Storm Sound Presents: Alive and Well 2024!
Continuing The Series
NOTE: This is, of course, a completely hypothetical release. No vinyl or otherwise will exist in real life - listen via the Nugs playlist and use your imagination 😁
In the spring of 2020, Goose released Alive and Well, a curated compilation of tour highlights from 2019 that was an integral part of making tons of new fans over the course of the following year. Since the band has (sadly) yet to release a follow-up, I have put together my own volumes in this series for every year since - check out 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 - though mine come without the official release and vinyl pressings 😉
Summer tour is just a week, so dig in to the best of 2024 below, continuing in the spirit of the original Alive and Well by curating it to fit (more or less) on a 4LP set!
THANK YOU as always to Madisonhuvan for the incredible art!
Listen to the compilation via a nugs playlist here.
SIDE A
4/7 Hot Love & The Lazy Poet - Port Chester, NY (5:55) - A 2024 compilation would NOT be complete without a Hot Love opener!
9/17 SALT - Magna, UT (18:24) - The first brand-new Goose song of the year, it was an immediate banger that then sat on the shelf until September. Whether you knew it as STL, Zalt, or SALT, this version in Utah blew the doors wide open on its jamming potential with a fantastic contrast of dark and light sections.
SIDE B
9/19 One In, One Out - Bonner, MT (16:05) - Chunky clav and an airtight Cotter pocket make this the standout OIOO for the year, highlighting another excellent new song.
11/10 Dim Lights - Cincinnati, OH (5:09) - Tug at your heartstrings with the full-band debut of one of the most emotional songs Rick has ever written.
SIDE C
6/30 Rockdale - New Haven, CT (25:24) - Inclusion of this jam speaks for itself - breaking every mold and taking a huge risk, the payoff is incredible with some of the weirdest and most edge-of-your-seat improv this band has ever performed.
SIDE D
5/26 Everything Must Go - Chillicothe, IL (20:23) - Cleanse the palette with the jam equivalent to the sun rising on a beautiful summer morning. Patient bliss is an amazing tool in Goose’s arsenal.
SIDE E
12/13 Hungersite - North Charleston, SC (21:15) - Speaking of patient bliss, the band coalesces around a singular theme as Peter leads on a repeating riff for several minutes. Cotter smoothly builds the intensity before Rick lets loose a volcanic and cathartic peak.
SIDE F
11/8 Big Modern! - Cincinnati, OH (21:50) - Couldn’t leave this song off, and this version might be my most-listened-to jam of 2024! One of the first indications of collective “hey hole” style improv from the band that came as a result of the stage plot shift, this screaming peak is absolutely amazing.
SIDE G
6/8 Travelers > Elmeg the Wise - Greenwood Village, CO (23:28) - While I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of the Autumn Crossing suite in a live setting, I’d be remiss to leave the first - and most impactful - performance from Fiddler’s.
SIDE H
11/2 Draconian Meter Maid - St. Augustine, FL (13:08) - Cotter tune makes the cut with a smooth bliss jam, but the real star is the final minute or two where Rick, Peter, and Trevor engage in an intricate and complex dance around each other’s riffs in a way that was virtually unheard of previously.
6/21 Give it Time - Atlanta, GA (7:45) - New song of the year and a look ahead to Everything Must Go, I chose this version because it was the first one I remember where it felt like the whole crowd knew all the words to the chorus and was belting at the top of their voices. It’s a special one.
