The ability for an artist to utilize different skills for a live performance and an album is one not every artist has harnessed. The doldrums that a jam band or jazz musician sometimes trots out comes from the mistake in trying to replicate a spontaneous live set with a thoughtful piece of recorded music.
One of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs is “It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City” off of Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. The lyrical and bouncy tune is loud and soft, fast and slow. It culminates with the piano/keyboards starting what appears to be a jam but the track fades before we get to it. All in all, the song is 3:14.
But live, the end is really the beginning. In versions I’ve heard, the Boss and Steven Van Zandt trade off on a dueling and increasing in tempo guitar solo. It’s awesome and breathtaking.
In the end, though, the solo is a solo; we get it. The extra four minutes at the end of the song possess a “you had to be there” sentiment that likely wouldn’t work on a album. That solo would be especially dull if every song on the album also had one.
Here, Lake Street Dive exercises the appropriate amount of discretion in its new album. You can tell that most of these songs would be killer jams live. The musicianship of each band member is never in doubt, but no one is showing off either. The band emphasizes a bass line or spotlights a drum fill or allows a compact burst of electric guitar or piano fill the air. But those flashes are brief and under control. It’s hard to edit yourself and the band does it well.
Not every song on here is remarkable nor is this a transformative piece of music. But it’s enjoyable, funny at times, and makes you want to see the band live. That’s better than most.
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