GOV'T MULE
High & Mighty
Titles :

1 - Mr. High & Mighty / 2 - Brand New Angel / 3 - So Weak, So Strong / 4 - Streamline Woman / 5 - Child Of The Earth / 6 - Like Flies
7 - Unring The Bell / 8 - Nothing Again / 9 - Million Miles From Yesterday / 10 - Brighter Days / 11 - Endless Parade / 12 - 3-String George
Musicians :

Warren Haynes - guitar & vocals / Matt Abts - drums / Andy Hess - bass / Danny Louis - keyboards

After the first notes of High n' Mighty, we can ask ourselves if this is the real Gov't Mule, or more the new AC/DC cd ? Yes, I know, you may think that's a weird interrogation, but the beginning of that song really seems coming from Angus guitar ! So, all this to tell that this new cd is really strong and heavy at the beginning… then it's more in a classical Gov't Mule style and rhythm, but it is always very hard music ! In a more modern spirit, "Brand New Angel" is no more in the first song rock n' roll spirit, but Matt Abts and Danny Louis implication really worth to listen to that song. Mister Warren is back on Streamline Woman, a great Rock n' Roll song with beautiful vocals that confirm (as usually) how gifted is that man. In fact, this album is not surprising : we have the usual Mule atmosphere, in Rock n' Roll songs and in the ballads like Child of the Earth or the wonderful Endless Parade, we always can find the same moments. Great choruses, beautiful vocals, incredible musical technique, heavy rhythm section and top musical alchemy between the musicians. After all, we can love or we cannot, it depends on everyone's choice. At the end, I'll tell that this Gov't Mule album is more in a Rock way than Déja Voodoo, but for me I'm always happy to be able to listen to a song such as Million Miles From Yesterday, played so well and so efficient by these so gifted musicians.
John Molet

 
GOV'T MULE
Pickin' On
Titles :

1 Soulshine - 2 Mule - 3 I Shall Return - 4 Bad Little Doggie - 5 Slow Happy Boys - 6 Beautiful Broken - 7 Time To Confess -
8 Drivin' Rain - 9 Lay Of The Sunflower - 10 Banks Of The Deep End - 11 Patchwork Quilt - 12 The Federal Donkey Breakdown
Musicians :
Buster Saticoy, fiddle, Lorenzo Martinez, percussion, David West, guitar, banjo & string bass, Tom Ball - harmonica
Bob Nichols - drums, Paul Lee - fiddle

CMH Records company, that is specialized in Bluegrass Tribute, gives us today a Pickin' On about Gov't Mule. We do remember the great Pickin' On about Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers. Could this one be as good as the others ? How could they figure Gov't Mule heavy way in a bluegrass way ? So after listening to this album, it seems there are only two good titles : "Soushine" and "Lay Of The Sunflower". I know it is only two… But I hope some day CMR Records will release a Marshall Tucker Band Pickin' On, or maybe Charlie Daniels Band, whose music will sure be better for bluegrass.
Jacques Dersigny


GOV'T MULE
 Déjà Voodoo
( 2004 ATOS RECORDS - BMG - ATO002088088-21528-2 )
( and with pre-order on the website 1 CD Live at Dallas 28 April 2004 )
Titles :

1 Bad Man Walking / 2 About To Rage / 3 Perfect Shelter / 4 Little Toy Train / 5 Slackjaw Jezebel / 6 Wine And Bleed /
7 Lola Leave Your Light / 8 Silent Cream / 9 No Celebration / 10 Mr Man / 11 My Separate Reality / 12 New World Blues /
Musicians :
Warren Haynes, Vocals & Guitar, Matt Abts, Drums, Danny Louis, Keyboards, Andy Hess, Bass.

We have waited a long time for this new studio album from the Mule, and this cd will not deceived the fans from Warren, Matt and now Andy. Some die-hard fans (often very tough), some pieces seems to be less good as they should, especially as we know the capacities from Warren Haynes. However Deja Voodoo has some great rock songs, as this US music giant is able to give us, like Bad Man Walking, Lola Leave Your Light On, and particularly Mr Man (great riff) are real killer-songs. As always, mister Haynes offers us great ballads like Little Toy Brain or Wine and Bleed that really touch myself every time I listen to such songs. That's why I tell that this cd is not surprising but so amazing, that's how I'd describe this new Gov't Mule. I've heard that if we order this cd on the band website, we get a free live cd, recorded on 28 April 2004 in Dallas. They are really great, these American people !
John Molet


