Zac Brown Band "Live From Bonnaroo"
None of the recent singles on iTunes have struck me lately as anything interesting to blog about (including tolerable tunes by Tim McGraw and Easton Corbin that I didn't feel all that snarky about) as a 99 Cent Review, so here's a review of an EP.
The People's Take:
just ok (3 Stars) – the zac brown band is good, but they should stick to their own stuff. "free" is a great song, but their version of "devil went down to georgia" was not good at all. charlie daniels band did that song so much better. stick to the more popular country.
-fill in da blank
absolutely stunning (5 Stars) – There's nothing better than ZBB live and these few tracks really sum it all up. My fiance and I have been trying to come up with a first dance song and we were torn between Free, Whatever it Is and Into the Mystic by Van Morrisson among a few others. What could be better than the live version of Free with Into the Mystic featured?!?! It's the best of both worlds, you just can't beat it! What an amazing small collection of live tracks. Only wish there were more.
-soxfanjp
My Take:
I need to come clean on a complete change of opinion. I've made more than my share of sport of the Zac Brown Band in the past. Not Chuck Wicks level sport, but they've been in the crosshairs no doubt. To be honest, I based my entire initial opinion of the band on "Chicken Fried" and then filtered their album The Foundation through that skewed opinion. I didn't care for The Foundation after a few listens because of that. Maybe even hated it, aside from a couple of songs.
Time has been a friend to this album, because for some reason I kept being drawn back again and again to give it more chances. Now The Foundation is a friend to my ears. I still skip "Chicken Fried" though.
So anyway, I was something of a fan of ZBB even before I heard about this EP. After purchase and play, I'm a big fan. "Toes," their current hit single is the opening track here and it's even more fun live. While the band isn't flamboyantly entertaining in concert by any means (thank goodness), they bring a warmth and joy to their performance that's hard to describe.
"Free" which flows into a cover of Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" is the centerpiece here. It's a hypnotic display of ZBB's ability to slow it down without boring it down. It's such a compelling track, I defy even the hippest hipster to say they hate this. Applause and backpats are in order for this tune. Awesome.
There's a jam band-ish feel to the proceedings that's not as noticeable on their studio recordings, but don't take that as a red flag. Uh oh, just lost half the audience. In no way do I mean they noodle on the guitar and rub their bleary eyes amid the patchouli smoke. I just mean there's a laid back atmosphere but a real focus on the playing, not the showing off.
There's also a reggae bounce going on, especially in "Who Knows" which is, well, a reggae song. Oh crap, now I've lost the other half of readers. Never fear, ZBB aren't trustafarians or posers, they just happen to incorporate a lot of those elements into their overall package. The blending never sounds awkward or fake, it's an organic experience.
Besides the three songs already mentioned, the EP also includes ZBB's able rendering of CDB's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (which includes no reggae bounce) and a video of the performance of "Who Knows" that really adds to the package and helps those of us who haven't seen ZBB live get a feel for what it's like. It's like... really good, because it's obvious they love what they're doing and they do it well. Hope they come around here soon.
A lot of bands and artists these days make me worry for the future of country music. Zac Brown Band is not one of them.
Total Value: 4.15/4.99
The Checklist:
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