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The Calling |
Posted by: Rowland on Monday, November 17, 2003 - 12:00 PM
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The Calling
A Review by Rob Johnson
Imagine a supergroup featuring the bass player for the Allman Brothers, the guitarist for The Dead, the keyboard player from the Derek Trucks Band, one of the best drummers around and a steel-voiced singer with pipes down
to his knees.
Sound like a fantasy? Well, it actually happened. Unfortunately, this band was tragically overlooked at the time, but The Calling does much to resurrect their glory. The usual music business nonsense prevented this album from seeing daylight back when it was recorded, which played a
big part in the demise of the Aquarium Rescue Unit as a functioning entity. Hearing this album now, many years later, is the musical equivalent of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a great lost testament by some of the leading musical prophets of our age.
The Aquarium Rescue Unit is often thought of as Bruce Hampton's band, and we covered that aspect of the band in the last HTN. When I wrote that article, I hadn't yet heard The Calling. This is a much better representation of the post-Hampton ARU than In A Perfect World, their first studio album without Bruce, and shows the band finding its own style. By this point the awkward transition stage was complete, and they had become a very different band. Compared to the hectic, eclectic frenzy of the Hampton era, this album sounds downright normal.
However, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Without Bruce's wacky shenanigans there is more space for Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers and Jimmy Herring of The Dead to display the chops and style that got them their current high-profile gigs. Oteil's brother Kofi, now with Derek Trucks, contributes heavily to both the songwriting and the jamming.
The chemistry between the brothers Burbridge reflects their deep blood bond.
This band introduced Kofi to the jam scene, and this version of ARU demands more attention for that alone. Any band would kill to have three soloists of this caliber, and they all get to strut their stuff here.
Paul Henson has a strong yet silky voice, and his contribution is very enjoyable as long as you aren't expecting Col. Bruce's unique vocal style. Likewise, Sean O'Rourke may not mimic the polyrhythmic fury of Jeff Sipe, but he's a damn good drummer with a crisp backbeat and a powerful, rock-solid sound. Henson writes most of the lyrics, with my favorite being the title track, a bittersweet ode to life as a touring musician.
The band sounds tight, powerful and unified, with a much heavier sound than their previous incarnation. They still have a jazzy sensibility, and the album-closing instrumental "Usaidtheredbefish" proves that they could still get weird and abstract. Songs like "Precious Child" show a kinder, gentler side of the band. However, on tunes like "Page In Time" and "Reflections" they absolutely rock in a way that the Hampton ARU never really did. Fans of heavier jambands like Govt Mule and moe. will find a lot to love on this album.
In fact, this album reminds me of one ARU show when a drunken fool kept yelling "Black Sabbath!" After a great show that incorporated all different styles of music, they came out for the encore and played a devastating version of "Sweet Leaf" that knocked the crowd on its ass and shut up Heckler Boy, but good. There was nothing cute or ironic about it, Phish-style. They just ROCKED. I remember walking out of that show thinking, "They would NEVER have played that when Bruce was in the band." Bruce Hampton may be synonymous with musical freedom, but in a way it seems that playing without him had a liberating effect on the ARU.
The only real connection to the original band is a reworking of "No Egos Underwater" that doesn't suffer from comparison to the original, which is high praise coming from me. Kofi really gets to shine here with an extended solo, and the horn section and background singers sound right at home and give the song a different take than the version on Mirrors of Embarassment. "How Ya Livin" features a scalding slide solo from a young Derek Trucks, and the interplay between Derek and Jimmy at the end is priceless. The band brings the funk convincingly, with Oteil's bass thumping mightily and Sean locking down the groove with authority. The funky tunes on The Calling ("Through The Fire" is another good one) tend to be my favorites after repeated listening.
A word about Jimmy Herring. If you are a fan at all, you need to have this album, period. He gets a tremendous amount of room to do his thing here, and his tone is crystal clear and his musical imagination boundless. Due to his stints in the Allman Brothers and The Dead, certain people dog Jimmy as being a copycat. If you want to hear what a truly original musical force he is, this album shows him at his most expressive. His range is amazing, playing everything with equal flair. Wild chromatic runs, heartbreakingly delicate acoustic, ballsy rock power chords and chicken-scratch funk licks all sound just right, with Herring meeting every challenge.
The Fabulous Burbridge Brothers are also in full effect on The Calling. Oteil was always a featured performer in the ARU, and his bass is the one unifying element in all versions of the band. He often serves the music by playing in the background, but when he steps out you'll know it. Kofi contributes the groovy instrumental "Ride" and his keyboard and flute add a lot to the group's sound.
With this album, we finally have a proper representation of one of the more underrated bands of recent years. If you can't find something to like here, you don't like music. Listen to this album with an open mind, and without any preconceptions based on the original ARU, and you will hear a great band.
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