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CD/DVD Releases: Umphrey's McGee Kicks Out The Jams With Live Album

Posted on Saturday, September 15 @ 05:35:47 UTC by nightowl

Umphrey's McGee Kicks Out The Jams With First Official Live Album Live At The Murat, in stores October 16.

UM Celebrates Release With More Touring This Fall, Including Appearances At Vegoose, Caribbean Holidaze, and Jam In The 'Dam.

The ascension continues for Chicago's Umphrey's McGee, not only in terms of their commercial success but in creative accomplishment and instrumental achievement as well. Their performance on Live At The Murat (SCI Fidelity), their first official live release, is as impressive as anything they?ve recorded to date, with the power and finesse, the yin and the yang, that have come to characterize their by-now classic material.



Recorded in Indianapolis in April 2007 and produced by longtime "sound caresser" / honorary seventh member Kevin Browning, the two-disc set features fan favorites like "Push The Pig," "The Triple Wide," "In The Kitchen," and "Nothing Too Fancy," along with rare tunes like the set-ending "Padgett?s Profile" and the brief but torrid "Angular Momentum," centered on the combo of drummer Kris Myers and guitarist Jake Cinninger. The band also dusts off tunes like "Hajimemashite" from ?98's Songs For Older Women, and the Yes meets Little Feat-influenced "40's Theme," a live favorite for the band and its fans.

Throughout the show, UM's invention brings the progressive instrumental chops of Zappa and the stylistic savvy of Steely Dan. It is innovative without being indulgent, exhilarating without losing control, and there are plenty of improv passages that keep the band and their fans off-balance. Clearly, logging 120 gigs a year, "live" is where UM lives.

Live At The Murat is the latest feather in the cap of the dazzling sextet. They followed their highly touted spring 2006 studio release Safety In Numbers with the magical odds and sods The Bottom Half in the spring of this year. The album, with its outtakes, alternate versions, and other nifty bits, reached #26 on Billboard?s coveted "Heatseakers" Chart and received high marks from the music press. HARP magazine recently noted "?[The Bottom Half delivers] creamy studio work infused by diabolical skill." Also in 2006, Umphrey?s McGee sold out shows in theaters coast to coast, appeared at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, and made their late night TV debut on ABC?s Jimmy Kimmel Live. Booked by the Monterey Peninsula Booking Agency, the band recently sold out three nights at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom, two nights at Irving Plaza, San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, and the list goes on, as does Umphrey's McGee.

Posted in Album Release News