Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks: 55/56 - 2005

55
2005/05/24, Sonic Boom records
introduction
Freeze the saints
No more shoes
Malediction
Mama
It kills
Grace / Mr Jolly

I was going to write a note about the beautiful version of 'Grace / Mr Jolly' on this set – just Stephen on electric guitar and Mike on keyboard piano (maybe Joanna's playing a little bit of bass in the background). It was the only song from this record store appearance by a drum less trio Jicks (I think there's three of them) I had. But just today, checking the internet for some information about this date I stumbled across a download link for the full set.

So this is new to me. I'm just getting to know it, but I'm pretty excited with it.

'Freeze the saints' is a little awkward still (shame, cause the arangement is very good), it's the start of the set. Not up to the afternoon's version. 'Malediction' and 'Mama' are nice versions, both with added guitar melodies. But my two favorites are the unlikely, but really cool 'No more shoes' and 'Mr Jolly'.

Whoever thought a drumless band version of 'No more shoes' could be so entrancing? The raga-style drone aspect comes to the fore, Mike playing this weird sitar like repeating motif (Stephen mentions Sgt Pepper's afterwards, he must be thinking of 'Within you without you'). And Stephen is pushing his distortion solos into the void.

'Mr Jolly' is introduced as the song that didn't make the cut, and you can hear every one in the audience think 'why the hell not' as this affecting rendition is played. In this version it makes me think of it as Stephen's 'To Ramona', and the second verse about parents and their children really hits home.

Great song, nice set which I look forward to get into.

56
2005/??/??, KCRW session
No more shoes
Freeze the saints
Post-paint boy
It kills
Malediction
Loud cloud crowd

There's some acoustic guitar on 'Pig lib' and 'Face the truth', and I guess they used one to play 'Ramp of death' and 'Craw song' at Jicks concerts, but this is the first recorded solo acoustic performance by Stephen since the Italian radio session in 2003. For his other solo appearances he appeared with electric guitar.

Six songs from the latest album, but not one of my favorite sets. He's trying to make more of it than what it is. So 'No more shoes' loses itself in tangles of Fahey-esque raga folk guitar excursions – for once becoming the 'bathroom break song' he announces it's going to be.

'It kills' breaks down during a complicated solo, and he starts again for the 2nd verse – on the whole, he's singing the words with too much bluster, going for weird inflections over meaning. It's weird for him to sing a meaningful song so nakedly, maybe, but that's no reason to play hide-and-seek with the song. It ends with an improvised section – riffing on 'Nervous actors', the discarded song. 'That was pretty loose' he concludes. But not so succesfull.

Such is the fate of the session. He's trying all sorts of stuff to make it interesting, but it backfires. He's just not feeling right there and then.