GOV'T MULE
THE DEEPEST END - LIVE IN CONCERT
ATO RECORDS
Titles :
CD 1/2 :
Bad little doggie / Game face / Larger than life / Blindman in the dark / Which way do we run ? / Fools moon / Sco-Mule / Patchwork quilt / Lay of rhe sunflower / John rhe revelator

CD 2/2 :
Beautifully broken / Time to confess / Banks of the deep end / 32/20 blues / Goin' down / Slow happy boys / I shall return / Trying not to fall / Drivin' rain / Soulshine

DVD :
Bad little doggie / Blindman in the dark / Sco-Mule / Lay of the sunflower / John the revelator / Chameleon / Beautifully broken / Mule / Banks of the deep end / On your way down / Down and out in New York City / Maybe I'm a leo / Voodoo chile / Politician / Guitar solo / Drum solo / Sweet leaf / War pigs / Greasy granny's gopher gravy (Part 1) / Greasy granny's gopher gravy (Part 2) / Wasted time / Thorazine shuffle

Musicians :
Warren Haynes : vocals, guitars
Matt Abts : drums
Danny Louis : keyboards
Jack Cassidy : bass
Les Claypool : bass
Roger Glover : bass
Mike Gordon : bass
Paul : Jackson : bass
Will Lee : bass
Conrad Lozano : bass
Jason Newsted : bass
George Porter, Jr : bass
Greg Rzab : bass
Dave Schools : bass
Rob Wasserman : bass
Victor Wooten : bass
David Hidalgo : guitar, vocals
Sonny Landreth : slide guitar
Ivan Neville : keyboards
Dirty Dozen Brass Band : horns
Fred Wesley : trumpet
Karl Denson : saxophone
Bernie Worrell : keyboards
Bela Fleck : banjo


Finally, this package, a double CD + a DVD has been released and arrived this morning after I've been waiting for it for such a long time. The "deepest end" is a kind of conclusion to the Allen Woody's tribute, who passed away back in August 2000. Prior to this event, they had released the deep end volume 1 and 2 where some of the greatest bass players on earth were invited by Warren Haynes and Matt Abts to record music for their lost friend. To "give an end" to this project, they organize this big event, this big concert with 13 bass players coming on stage play these songs. It took place at the Saenger theatre in New Orleans, LA on May 13th, 2003. Some songs appear both on the DVD and on the CDs, some only on CD and some others on the DVD. As an example, we got "Bad little boogie" with Warren and his Firebird, Dave Schools from Widespread Panic comes on "Blind man in the dark" (Dave has played on many occasions with Giv't Mule and you can see the perfect harmony between all those guys), Roger Glover from Deep Purple plays on "May be I'm a leo), Jason Newsted from Metallica plays on Black Sabbath's "War pigs". We also have Warren singing solo on the Eagles's "Wasted time". The 3 hours plus from the DVD don't seem to be 3 hours as the music is so great, and now that's the cd's turn. We have one of the band's classis with "Soulshine". What else can I say about this package, except to me that is a master piece ! Since this event, Gov't Mule announced Andy Hess as the permanent bass player to replace Allen Woody.
Philippe Archambeau



GOV'T MULE
THE DEEP END (vol 2)
ATO RECORDS
Titles :
Trying not to fall / Time to confess / Greasy grammy's gopher gravy (part 1) / Greasy grammy's gopher gravy (part 2) / What is hip ? / World of confusion / Hammer and nails / Slow happy boys / Sun dance / Lay of the sunflower / Catfish blues / Which way do we run ? / Babylon turnpike

Musicians :
Warren Haynes : guitar, slide guitar, vocals
Matt Abts : drums
Jason Newsted : bass (1)
Georgr Porter Jr : bass (2)
Les Claypool : bass (3, 4)
Rocco Prestia : bass (5)
Tony Levin : bass (6)
Meshell Ndgeocello : bass (7)
Jack Casady : bass (8)
Chris Squire : bass (9)
Phil Lesh : bass (10)
Billy Cox : bass (11)
Dave Schools : bass (12)
Alphonso Johnson : bass (13)
Gary Lucas : guitar (6)
Johnny Neel : organ (5, 9), piano (13)
Art Neville : organ (3)
John Medeski : organ, wurlitzer (7)
Danny Louis : organ, wurlitzer (12)
Chuck Leavell : organ (8)
Pete Sears : piano (8)
David Grisman : mandoline (10)
Rob Barraco : piano (10)
Bernie Worell : organ (11)


