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Rating:
In my view, Blues Traveler are the most original rock-blues band of the '90s.
Founded back in '87 by the singer and great harmonica player John Popper, they became famous for their combination of a traditional blues base, a decent legacy from Led Zeppelin, and various influences, especially Latin American. Enriching everything are the harmonica acrobatics of their leader.
If you're not sure who we're talking about, try to remember, if you've seen it, the movie “Blues Brothers 2000”: in which Blues Traveler play themselves performing a song in a park. Another peculiarity of the Traveler is their great live performance: they almost always perform medleys and extended improvisations, so much so that it is often hard to recognize the tracks heard on the albums. For this reason and for what I will explain later, I consider “Live From The Fall” their most representative album.
In two CDs, they collect most of their most famous repertoire up to that moment (1996). Standing out, we find “Go Run”, with its rhythms reminiscent of Los Lobos; “Freedom”, great power in '70s style; the delirious “Mountain Cry”, 15 minutes of pure blues, and the ballad “Regarding Seven”. A beautiful version of “Imagine” closes a memorable evening.
The Blues Traveler of “Live From The Fall”, especially bring out the blues soul of their music and combine it with a rhythm section worthy of the best John Bonham. The listener is hypnotized to the point of delirium by the passion of Kinchla's guitar and the phenomenal harmonica of Popper. Blues Traveler with “Live From The Fall” give us a grand return to the past: they let us relive Woodstock and 'Made In Japan' and remind us that it all began with the blues.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Mulling It Over (08:04)
Music & Lyrics: Chan Kinchla & John Popper
I'm mulling it over
Thoughts at a grasp
You know I'm taking it in now
So much, so fast
I'm riding a feeling
Into deeper seas
I can't seem to fret now
It don't bother me
'Cause I'm mulling it over, yeah
Said I'm mulling it over
I said I'm mulling it over
I said I'm mulling it over
Oh, mulling it over...
I said I'm mulling it mulling it
Mulling it mulling it
Mulling it over mulling it over
Twinkle twinkle little star
Wish I could afford a guitar
Sing a song of sixpence, pocketful of rye
Wish it was more than crumbs I could buy
Meet forever after
Don't he dress real well
You know he's clutching his chest now
Or couldn't you tell
Desperate to score now
No matter how hard he tries
You know he's strung out on future
See it in his eyes
And I'm mulling it over
Said I'm mulling it over
I said I'm mulling it over
I said I'm mulling it over and over and over and over and over, yeah
04 Regarding Steven (04:41)
Well I've guessed your name and I'm sure you know mine
I'd like to discuss our mutual friend
I can't help but feel that I left him behind
Does he still stay with you or did his pain ever end
I guess
I don't deserve to know
If he ever let go
I guess
I don't really need to see
If he wound up with you or did he ever break free
When we were both young, you took us in
And taught us to play survival games
He'd lost so much that you let him win
But I had a home so it just wasn't the same
I had the strength
To look you in the eye
And say goodbye
I was lucky
And I didn't have to play
Does he still stay with you or did he get away
I used what I had and I escaped
I smelled something good and I followed its track
But all he could smell was the world that you shaped
It took all my strength and I just couldn't look back
I remember him
Calling after me
I keep that memory
The last thing he screamed out aloud
Was "Hey don't you leave me alone!"
Yeah he might live with you but he called me his home
I guessed your name and some day so will he
Cause one of these ides he's gonna break free
Cause one of these ides he's gonna break free
Cause one of these ides he's gonna break...
07 Crash Burn (03:24)
�Crash burn�
I'm gonna ride you
gonna ride you out like a witch on a broom
I'm gonna ride you
gonna ride you out like a witch on a broom
it's the old give and take
And I've took again
So give me room
I'm gonna watch you
Gonna watch you fall like a tower of cards
I'm gonna watch you
Gonna watch you fall like a tower of cards
gonna land, gonna land, gonna land, gonna land
No matter how hard
Crash burn
when will I learn
Crash burn
when will I learn
Crash burn
when will I learn
Crash burn
when will I learn
08 Gina (06:45)
Gina, Gina
Don't you cry
Gina, Gina
Wonder why, I said wonder why
Gina, Gina
Dance all night
Gina, Gina
Feel all right
Gina, Gina
Can't you see
Gina, Gina
You're just free, I said you're just free
Well once upon a time
A long time ago
There was a rock'n'roll queen
We came to know
She kept on dancing
She'd dance till dawn
She'd dance till the people and the liquor were gone
She kept on dancing as the crowd grew large
When it came to grooving, you know, she was in charge
She still finds ways today to groove somehow
In fact she could be listening to this music right now
Gina, Gina
Don't you cry
Gina, Gina
Wonder why, I said wonder why
09 But Anyway (05:55)
I lied and told her I loved her,
She didn't care, but anyway
I told her we'd still be friends,
And she didn't care, but anyway
I tried last week for to call her,
She wasn't home, but anyway
I think I'll spend my life alone,
I really don't care right now, but anyway
It's a state of affairs and a state of emotions
The kind of thing that you must understand
I tell you one thing; you tell me another
We walk away, maybe then shake hands
I'm quitting cigarette smoking
It's bad for me, but anyway
I don't think the TV was joking
When it told me this, but anyway
The newsman said not to sit on strange toilet seats
It's my life he's trying to save, but anyway
I found out that I've got eye cancer
Too many television waves, but anyway
It's a state of affairs and a state of emotions
The kind of thing that you must understand
I tell you one thing; you tell me another
We walk away, maybe then shake hands
Some day an answer will find us
Quite a long shot, but anyway
I think the past, the past is behind us
Be real confusing if not, but anyway
I put all my hope in tomorrow
It's gonna be great, I can tell but anyway
I see a new, a new day a dawning
I like to sleep late, oh well, but anyway
It's a state of affairs and a state of emotions
The kind of thing that you must understand
I tell you one thing; you tell me another
We walk away, maybe then shake hands
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