Songs from the Road

Spin Doctors-what can I say? Saw them this summer at the Syracuse fair and then bought a few of their CDs that I had misplaced. They are wonderful in studio and lots of fun on the road as this CD shows.

As Chris Barron says towards the end of the show, "Spin Doctors - more than just Two Princes". They're still around, still putting out music, and I'm still buying it to keep my collection complete. This latest live album was recorded at a concert in Germany on the tour to support their recent blues-oriented album "If The River Was Whiskey". Like their last couple albums, this concert features the original band line-up.The CD half of the package is nice enough, good recording, decent performance. Barron's vocals are a little shaky in places, but overall not bad. It's a little disappointing that the set list just alternates songs from the new album with songs from Pocket Full of Kryptonite, with a couple other early songs from the live "Homebelly Groove" thrown in for good measure. It would have been nice to hear a couple songs from "Nice Talking To Me", the album prior to "Whiskey" which also featured the original band. I guess they wanted this live album to appeal to their casual fans from the 90s, but really at this point how many of those people even know the band is still active?The DVD of the concert features the same set list, with a little more between-song banter kept in. Unfortunately it's nearly unwatchable. It's one of those music videos where the focus is firmly on the singer's face whenever there are vocals, and during instrumental sections it jumps between super close-ups of the musician's hands, the back of random audience member's heads, or flashing stage lights. Whoever edited the thing must have had ADD because it rarely holds on any particular shot for more than a second and a half. Really, really frustrating to try to watch. For gods sake, stop trying to make it "exciting" with the super-fast cuts and just let us watch the concert already.And what happened to Chris Barron? He looks like he hasn't slept since the Pocketful days. According to info I found on the web, he was in his mid-40s when this concert was filmed, but he looks like he should be in a retirement home. Chris, start taking better care of yourself man.Anyway, if you're a big fan of the band and liked their recent blues album, this is probably worth picking up. Otherwise, you can pretty safely skip it.

Can't wait to see them play live in person, but this will do for now. The Spin Doctors are so much fun.

I have not heard many of these songs until I bought this CD. Instant Fan since!