Would Wise Monkey Orchestra be offended if I were to call them a
\npoor man’s Phish?<\/p>\n
I sure hope not, since it’s meant as somewhat of a compliment.
\nThis eclectic sextet’s latest release, the live disc
\nThey Live<\/i>, suggests an amalgam of Phish, No Doubt and Frank
\nZappa, daring to push the musical envelope by musically staying on
\nthe fringe. It’s a dangerous place to be, since there’s not much of
\na musical safety net, but they do passably well. If only they could
\nsomehow capture the spark that would make them as catchy as any of
\nthe three previously-named artists and bands.<\/p>\n
Fronted by vocalist Riley, one can hear the influences
\nthroughout Wise Monkey Orchestra’s playing. The use of a woodwind
\nsection (including two guest saxophonists, Dave Ellis and Robbie
\nHelm) combined with the jazzy guitar playing of Marty Schwartz
\n(think Zappa’s “City Of Tiny Lights”) makes for an interesting
\ncombination. And musically, Wise Monkey Orchestra is solid, casting
\nno doubt on the talents of these musicians.<\/p>\n
What is lacking, though, is a hook. Sure, tracks like “Movin’
\nFree” and “Colorblind” have moments of catchiness. But Wise Monkey
\nOrchestra sounds like they’re more interested in capturing the
\nmoment for themselves, devil may care whether the fans get on the
\nbus with them or not. This is what separates this group from their
\njam band counterparts – and what they do need to change. It doesn’t
\ndo them any good to lose their listeners while getting wrapped up
\nin the rhythm themselves; it works better when everyone is locked
\nin the same rhythm. Phish knows that; the Grateful Dead knew that.
\nMaybe this is just something that comes with the passage of
\ntime.<\/p>\n
This isn’t to say that the bulk of
\nThey Live<\/i> is bad; on the contrary, there are many moments of
\npromise throughout the disc. The trifecta of “Hell Ain’t For Me,”
\n“Space” (though nothing like what the Dead were known to do) and
\n“Brainchild” flows together well, while individual tracks like
\n“SLM” and “Demons” all have their moments.<\/p>\n
In the end, though, it’s the experience of the fans that
\nmatters, and it doesn’t feel like Wise Monkey Orchestra are always
\nopen to the idea of the fans joining them in the experience that is
\ntheir music.
\nThey Live<\/i> is a decent enough effort, but it merely suggests
\nwhat this band could accomplish, rather than what they already
\nhave. With a little more polish and a more fan-friendly eye towards
\nsong arrangements, they could have a chance of knocking Phish from
\nthe jam band throne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7617],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-39468","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-wise-monkey-orchestra","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39468"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}