nash masterly mixed in the Jeff Beck instrumental “Since We Ended as Lovers” into “The Song is Over.”
When the group stuck strictly to the script it was awesome. Singer Celia Woodsmith channeled Who lead singer Roger Daltrey as she belted out the songs. The only weak spot for me was the unsure and lackluster performance of one of my favorite selections “My Wife.” That was a rare song that was not written by Pete Townshend nor sung by Daltrey. It was composed and sung by bassist John Entwistle on the album.
While the listeners backing in the sun may have become a little listless by some of the deep cuts that weren’t familiar to them I knew that the last song would bring them back to life. “Won’t Be Fooled Again” was not only a radio hit back in the day but was also featured as the opening tune on the popular CBS series CSI Miami. I was right. The anthem rocked the house and was a great finale.
Despite my few petty complaints, all in all it was another stellar performance and personally gratifying musical experience.