This weeks feature band site is MOSES GUEST

www.mosesguest.com is a very cool looking site
with deep blue background pics floating in blackness.
I dig sites that have that 3d depth to them.
Go check it out and come back here
or scroll down for a review of their show and live cd!

Moses Guest is a groovin' jam band that has southern soul hooked up with all the texas boogie that you need to dance your funkin' shoes off.

I know! I saw 'em one Saturday night at Rudz, and as soon as Graham Guest  and the boys hit the first note, the dance floor was full! And it didn't empty until a groovy encore of Lowell George's truckin' song Willin', at last, last call.

I caught up with Rick Thompson (keyboards+vocals) at the bar on a pre-set beer run and asked if I could snap some photos with my new camera.

 

 


 
 
 
He said that would be great. So I parked myself on the left speaker cabinet in front of Jeremy Horton (bass).

Jeremy Horten
Jeremy is a wonderfully enthusiastic bass player, keepin' the funkin' groove goin' fast or slow, and that's usually all in one song from these fella's.

 


 
 
 

 

Graham GuestThis spot gave me an excellent view of Graham (vocals+guitar) as well as the whole band. This is a man who is into his music. He loves it, the fans love it and it's all good. The guys in the band more than just support him. They have that thang goin on. A definite connection. If  you have to start comparing, think Dave Mattews Band crossed with Soulhat, or Marshall Tucker Band crossed with Grateful Dead.
 
 

 

 

James Edwards (drums+vocals) is funky tight on the kit and handles the hard left turns that Graham seems to throw into each song with solid fills and smooth transitions.

 

 
 
 

 

Go see Moses Guest

September 15 Yaga's [Galveston, TX]
10:00 PM 409.762.6676

September 16 Fitzgerald's [Houston, TX] Fresh Tracks Band Contest TBA
713.862.7580

September 23 Last Concert Cafe [Houston, TX]
Houston Headline Awards 11:45 PM
713.226.8563

September 29 Last Concert Cafe [Houston, TX] w/ LINGUS 10:00 PM 713.226.8563

It should be a fun show.....  

 



Just look at the satisfied crowd at Rudz.

 

 

 

CD REVIEW:

MOSES GUEST : LIVE STAGES
1998 Aufheben Records
2243 Stanmore Dr.
Houston, TX 77019

I own Moses Guests' live cd entitled Live Stages and it is excellent! These tracks were taken from a Rocky Mountain tour that included Colorado and Arkansas where six new songs were recorded.

You'll have to visit their web site if you want to understand these wonderfully crazy, sometimes beautifully paranoid lyrics. I've slipped afew in the review to give you a better feel of the cd. They are in blue text. Unfortunately, they are not in the liner notes of the cd, and once you get to the web page they are all listed in alphabetical order, not by release. Click on the title of the song to hear a streaming mp3 sample. You can buy the
cd and more at mosesgoods.com

The Intro Jam is an excellent overture of a journey across a terrain filled with cars and trains, stairs and window panes, mountains and trees, Cellophane men and very pretty, little mouth girls.

Over the Car/Under The Stairs starts as a lullaby to little mouth girls and Jimi then rollercoasters into a slow graceful turn out the light. (I don't know what that means, but I like it. We'll have to ask Graham.) The wha-wha guitar solo is sweetly remeniscent of New Bohemians, leading into the break-it-down jam on the chorus. "Blood off my lips, skin off my back." whoo yeah...

How Does It Feel is a definite standout. The song fades in then hard lefts it to a rollicking train ride straight up to the window pane of your fait accomplii. Then it breaks down to a pink floydish romp through falling dreams. Then again a left turn back to some crisp Hammond B-3 organ from Rick mixed with snake neckin' guitar fills turning again to a full on jam with some very Hendrixian leads from Graham. Oh yeah! Jeremy and James have this groove locked in on the back end!

Cellophane Man is a classy nod to the Marhsall Tucker Band, with Graham even goin as far as slidin' in a snatch of Can't You See in the beginning of the first solo. The lyrics seem to deal with high school, excess and motel pools. I don't know, the lyrics keep me comin' back for another listen and the jams underneath, ooh man... just too much cool shit to listen to!
Do what you want to. (I swear I hear another guitar drop in right before the funky disco riff. It may be stereo effects, or could be an overdub. I may be mistaken.) =:o

Stealin', another terrific B-3/strat highway song, with it 's chorus coda of "Don't fuck it up now" will surely not get much airplay, but the main lyrics are beautiful and seem much more in the style of Jimi without the obvious references in the second song(s?). It is hard to tell where one song ends and the next begins because of the continous jam style of the concerts and the annoying little pop up lyrics pages on the web site.

The next track, Boogie Heartache/Right Down,  will boogie your little toes off. Lots more organs with a tight funky meter. Rick gets a couple solos in the first, then after a small solo run from James, and a little more B-3 action 'til it breaks down for more of that whappy wha lead over some motown keystrokes. Get the big shoes down. Nice little solo from Jeremy at the end!

Graham asks if it's time to slow it down for a love song, Deeper. Very nice. They actually keep it under control too. Backing down just before it peaks to hard. Very nice fingerpicking into a dramatic vamp. Deeper than the sea.

I Know You Rider is Graham's arrangement of a traditional song played by the Dead more than 546 times. I knew I had heard that somewhere before! A very easygoing version to end this excellent road disc.

****(out of four stars.)
:mlandrum

© 2000 Mark A. Landrum