After the release of the album "Deep end volume 1", many fans were waiting for the second dose of this tribute to the unforgettable Allen Woody. This second volume is really a great album even with the different musical cultures, but when you know Mister Warren's ability to mix all the atmospheres of blues, jazzn country, rock, even hard rock, we are confident as we know the result will be here. And it's still the case with this new album. As for the first volume, many great bass players were invited, such as Jack Casady (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna), Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead), Chris Squire (Yes), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Jason Newsted (Metalica), among others. On a musical side, as I already said, there are many atmospheres, the music goes from the pure Gov't Mule's style with "Tryin not to fall , "Time to confess" or "What is Hip", to jazzy tunes ("Sun Dance", "Babylon Turnpike"), but always with this great musical quality. And when I listen to "Lay of the sunflower", certainly the song I love the most, I say to lyself that Warren Haynes is really this genius who always share with us his emotions in such great ballads.
Let's note the second cd with a few interesting bonus tracks such as "Drivin rain", "Rocking horse" (live), "Lay your burden down" (live) and "Sco-Mule" and some live footage. Definitely, great job !
John Molet



GOV'T MULE
THE DEEP END (vol 1)
ATO RECORDS
Titles :
Fool's Moon / Life on the outside / On the banks of the deep end / Down and out in NYC / Effigy / Maybe I'm a leo / Same price / Soulshine / Sco Mule / Worried down with the blues / Beautifully broken / Tear me down / Sin is a good man's brother

Musicians :
Warren Haynes : guitar, slide guitar, vocals
Matt Abts : drums
Allen Woody : bass (13)
Jack Bruce : bass, vocals (1)
Larry Graham : bass, vocals (2)
Mike Gordon : bass, background vocals (3)
Flea : bass (4)
Mike Watt : bass (5)
Roger Glover : bass (6)
John Entwistle : bass (7)
Willy Weeks : bass (8)
Chris Wood : bass (9)
Oteil Burbridge : bass (10)
Stefan Lessard : bass (11)
Bootsy Collins : bass, vocals (12)
Little Milton : guitar, vocals (8)
Gregg Allman : organ, vocals (10)
Jerry Cantrell : background vocals (5)
Audley Freed : guitar (2)
John Scofield : guitar (9)
Derek Trucks : guitar(10)
Keith Barry : trumpet (4)
Mike Uhler : tenor sax (4)
Dan Weinstein : trombone (4)
Eddie Harsch : organ, clavinet (2)
Page McConnell : organ, clavinet (7)
Danny Louis : organ, wurlitzer(3,11)
Chuck Leavell : organ, wurlitzer (8)
Rob Barraco : organ, wurlitzer (4)
Bernie Worrel : organ, mini-moogl (12) - organ, clavinet (1, 9)
Randall Bramlett : organ (6)


Ok I must confess, I haven't always been a die-hard fan of Gov't Mule, since they first started a few years ago, and it is the paradox if they had two of the best musicians from the Allman Brothers Band ('90 era), quite a reference in southern music !!
Did I love them too much from their Allman Brothers period ? Well, I have not enjoyed (and understood) all of their music, but with this new album, I'm really pleased, "I become reconciled with the Mule" …ha ha ha !! no, more seriously, I really believe  this album should convince everyone. You can hear the usual musical variants from Mr. Haynes but, altogether this album sounds closer to what southern rock fans like to ear. You're gonna have shudder while listening to the intro of "Effigy", as well as "Same Price" or "Worried down with the blues" (which reminds me "Gambler's Roll from the Allman Brothers), or the Deep Purple cover "Maybe I'm a Leo". And when you'll know that a dozen famous bass players (Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, Roger Glover, and many more) came in the studio and pay tribute to the late Allen Woody ("The Big Bassman"), who disappeared last year. Also came Greg Allman, John Scoffield, Audley Freed, Derek Trucks, among others. There's no doubt this album is one of a kind… and I've only been talking about the 1st cd. The second one is really a big present to the fans, "la cerise sur le gateau" as we say in french (litteraly, the cherry over the cake). Besides some video cuts from the upcoming "Mule movie", they offer us 4 live bonus tracks ", "Jesus Left Chicago" from ZZ Top, an other "Soulshine" version with Warren on accoustic guitar. Fabulous !! We should get more albums like this one…..
John Molet



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