Tea Leaf Green
Living In Between
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Tea Leaf Green
Living In Between
Self-released, 2003
RiYL: Widespread Panic, The Samples, String Cheese Incident |
Studio albums for jam bands, however, even good jam bands, can often seem like afterthoughts. Successful acts like moe., bands that can come within a whisper of selling out an NBA arena in a blue state, are still waiting for someone to notice their studio albums. Tea Leaf Green's third studio effort, Living In Between, however, is a breath of fresh air that deserves some notice. Unlike TLG's peers, it doesn't try to make the record sound like a rock concert. It sounds like a rock album, with a refreshing emphasis on basics like melody and songwriting and interesting lyrics that the occasional jam-band noodle-fest seems to think it doesn't need. Sure, Tea Leaf Green is a bunch of dirty hippies (check their Web site if you think I'm being pejorative -- they choose to show themselves with mud on their faces, and the bassist has renamed himself "THE WEED"), but these hippies know when to rein themselves in and when to float away on improvisational trips.
Putting aside the "jam" label for a moment, Living In Between is a country-rock album at heart. Keyboardist Trevor Garrod's voice is reminiscent of Paul Simon or James Taylor, though it probably doesn't quite have that inimitable quality that's going to drive people to call him "Sweet Baby Trevor." Still, it's a smooth and inviting voice, one that's effective softly telling a story but can just as easily slip into a bluesy desperation. In places, Garrod also gives Living In Between a welcome push into 1960s English blues with organ chords deftly laid behind guitarist Josh Clark's solos.
Clark's mile-a-minute solos serve as Living In Between's modern counterpart to Garrod's throwback sound, and do so skillfully. On "Freedom" and "Vote On Tuesday," in fact, awkward keyboard solos are rescued by Clark's vibrant turns at the helm; the Allman-inspired romp on "Freedom" is particularly notable. "Vote On Tuesday" is the album's most immediately engaging song, with organ-supported vocals putting a hilariously paranoid local spin on political choice: "I don't want to vote on Tuesday for the county judge / Because I never read the pamphlet and I don't know / What's he going to do to me if I'm busted?"
The album's opener, "Garden I", is similarly expressive -- it would make a great overture for a Southern-rock-opera version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Most of the rest of Living In Between's tracks are gentle, peaceful country-rock tunes that seem appropriate for hilltops and sunny days, though that doesn't stop them from being eminently listenable. "Warmup" threatens to be a funk song and "Been So Long" calls on hard rock for just a moment in its opening stanzas, but both move quickly away from anything so harsh. "Been So Long," in particular, gets better as it leaves any hint of ferocity behind, a reminder that it's sometimes better to do one thing well than to simply try many things.
With all their meandering, jam bands don't often fail to challenge their listeners. Living In Between is a jam-band album that only occasionally meanders (though it offers a healthy jam in "Warmup") and is immediately likable, but it's one that offers few challenges. It's a great listen, if not something that begs to be listened to repeatedly, promising new sonic gems with every reappraisal. Still, it's a gifted album from a band that deserves some recognition outside the tape-trading set, a band that's getting perilously close to that most elusive of all hippie-rock ambitions: a great jam record.
JEFF GRAY | Jeff Gray used to be an important mover and shaker in Chicago, but gave all that up to live on a beach in rural Hawaii. You'll notice him if you're there, he's the one who's very tall and a little bit sunburned. His musical tastes tend towards the mainstream -- Phish, Radiohead, The Strokes -- but he'll argue to the death that those bands are mainstream because they're 100% awesome. Jeff's always on the lookout for the next great pop song, tidbits about Michigan football, and 80's action movies on cable.