Jam Breakdowns - 6/15/21 A Western Sun -> Echo of a Rose
One of the best shows Goose has ever played, 6/15/21 in Perry, NY boasts three best-ever versions of songs as of December 2021 (in my opinion of course); A Western Sun, Echo of a Rose, and The Empress of Organos (breakdown of this coming soon!).
Closing the first set of the show, the 52-minute pairing of A Western Sun and Echo remains some of Goose’s finest improvisation to date, journeying through some truly incredible segments and helping pave the way for the jams played the rest of the year.
The MVP of this segment is easily Rick, whose confident fretboard fireworks led to incredible peak after incredible peak, but I must mention Spuds – his incredible-as-always drumming is on full display here as he steps up into a real leadership role in some parts of the jams.
Stay tuned for the Jam of the Year 2021 bracket coming in early January – we will have a bracket reveal and discussion episode (or two!) of We Move Through Stormy Weather! Each matchup will be a 24-hour Twitter poll run by @JiveGoose (follow if you haven’t already!). Our seeding committee is hard at work making the bracket and we cannot WAIT to share it with you all!!
Speaking of top contenders for the bracket…let’s get to the breakdowns, shall we?
All timings are per Nugs/Bandcamp release!
0:30 – Rick sings opening verse as Peter quietly accents on piano
0:45 – Great vocal harmonies as per usual
1:02 – Already a distinctly different vibe from previous versions
2:40 – Great piano solo from Peter, stays mellow and melodic
4:30 – Guitar solo, Rick uses thick tone
7:18 – Song proper ends, band coalesces quickly into ethereal jam space
7:33 – Briefly feels like Bingo Theme could emerge out of it
7:48 – Peter swirls on organ while Jeff accents on percussion
8:03 – Spuds playing mainly cymbals and toms to keep it spacey
8:18 – Sparse playing from Trevor
8:58 – Rich finds a riff and begins to lead the jam along
9:10 – Trevor and Spuds begin to lock into a slow groove
9:30 – Peter working textures in the background
9:35 – Peter emerges on piano in a lead role
9:55 – Gorgeous
10:11 – Rich on a repeating motif that Peter plays off of
10:40 – Peter and Rick weave around each other and trade some melodies
10:57 – Spuds has slowly turned his cymbal and tom work into a solid foundation
11:11 – Jeff subtle percussion is awesome
11:38 – Following a similar vibe to many This Old Sea jams
11:55 – Jam continues to grow in intensity
12:18 – Rich breaks out of melodic play, dirties tone, and takes it dark
12:33 – Peter resists the clav as Spuds tightens into funk groove
12:47 – Trevor is awesome
13:20 – Getting into a Rockdale-y zone
13:35 – A new theme develops that clearly is about to hit the stratosphere
14:08 – Jam patiently builds in the darkness as Rick’s tone gets even filthier
14:15 – Rich introduces a progression, band follows
14:40 – Jeffrey hits things with sticks and it sounds awesome
15:09 – Jam has a less funky vibe now, more slow head-bang-y
15:45 – Peter playing rhythm keys as Rick slow-burns the solo
16:30 – Jam begins to peak as all five band members totally lock in
16:44 – Trevor throws in some sick fills
17:17 – Spuds makes his playing more complex
17:25 – Peak seems to be dying out a bit
17:45 – Spuds quiets jam quickly
17:59 – Spuds kicks into faster gear, Rick follows immediately with machine-gun licks
18:10 – Peter peppers piano around
18:22 – Rich uses wah at around half-sweep to make the staccato machine-gun sound cool
18:48 – Peter leads the charge
18:55 – Spuds kicks into gear and we are immediately in our next solid theme
19:20 – Trevor drops out briefly as Peter and Rick flutter in the high register
19:49 – Trevor low note
19:57 – Spuds pushes the back beat
20:10 – BUILD BUILD BUILD
20:28 – Bedrock of jam is typical Goose but they’re doing really cool stuff overtop
