Widespread Panic
'Til the Medicine Takes

A disorienting start, half chamber music half drum & bass, resolves into the classic funk rock swagger of this talented sextet based in Athens, Georgia, USA. It’s the opening of their sixth album and the track is called “Surprise Valley”; with all those timbales and the prominent lead guitar, it seems like a Santana affair, until the surprise arrives: at the fifth minute, the initial chamber strings return for a moment, but the whole fades into a trio of mandolin/acoustic guitar/thoughtful and atmospheric organ, no longer “Mexican,” quite the opposite of the cramped first five minutes.

Barely have time to get used to it, however, as the second track “Bear’s Gone Fishing” comes in: beautiful, elegant and... accessible (female choirs, groovy and danceable bass, irresistible); without becoming commercial, these 1999 Widespread Panic are increasingly rounded, and their quirks roll with enviable smoothness from one side to the other of this song. “Climb to Safety” on the other hand, holds no surprises: it is a vigorous rock blues with many counter-choruses, responding to and pushing Bell’s beautifully bluesy lead vocals.

The group’s exquisite class and kaleidoscopic energy are appreciated once again in the country blues “Blue Indian,” a matter perhaps limited to those who appreciate certain very made-in-USA things, spiced with steel guitar, “uuh” and “aah” choirs left and right, brushes stroked over the drums. Not content, the gentlemen immediately serve us another quick country this time brushed with bluegrass (banjo, 2/4 drumming); it's titled “The Waker” and is sung by the keyboardist and back-up singer Alan Herman.

The beginning of “Party At Your Mama’s House” is desert-like: dobro and slide on a bed of organ and percussions, delightful and atmospheric. But then the track hardens with snare drum snaps that quicken the pace and also drag the bass to do its important job; further on, the soundscape relaxes again, giving the impression that these six men could go on like this for half an hour... after all, they are Widespread Panic, a so-called jam band... Live, because in the studio the producer takes care to cut their favorite little play, on this occasion bringing in a kind of acid/house skit which has nothing to do with it but creates absolute interest... promptly faded by the harsh noise of a needle scraping over a vinyl record! After that, a mighty funky hard rock tumbles in, sung off the cuff in Frank Zappa style (when he was serious), full of breaks and instruments played hard. Final result: awesome! It’s titled “Dyin’ Man.”

One thinks: damn, these southerners have gotten mean! Instead, the heat cools off with “You’ll Be Fine,” a ballad with such oblique melodies and so many and so close chords that it's impossible to memorize; a previously unheard lead voice, indeed, but who’s singing it? Perhaps the drummer. And who’s singing the next one, “One Arm Steve”? Again, a never-before-heard timbre... maybe the guitarist Michael Houser. Help! But it’s not important, what matters is that this album flows forward greatly, varied and consistent, well produced, with the usual great drive thanks to the impeccable rhythm section they have.

The familiar slightly hoarse singing of John Bell comes to the forefront again on “Christmas Katie” (what a hell of titles, though), a rhythm & blues over which a horn section looms, led by a strong-willed trombone; yet the group, as often happens, can't stay still and at the fourth minute they charge ahead at double speed, the exaggerated Houser starts wandering on the electric guitar as per his well-established style, and the matter ends in chaos, with the horns emitting parting farts and the rhythm freely running out. Very compact and logical instead is “All Time Low,” a mid-tempo ballad marked by clanging acoustic guitars, while the bass clings to the drummer’s bass drum thuds and doesn't miss a beat, as per rhythm manual.

When the concluding “Nobody’s Loss” arrives, all acoustic guitar and Neil Young- or Bob Dylan-like vocals, it doesn't even seem like them... so traditional and “old” this country rock sounds (zero groove, drummer at the bar having a couple of beers, everything pulling back on a record that instead has galloped forward all the time). There are also plenty of choirs, which obviously don’t even tickle sector specialists like CSN, Poco, Eagles, etc.

I have described, in a rough way for musicians, “technically” for those who are not, perhaps the best album by my beloved Widespread Panic. It doesn’t feature major masterpieces, but the qualitative average is very high, there are no fillers and the sound, production, variety, expressive freedom have the wind in their sails.