I Can't Explain

I don't know why I am in this mood today, but I am. Fridays put me into a groovier mood, I guess. So what do you get when you take a guy like me who doesn't know what to post and add it with a Friday? You get Lotus. A band I have not seen. I've checked them out online a few times. Seems like they could be a good time, especially if they're taking the stage post-midnight. No, they're not charting new waters and I'd definitely have a hard time differentiating between them and STS9. But you know what? Sometimes this kind of groove is just what you're looking to listen to.

"Greet The Mind" - Lotus 4/12/05, Boston, MA

This little disco number that turns up the heat is a standout of this nicely recorded first set. It would definitely get me to bust out my dancing shoes at one of their shows. One other funny note about this show is the rebel yells you hear from the crowd sprinkled throughout the show. Yes. Rebel yells. In BOSTON. You people say that NEW YORKERS are everywhere. You take a band who could have all been born on the North Pole, but damn, as soon as they move south of the Mason-Dixon line and immediately their fans turn into Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Jeff Foxworthy all rolled into one. Case in point: Widespread Panic. Anyone out there know where John "JB" Bell is from? That hotbed of the Confederacy called Cleveland, OH. But the way the fans react to him (and by the way he talks), you'd think he'd won the Nextel Cup, or something.

Anyway, you can download the whole Lotus show here.

Go figure

I'll admit it. I was never the biggest Cream fan in the world. I guess when I first got exposed to them as a teenager, I didn't really see what the big deal was. (Then again, to met at that age, anything Johnny Rotten ever did was nothing short of pure, unadulterated genius). Overall, the power trio thing left me with a feeling that something was missing. But it wasn't just Cream. Jimi's music never blew me away, either. Don't get me wrong, the man is/was a fine guitarist and I couldn't name a guitarist I admire today who wouldn't list him among their Top Three of all-time. But The Experience's songs, as with Cream, fell way too much into the Blues Ocean for me to ever get too excited about. Sure, there are standouts for me from both acts: "White Room" (particularly that solo), "Voodoo Chile," and a handful of others. But I just felt that both of those bands have been heaped with so much praise and adulation over the years that NOT calling them "overrated" would mean that you were either a) related to members in the band, b) sleeping with members in the band, or c) somehow deriving your income from members in the band.

That being said, I got tickets to see Cream at the Garden in October. I may not crank "Disraeli Gears" everyday, but I know key moment in rock history when I see it.

"Crossroads" - Cream, 10/4/68 Oakland, CA

(One quick other note about "Crossroads": Apparently, when a DJ got a hold of Cream doing a live version of "Crossroads" back in the late 60s, he introduced the song by saying something to the effect of "If you think Eric Clapton is human, well then you better take a listen to this...")