Search - Why Store :: Live at Midnight

Collector's Item

John J. Schubert | Indianapolis, IN USA | 02/23/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Why Store is no more. This album is their legacy capturing the band's energy, Chris Shaffer's distinctive vocals and Michael David Smith's awesome guitar. Whomheads are mourning their loss but have this album to remind them of more than 10 years of Why Store magic. Catch Chris and his wife Heather with their new group, Shaffer Street. Not the Why Store but pretty close."

A great band with a ball and chain goes live

11/14/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is going to be a bit controversial, but hear me out, please. I agree that the Why Store is an excellent, underappreciated band but Live at Midnight is not a great live album because the band has two weak spots, one very weak one, the other just slightly annoying.



First, let me add that the band's self-entitled album is on my top-25 list and I thought it should have won the album of the year at the Grammy's for 1996 (although how often does actual talent rather than commercial popularity mean anything at the Shammy's?) Chris Shaffer has an excellent voice - it's genuinely deep (not some pseudo-deep, fake macho, pretend deep growl like Metallica's James Hetfield or the singers from dozens of other post-grunge rock or rap-metal bands that have imitated that style), unique, distinctive and rich. The band's songwriting is outstanding, combining simple melodies into fairly complex songs.



I'll get the minor annoyance out of the way first: Chris Shaffer's banter is rather feeble. On or between at least every other song on this two-disk set, he sings or announces the band's name, often with goofy inflections to his voice. Maybe these cuts were recorded at a string of day-long festivals where The Why Store got stuck in the middle of the lineup and needed to repeat their name to a crowd that may not be familiar with the band, but it gets old fairly quick. If these performances were at smaller venues (as it sounds), then the people in the audience know who the band is and they (and we) do not need to hear its name repeated over and over.



On to the music. Shaffer does an excellent job singing - his voice live is every bit as good as his voice in the studio, which isn't always the case with some bands; take the Police's live album, for instance - Sting sounds horrible. The bass guitarist does a fine job and I thought the drummer is extremely good, really driving a lot of the songs. The keyboard player actually was a highlight of several songs and I generally don't care much for keyboards, which can often drown out or weaken a band's guitarists. The band has quite a few songs that build to a crescendo and the keyboards and drums are appropriately and satisfyingly prominent. So what does that leave us?



Michael David Smith, the lead guitarist. Pheeeewwww. Live at Midnight would be a monumental, one-of-the-best-ever live albums if only they had a guitarist who was better than just mediocre. I read through all of the other reviews here and about half of them praise his guitar playing, which I find astonishing. I feel a bit sorry for anyone who thinks Smith is particularly talented, as that means they haven't been exposed to many or any great guitarists. In the songwriting/creativity/improvisation department, he (or perhaps Chris Shaffer) knew what he was doing, as the long jams are very well crafted and interesting and don't become tedious. The problem isn't the design, it is the implementation. Smith is plain sloppy on most of these songs. He misses notes all over the place and generally plays too tenatively, like a slightly drunk guy who has blisters on all his fingertips. He lacks sufficient energy on a lot of key parts, such that with familiar passages, the studio versions have just as much (if not more) of an edge as the live ones. Where a solo should be piercingly crying and singing, his guitar squeals and squeaks. Where the guitar should be roaring and snarling, he makes it cough mildly. In intricate passages, his fingers fumble and where a note should be held, he passes it by half-heartedly. Maybe I've been a bit spoiled by the blues guitarists I've been listening to over the past few years, as I've been catching a lot of their live acts. Stevie Ray Vaughn, L'il Ed Williams, Chris Duarte, Bernard Allison, Dave Hole - these guys are superb guitarists, combining passion, creativity with incredible precision in their playing. Heck, even prodigies Kenny Wayne Shephard and Jonny Lang have matured into outstanding guitar players. The rock genre is certainly not without talent either - Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits (incidentally, their live album, Alchemy, is probably the best live album ever made) or Michael Gurney from DaDa (their debut Puzzle is incredible, but they went downhill on the rest of their albums) do a fantastic job. Listen to these people (preferably live for those who are still touring) and you will understand my criticism of Michael David Smith.



In summary, it's quite a good album. In particular, I've cranked tracks 8 through 10 (Fade Away/Still Inside of You, Lack of Water and Father) dozens of times in my car over the past few weeks. Smith's guitar playing doesn't altogether ruin these songs, it just makes you sad when you consider how great these live performances might have been.



Ok, I'm back a year or so later editing this review. I'm going to update my opinion of the song Fade Away/Still Inside of You. It is a long (~14 minutes) jamfest. It is not as good of a song or jamfest as Dire straits' Sultans of Swing from their live album, Alchemy. However, I don't think there's ever been a song, in the history of music, that compares to the live Sultans of Swing - to me, it's the finest piece of music ever recorded. The guitar work on Fade Away/Still Inside is inferior to Mark Knopfler's playing on SoS. However, the Why Store's innovative songwriting and live arrangement is very close, possibly even better. It is a superb song and if I go hard of hearing in my old age, I will place a fair chunk of the blame on cranking that song at nearly obscene levels on my car stereo, dozens and dozens of times. The only other song I can think of that compares is Widespread Panic's Driving Song. Fade Away/Still Inside of You is easily worth the price of the whole double album."

Guitars at Their Finest

Flipper | Fort Wayne, IN | 07/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This two CD set of live music is unlike anything most music you will ever hear. The energy of the music and the richness of the sound make every song stick in your head. This is meant to play loud. If you like live guitar music played with energy to enthusiastic audiences in small venues, this is the best I know of. The mix on a couple of songs could be better ... but hey, this is live!

If you want something to play with the top down on a sunny day that will get the attention of your passenger(s) CD 2 of this set is the only choice."