Search - Banyan :: Live at Perkins Palace

If this album was clothing it'd be underwear...that shrank.

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 02/27/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The self-titled debut bore incredible promise amongst its spiky edits and cascading samples...which is what made the follow-up "Anytime at All" a bit of a letdown. In place of the debut's adventurousness was a decidedly conservative (albeit stylistically expansive) funk album. It had its moments but suffered overall from too much polish, not enough focus.



"Perkins' Palace" is a significant step forward from "Anytime at All" -- much richer and darker soil is tilled up for this crop of songs. Though it is Stephen Perkins' project and though he is a superb drummer, he's the weak link here. Drum parts are often busier than necessary, and overwrought when simplicity or delicacy would have served the songs better. Perkins overstates his percussion skills throughout.



And it is a shame to waste Nels Cline's talents on what amounts to a jam-funk-fusion record -- albeit a good one. He's as inventive as always, but his defining no-holds-barred style of playing makes the groovy funk being laid down here sound positively starchy and constricting by comparison.



Criticisms aside, this incarnation of Banyan has been playing together live a lot, and it shows. They are tight and have obvious personal chemistry."