Album Notes

Spectacles

The time:
Friday July 2, 2004
The place:
Gibson Showcase, Opry Mills, Nashville, TN
The reason:
The Spectacles
What happened:

It started with a trip to the Gibson Showcase in Opry Mills last Friday night...For starters, if you haven't been to the Gibson Showcase, it is quite a nice facility. It is squeaky clean it has plenty of seating and nice big stage and except for having the acoustics of a high school gym/racquet ball court, it is a great live venue...but hey, let's not split hairs over something as unimportant as bad acoustics in what is suppose to be a live music venue owned by a multi-million dollar musical instrument dealer...Yo, Gibson, lower the ceiling and buy a real PA... 'nuff said, let's rock.
I should have known when the lights went down and the voice of Mike Copelin introduced the Spectacles we were in for an interesting evening. Some things never change! An interesting night we had and rock is exactly what the Spectacles did. These guys had a musical vision they focused and a good time of groove rock was witnessed and heard by all in attendance. This is quite an interesting bunch of rockers, combining the usual funk/blues/country/hardrock mixture with banjo, flugelhorn/trumpet bass drums and guitar. Did I just say banjo and flugelhorn...? Yes, yes I did your honor...the Spectacles are guilty of partaking in an orgy of rock n roll with no respect for the toys or participants they use to pull off their own mixture of musical gratification... They can throw quite a musical gang-bang. The reason for this orchestrated madness is primarily due to the musicians and musicianship of the band... Let's have a gander shall we...
Starting nowhere in particular and everywhere in general we have Doug Hall, the horniest man in rock n roll. I mean besides holding down most of the lead vocal work, this man always has a firm grip on his horn, trumpet, flugelhorn, whatever. If Doug ain't belting out those funk laden bluesy vocals he's blowing his horn in your face... Why? Because he can... To put it in perspective, if Chuck Mangione were cool and played better music, he'd be like Doug....(No offense Chuck, flugalhorn references aren't easy to come by in rock n roll).
Next on the list, guitarist Chad Selby, probably the fattest strat sound Nashville's heard in quite sometime. You know what they say about guys with big equipment. They got fat tone. If I had to sum this one up... I'd say take equal parts Vivian (pre Lepperd), Eddie, and Stevie put them in a blender and whatever shows up has gotta be good. Still, I think this guy's holding way back. Why you ask? Because to be part of any good musical orgy you don't smack the other participants in the face with your big equipment. You gotta tease them, please them, make'em want more....then smack'em in the face at the very end just as you jump up to grab your keys and run for the door. The Pat Travers tune at the end did the trick.
Beating things with sticks, we have Craig Deloach. I think any man who can do four things at once is a definite candidate for some serious counseling not to mention do four things at once and sing like your Mama just beat you and told you to bring home dinner. Craig Deloach, is he Aretha Franklin or is he Keith Moon or is he Aretha Moon...now that's something not to think about.
David Knight on the bass ladies and gentlemen. David graduated with high honors from the Bill Wyman school of bass playing... You know the story, do all the important stuff, hold down the groove, rock steady, try not to bring attention to yourself and most importantly, try to look like the normal one in the band. We all know about the calm ones in the band don't we? I suspect Dave is the wildman of the band... I'm thinking a man not afraid to party, womanizer, all the stuff that make a good bass player... Dave will probably be the member of the band most likely to be found passed out in your front yard after the party....
And last but certainly not least, Glen Miles. Besides sporting the tightest haircut in rock n roll, this guy serves up a multitude of madness on stage from the sharing of lead vocals with Doug and rhythm and lead guitar duties with "the Chad". Glen also peppers the stage now and again with some rapid-fire banjo work. Basically, if Earl Scruggs and Paul Stanley had a "love child" he would be named Glen. I say you go Glen! Strap on that banjo and those 7-inch leather heels come down from the mountain and dance across the stage like only a face-painted New York rocker should....
There you have it ladies and gentleman. It ain't necessarily pretty when a group of well-meaning guys make a spectacle out of themselves but for this group of spectacles there ain't no denying they rock!
www.thespectaclesrock.com