A little fire, a little ice (RebaReview #9)
3-22-91 The Inferno
Steamboat, CO, set I
Time:   11:30 (w/ whistling)
 
This one came to me as philler, as many of my future reviews will.
So I can't say anything about the rest of the set, so we'll just
have to concentrate on our gal, eh?

THE DIRECTIONS (0:00): My copy cuts in slightly on the first
notes...slightly shaky entrance by Page, but we move into a
steady pace...I would imagine about average tempo for '91.
Heavy Mike in the mix, too...no real problems, a fairly clean build up
to
 
THE SIP (2:37): Accurate, clean...a good sip.  Like I said, lotsa
bass...
Mike's part is unusually audible, so maybe it's just that, but he
sounds excited to me.  So do Trey and Page, for that matter.  Shows
in Colorado always seem to be a lot of fun.  Here's mud in yer eye.
 
THE SWALLOW (5:03): Reba is an acquired taste...at this point the
song is still only about 1 1/2 years old, so we can still expect some
difficulty trying to swallow...not too bad, though, all things
considered.  Fishman is trying to spice things up a little in this
section, with some dings on the ride...decent lead-in for
 
THE CHILL (6:29): We've now got fat, gooey Cactus-bass coming at
us...someone subtly indicates his approval by shouting "Fuck
yeeeaaah!"  Trey keeps the rhythm with muted chops on the two and
four beats.  Little fill from Fishman, and Page scales upward to cue
Trey, who enters from the bottom, noodling darkly.  Mike signals a
higher note, and Trey responds with a sustain at 6:59.  Some noodles
get mixed in with the sustains, and Page starts to fill in a choice
chord on top of the fat, funky work of Mike.  Trey switches to some
shorter noodles...gawd has Mike got da funk.  Admirable fills from
Fishman.  From out of nowhere, Page starts to noodle repetitively
and off-key, and Trey goes off-key to grab him, using a shift at 7:50
to try to come together.  But Page still isn't quite with it...better,
but
he seems to have a hard time riding on Mike's line.  A shift again at
8:10...Page is trying to noodle on the piano where some hard-core
chopping would work better (I think).  Trey works through some
more shift-jamming, up we go a notch or three, culminating with
some sustained release notes around 8:52.  We're now entering the
land of head-on Reba jamming from Trey, Mike and Fish, but Page is
kinda out on his own right now.  I fully expect the closing toms at
9:07, but no, more jamming.  Trey really starts to go off, with Mike
and Fish, and Page starts to go off...over there.  Wierd.  A release
point at 9:30, into top-end jamming.  I sense the toms again...yep,
they roll on through at 9:51.
 
THE WET WHISTLE (9:59): Starts off slowly, but gets rolling
eventually.  Maybe a couple of rhythm problems toward the
end...whistle wraps up at 11:30.
 
************
 
I think it's safe to say that by this point in the evolution of the
song,
the composed parts are coming off very well, but everyone is still
finding their places in the jam.  On this night, it's Page who has to go
off and do some exploring, and while he's doing his own thing, this
jam doesn't go many places.  No biggy...they can't all be great.
 
Finest in the nation?  Nah...
 
D-