Waco Express: Live & Kickin' at Schubas Tavern
The Wacos live!
Lives up to the mandate given to the mastering engineer to "err on the side of massive, fierce and overwhelming."
You can practically feel the heat from the stage, smell the smoke on your clothes, taste the beery taste of beer and let your ears bask in the un-tempered wall of sound on this raucous free-for-all
Sadly, as good as the Wacos studio albums have always been, there's been the undercurrent of grousing—that, well, it's not like BEING there.
Well, now it is. On Waco Express, you can practically feel the heat from the stage, smell the smoke on your clothes, taste the beery taste of beer and let your ears bask in the un-tempered wall of sound and join in with the between song banter. Can't get out of the house? Husband/wife/needy children/parole ankle bracelet won't let you? Here's your chance to experience the next best thing.
Full of shout-along manifestos and strident tomfoolery from each of their seven studio albums, Waco Express lives up to the mandate given to the mastering engineer to "err on the side of massive, fierce and overwhelming."
We could write a bunch of hyperbolic drivel about how much fun this record is, but we'd thought be let a PRO do it. Thus, from Greil Marcus's Interview Magazine piece, some commentary:
"With Waco Express it doesn't matter whether you get out much or not; you're right there in Schubas as if you're there five nights a week. The musicians have brought their beers onstage, they're pushing and insulting each other, greeting friends from in the crowd, announcing themselves with "Waco Express," which inevitably comes off as a version of "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees" It's a sense of the event. And then it's as if the band isn't playing the song but chasing it. An exploding pattern of low guitar sparks makes a sound so hard you can almost touch it. A lot of good nights out don't give you that much to take home, that much to keep you awake."
We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
