Galactic -- Ruckus

This is the fourth album from the New Orleans based Jazz/Jam Band Galactic. This band is actually my favorite band to see live, and will try and make sure to hit every concert they have in Utah. My number one favorite concert of all time was a free one they did in Salt Lake City. Never have I seen both a band and an audience feed so well off of each other. The energy was amazing. That was my third time I went to see them and they each signed autographs after the show, but the second time I went to see them, just having been home from my mission for five days, I won an autographed copy of this particular album. So that's how I ended up getting this album. The other big thing about this album is it marks the last time that Theryl DeClouet is with the band. Theryl was brought on near the beginning as a singer for about half of their songs, the other half being instrumental. They have since parted ways with Theryl and have decided to go entirely instrumental. The third concert I saw of theirs was this way, with no singer. The first two times I saw them they had a singer, the first time it was Theryl, the second time it was backup vocalist Theresa Anderson. One other interesting tidbit is that Stanton Moore, the drummer is regularly regarded as the leader of the band, instead of the lead guitarist as most bands are now a days. Galactic is well known for their innovation in Jazz, finding new ways to use instruments, the saxophonist Ben Ellman is often found using equipment to make his saxophone sound like an electric saxophone. This album has a lot of really innovative tracks, such as Bongo Joe which uses a Japanese kid's voice saying some crazy things reverbed. Another song called "The Moil" uses a lot of darker electrical elements to make a really cool song.

This is a good cd, and it holds a special place in my heart, unfortuantly, even then I can't quite give it four stars. It's just not memorable enough and good enough to be that high. So I'm going to give it 3.5 stars out of 4. As with most jam bands their live stuff is just so much better then their albums, because of this, if you want to check them out, try "We Love 'Em Tonight: Live at Tipitina's".