Gov’t Mule Showcases Its Recent Live Prowess Via ‘Bring On The Music – Live At The Capitol Theatre’ (ALBUM RE VIEW)

2019 marks the twenty-fifth year in the existence of Gov’t Mule, but Bring On The Music doesn’t exactly represent a formal recognition of that milestone. Nor does it constitute, in any of its multiple configurations of audio and video, a career-spanning cross-section of their music. The two-CD set, however, is an accurate depiction of this band’s live sets in recent years, right down to musicianship that too often radiates a sensation of mere pro-forma execution.

This double compact disc package consists of audio from the Danny Clinch concert film, content available in bundles or as a standalone item roughly a month after the release of this particular item (and a pair of double LP-vinyl offerings. Oddly or perhaps not, The Mule displays the most passion on the earliest selections here, including “Trane” and “Life Before Insanity.” A clutch of numbers from the 2017 studio effort Revolution Come, Revolution Go also appear, yet on that title tune and “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground,” the band doesn’t sound so fully invested as on the aforementioned vintage choices. In fact, despite its earnest, personal tone, “The Man I Want to Be” sounds less inspired than merely craftsmanlike.

Nevertheless, the continuity of the playing itself is seamless between those tunes originally recorded with the trio including the late Allen Woody and those rendered with Jorgen Carlsson on bass in the current quartet: the latter’s playing has always evinced more than a little of the aggressive slant of his forebear and, on “Drawn That Way,” as much as on “Mule,” his pointed lines alternately run parallel or in counterpart to those of Warren Haynes’ on guitar. In terms of the latter, the fretwork of Mule’s titular leader remains fiery, but, as evidence on “No Need To Suffer,” has become somewhat less imaginative than during his tenures with the Allman Brothers Band (with both Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks)

This alignment does continue its adventuresome approach to its improvs, albeit to a somewhat lesser degree than the initial threesome (circa Live At Roseland Ballroom)or the four-piece configuration with Andy Hess on bass ( the redoubtable multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis remains on board from that era). The segue of “Funny Little Tragedy” > “Message In A Bottle” > “Funny Little Tragedy” is fairly representative of the early jams, as is the cover of Pearl Jam’s “Comeback” (homage to the deceased co-founder of this group?), which in itself hearkens to the increasingly numerous and  eclectic choices of non-original numbers that have come to pepper Gov’t Mule repertoire over the years; charter member drummer Matt Abts invariably drives the rest of the band with utter ferocity during such relatively open-ended passages. 

Still, hearing a cull the Police sandwiched with a self-composed song from 2013’s Shout! begs a question about the dearth of middle-period Mule songs on Live At The Capitol Theatre. “Mr. Man” is the only selection on this configuration from 2004’s Deja Voodoo, while the absence of anything from its follow-up, High & Mighty, is as conspicuous as a singular selection from 2009’s By A Thread, “Railroad Boy;”  credit where credit is due to the band for not relying too heavily on its past, but all these performances, not just some, might sound more fresh and less forced with a wider mix of material as recorded on two nights in April of 2018.

In an allusion to its relentless work ethic, “Traveling Tune” bookends the near three hours comprising this version of Bring On The Music. Yet that creative gesture isn’t enough to dispel the nagging sensation Gov’t Mule is all too often going through the motions here; in that light, a hiatus might well be more feasible than presumptuous, especially since the crossroads of its quarter-century carries such an implicit (and beneficial) opportunity. Or that Live At The Capitol Theater, to many ears, might well ratify the wisdom of such a decision.