20:40 – Spuds emphasizes snare hits on 2 and 4
20:56 – Rick irregularly sweeping wah amid solo
21:24 – Jam continues to push harder
21:36 – Peter STILL on piano, showing remarkable restraint not using another keyboard sound
22:20 – Intensity continues to ramp up
22:28 – Jeff times tambourine hits to Spuds’ snare
22:48 – Jam deconstructs briefly
22:52 – Synth swell from Peter
23:01 – Band awaits someone to pick a direction
23:04 – Rick starts two-note progression, band latches on
23:17 – Some light gong work
23:24 – #GongGang
23:45 – Gas pedal is being stepped on LFG
24:17 – Maybe kind of Doobie Song-ish
24:40 – Peter continues piano riff from the last segment
25:05 – Rick steps out and begins fiery lead work
25:42 – Intensity continues to grow as we head for the peak
26:05 – You can already hear how perfect the Echo segue is going to be
26:20 – Melodic peak hits
26:49 – Like a freight train of awesomeness
27:11 – Peak gets higher and higher and won’t let up
27:44 – YEAH
28:20 – Full machine gun craziness
28:30 – WOW
28:50 – Peak dies away but Rick holds on to the progression and -> to Echo
ECHO OF A ROSE
0:00 – Without missing a beat, the band lands directly into Echo
0:11 – Peter swirling around with piano
0:28 – CLAV
0:33 – Everyone takes a second to catch their breath
0:45 – OH WHEN THE SAINTS
3:33 – Rick begins solo with auto-wah filter as Peter gently tickles the ivories
3:50 – Cool work on congas from Jeff
4:11 – Very melodic and laid-back vibe to the solo despite multiple explosive peaks
4:20 – Trevor soloing too wow
4:32 – Organ soars in
4:45 – Superspeed guitar runs
4:53 – Riders on the Storm intro-like descending run from Rick
5:15 – Solo ends, final chorus
5:23 – Peter peppers drums/guitar with some subtle organ
6:24 – Second jam begins atop soaring carpet of organ from Peter
6:50 – Rick begins solo sticking to melodic mode
7:03 – Rhythm section secures steady groove with lots of space
7:17 – Spuds mirrors Rick’s lick
8:01 – Jam mellows as Peter shapes organ tone with drawbars
8:18 – Jeff on chimes
8:26 – Peter on phaser-drenched clav with no wah
8:38 – Chord-based clav is very gentle
8:55 – Laid-back vibe
9:18 – Peter switches over to Vintage Vibe, gently adds a soft bed of electric piano
9:35 – My god that’s beautiful
10:41 – Intensity begins to ramp up a bit as Rick gets a bit dirty
11:35 – Jam deconstructs
11:47 – Spuds begins snare build
12:17 – VINTAGE VIBE
12:38 – Spuds starts into half-time beat as Rick and Peter continue to play beautifully
12:50 – Synth swell from Peter loops
13:28 – LOVE THAT PETER RIFF
13:45 – Band resists the dark and funky pull and stays mostly major-key
15:06 – Gorgeous and melodic jam continues, I got lost in it
15:20 – Spuds switches beat up and jam deconstructs again
15:35 – Synth swells down
15:42 – Jam solidifies into space similar to beginning of AWS jam
16:02 – Band hits on descending progression and starts to build off of it
16:27 – Space quiets a bit as Rick solos over Peter and Trevor hitting the descending lick
17:44 – Intensity jumps up as Spuds pushes for more power
17:58 – Peter holding onto gentle Vintage Vibe as Rick activates flamethrower mode
18:35 – Melodic vibe continues
19:01 – Rick modifies the descending melody slightly and brings it to the forefront
19:16 – Peter on piano now as jam takes off
19:27 – Spuds still in half-time groove
19:40 – Intensity continues to ramp up
20:27 – Full peak mode has been engaged
20:42 – Rick starts long machine-gun run
20:59 – Spuds, Jeff, Trevor, and Peter are firmly locked into descending melody while Rick tears a hole in space/time
21:31 – WOOHOOOOOOOOOO
21:44 – “yeah” from Peter I think
21:50 – Spuds pushes tempo
22:26 – Oh my this is incredible
22:33 – Jeff reminds us of his presence with tambourine
22:44 – Peter hits organ as Spuds slows jam again
23:12 – Jam ends gently