ONCE IN A LIFETIME Lambchop
Dec 02, 2009
As documented in a new concert film, Kurt Wagner & Co. transformed XXMerge into a magical event.
BY JOHN SCHACHT
If you're lucky, over the course of your concert-going life you'll attend a few shows whose legendary status begins before the final note is even struck. Yet when Lambchop played the five-day festival celebrating Merge Records' 20th anniversary in Chapel Hill last July, even diehard fans would've conceded that of the 35 acts playing, Kurt Wagner's Nashville outfit probably wouldn't have topped the list of those most likely to steal the show.
But steal it, they did. Forget everything you thought you knew about the band beforehand, because Lambchop rocked the roof off of the venerable Cat's Cradle that night. And now you can see and hear how they pulled it off because Merge has released the "digital DVD" Lambchop Live at XXMerge, which does a solid job recreating most everything about that magical night but your buzz.
Directed by Matt Boyd and shot in warm color, multiple cameras capture an 11-member version of Lambchop in peak form during a 45-minute set that wisely collects the funkiest, most up-tempo numbers from the band's two-decade-plus career. The 10-song set-list may have been brief - there were six bands on that night's bill - but it packed more energy than most shows twice that length. That set-list tilted toward the band's best-loved records -- 2000's incomparable Nixon (three songs) and 1997's Thriller (two songs), as well two more taken from Wagner's latest off-kilter opus, 2008's OH (Ohio) - but all 10 hit their mark that special night.
The opening number, then, comes off as more ice-breaker than mood-setter; "I Will Drive Slowly," from the band's 1994 debut, I Hope You're Sitting Down, unfurls elegantly as the cast establishes a rich tableau of textures - three distinct keyboards, a reed and horn section, and three guitars -- to accompany Wagner's simple love song. The gentle pace suggests the typical laid-back Lambchop gig of recent years (remember the strings-augmented Damaged tour, or this year's docile OH tour?), but the tide begins to turn when the band reaches the ferocious crescendo for Is A Woman's "The New Cobweb Summer."
That 2002 record was the first to feature guitarist William Tyler, whose subtle delay effects, Fahey finger-picking and Eddie Willis funk syncopations raised Lambchop's live game and are a highlight here throughout. "Grumpus" and "Sharing a Gibson with Martin Luther King" kick the tempo up another gear, and Wagner's Curtis Mayfield fixation gets fully fleshed out on "What Else Could It Be?" with assistance from the crackling horn section. Tony Crow's rich, gospel-flavored piano fills prove much stronger than his brief mid-set comedy routine ("with each joke a song goes by the wayside," Wagner needles), before the band heads into even more sublime territory.
In fact, the final four-song stretch attains something very close to rock ‘n' roll nirvana, as each subsequent song sends the audience further into an ecstatic state. Beginning with the pulsing, F.M. Cornog-penned cut from Thriller, "Hey, Where's Your Girl?" the whole ensemble enters the pocket and remains right there through stunning versions of "Your Fucking Sunny Day" and "Up with People." Scott Martin's swinging beat, as well as the additional keys and guitars, power the head-long rush of the first two, while the Stax horns and multi-member harmonies raise the latter into a secular hymn.
But it's the interplay between the core group - Swanson, Martin, Crow, Tyler - that allows Wagner's curious blend of rock, funk and country to realize these marvelous shapes. Even before Wagner begins his speaking-in-tongues rap on the finale, "Give It," an obscure track he recorded with the British electronica group X-Press 2, the audience has been whipped into such a frenzy you can't imagine that there's yet another level.
Oh, but is there. Setting aside his guitar, Wagner morphs into a revivalist preacher, rising from his chair as though possessed to exhort his followers to come along on the narrative's Autumnal circuit. Tyler's guitar, which begins like a sea of wind chimes, transforms into thick waves of distortion buffeting the quickening tempo (as do the other guitars). Swanson's intricate-but-never-indulgent bass figures become lifelines in the growing gale, locked into Martin's marching percussion which eventually resembles Keith Moon flurries. Crow's mid-register gospel chords climb into the keyboard's right corner with increasing urgency, mirroring Preacher Wagner's by-now frantic admonitions.
Three minutes in, the transcendent crescendo begins in earnest and the melody registers a slight shift into something you recognize but can't quite finger until Wagner solves the riddle and sings "and you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack," the opening line from the Talking Heads' "Once In a Lifetime." The juxtaposition of the possessed Wagner with David Byrne's spastic dance from the iconic 30-year-old video is more than mere homage; it's a tangible link to the independent spirit that always run counter to mainstream music trends through rock's history. And that couldn't be a more fitting tribute to Merge's 20-year-long, music-first mission statement.
The quiet coda afterward comes like a collective exhale, but only so the packed house can really let loose when Wagner announces "that's it" and introduces the band, and the crowd goes bat-shit crazy with appreciation (kudos to the woman with the wall-rattling scream). Even if you weren't there you come away from the viewing experience floored by the band's prowess, exhilarated by the collective joy that resulted, and more than a little transformed.
As solid as the band is, the film has a couple of flaws that keep it up from living up to the music's lofty standards. On the plus side, there are evocative close-ups that even front row-views don't afford, made even warmer by the effective color saturation. Tyler, for instance, gets such rich textures from his Telecaster because he's playing with five picks; i.e., five long finger-picking nails. It would appear Wagner polishes his nails for added strength, since he occasionally uses the back-side of his thumbnail for ascending glissandos. Swanson's Doctor Octopus act on the bass makes more sense when you see the size of his hands, and Martin's stick-work - on the too-rare occasions he's shown - is even more impressive close-up. When the cameras capture the occasional smile, or Wagner in his "Co-Op Horse Feeds" cap in euphoric, mid-song rapture, you can't help but think how much goddamn fun it must be to play in Lambchop.
But some of those observations came only with multiple viewings (not a bad thing, by the way), and many were fleshed out by having just seen the core sextet twice on its recent swing through North Carolina performing a similar set-list. On the film, Boyd's editing is heavy handed, some sections as jumpy as a video made by an ADD sufferer. There are, for instance, 110 (unofficial) cuts during the 380 seconds of "The New Cobweb Summer," many lasting little longer than eye-blinks. When the tempo redlines, Boyd's cuts really get frantic - with 11 music-makers, you sense Boyd and company decided that was inevitable.
It didn't have to be. As informative as the close-ups are, an over-reliance on them versus mid-range, multiple-member shots undermines a bit of what makes this not just the strongest Lambchop collective yet, but arguably one of the best bands going - how unbelievably tight this unit is. A few more static shots before cutting away after three or four seconds would let the viewer really appreciate how these musicians' considerable chops integrate into such a rich whole. There aren't many "wrong instrument" edits here since Lambchop is not about solo-noodling in any case, but there are a couple -- Swanson's ridiculous bass runs on "Hey, Where's Your Girl?" being the most egregious omission -- that you can't help but wish you could see.
Finally, there is only one crowd shot near the end of the set. While that means the focus is predominantly where it should be, if Boyd was going to include so many short-duration shots, why not throw in a few more audience reaction shots earlier in the set to see the growing ecstasy each number evokes?
In the end, these are minor quibbles - the music is so unique and the band so in the pocket, it'd be near-impossible not to get across those qualities and the joy they engendered for the lucky fuckers in attendance that night. Boyd and his camera people may not have been quite as perfect as Lambchop - but there's no shame in that.
[Photo Credit: Brian Vetter]
Lambchop - Live at XXMerge is available from the Merge Store in three formats: Audio MP3s + high-definition video download; Audio MP3s + standard definition video download; Limited Edition CD + high-definition video download.
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