Widespread Panic is back with their first studio album since the excellent "Til' the Medicine Takes". The boys from Athens, GA have a slightly harder edge, but they still handle a variety of genres with ease. The twelve songs on "Don't Tell the Band" range from funk to rock to spanish ballads.
The album opens with "Little Lily", a catchy mid-tempo rocker that is classic Panic material. "Give" follows, exposing the band's straight-ahead rock side and picking up the album's tempo. The rock continues with the lyrically creative "Imitation Leather Shoes", a song that has been well-proven on the road already.
After the first three tracks, the album begins to show off Widespread's musical range. "This Part of Town" opens with a nice piano riff and remains mellow throughout. Alt-rock influences are clear on "Sometimes", a nice version of the fIREHOSE tune. The excellent "Thought Sausage" sounds like funk fed through a musical blender. "Down" and "Big Wooley Mammoth" are both mid-tempo rockers with the latter featuring some of the most creative Panic lyrics to date. The smooth "Casa del Grillo" is the closest the band has come to a traditional Spanish ballad.
The tail end of the album sounds the most like the band's last album, "Til' The Medicine Takes". The slow, acoustic "Old Joe" reminds one of "Blue Indian". The fast and furious "Action Man" could have easily followed "One Arm Steve" on Widespread's last album.
The album ends with "Don't Tell the Band", a song about continuing in the face of adversity. This song contains what is probably the first Douglas Adams reference in a Widespread Panic song with the lines "In the restaurant at the end of the universe / in the year 3010 / I was I was listening to the good old interstellar boys / playing 'Let it Be' again". This song works perfectly as a closer, both lyrically and musically.
If you are expecting an album that sounds like Widespread Panic's live album "Light Fuse, Get Away", you might be dissapointed. "Don't Tell the Band" is a great rock album, not a document of the band's live shows and endless jamming. Its about the songs, not improvisation. If you enjoyed "Till' the Medicine Takes" or "Ain't Life Grand", you will also enjoy this album. Go buy it now.
Note:
For a limited time, the album includes a free second disc of live material from the band's home town run in Athens, GA last year.
The bonus disc's set list is as follows:
Action Man, Chilly Water > Pleas > Chilly Water, C. Brown
The live stuff is great and should make everyone happy.
