SCI Fidelity

“Wait!” you say. “What is this? I thought The String Cheese Incident already had the On The Road series of live releases going on – now what?”

True enough, my friend. And you can still surf your way to the Live Cheese site and find a virtual cornucopia of shows both current and crusty. But what we have here is the first of the new Rhythm Of The Road releases, featuring some treasures from the vault that have been remastered for scrumptious sonicness.

“Really?” you ask. “Absolutely,” I answer. From the most bottomless of bass bombs dropped by Keith Moseley to the highest, most lonesome of cries from Michael Kang’s fiddle, the sound on ROTR Volume One is excellent. This is the kind of quality you don’t have to be an audio perv to smile over.

“Okay – so it sounds great,” you say. “But what’s on it for tunes?” Well, let me tell you, young Grasshopper. (Or, in the spirit of Cheesiness: young Grasshooper.) November of Ought-Ought found SCI pleasantly shape-shifting and morphing in the most natural of ways. Outside Inside had yet to be released but many of the tunes on that album were already well road-tested and there was an increased level of funkiness working its way into the band’s sound. ROTR Volume One lays on a thick slather of such early on with Keith Moseley’s rapped-out love letter, “Joyful Sound”. This nine-and-a-half-minute excursion is living proof that a mandolin and a well-loved old Martin can get down with the best of them as long as there’s a nasty-enough bass line underneath it all.

Speaking of bass, it’s the ability of SCI’s rhythm section to navigate eclectic worldly waters that makes the beast work the way it does on this album. Keep in mind that the helping hands of Jason Hann on percussion were still a few years away when this show was recorded. 11.17.00 finds Michael Travis doing his multi-limbed all-things-drum act, laying down the groove on everything from the grassy stomp of “Orange Blossom Special” to the Afro-rhythms of Peter Gabriel’s “Shakin’ The Tree”. Combine Travis’ fearlessness with Moseley’s groove sense and you have one feisty foundation of beat to bounce upon.

While we’re on the subject of covers, the Cheese manages to pull off a Hobbit-friendly version of Led Zep’s “Ramble On”, while their voyage into the ozone of John Coltrane’s “Impressions” is a fine example of audio high-wire work. They’re equally at home with the Talking Heads (“This Must Be The Place”) or Peter Rowan (“Midnight Moonlight”) – either way, it still comes out sounding like them. There’s plenty of original-flavored Cheese on 11.17.00 as well – from the spilt-beer romance of “Barstool” and jazzy canter of their “Pygmy Pony” to the far-reaching explorations of “Missin’ Me”, complete with a tease of the Allman Bros’ “Jessica”.

The frontline of Kang (who spends much of the show on his thickly Trey-toned electric mando), guitarist Billy Nershi, and keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth sound like they were having fun on that November evening in Atlanta, GA. Banjo buddy Tony Furtado sits in for a few songs, cozying up to the Cheese mix quite nicely.

All in all, Rhythm Of The Road Volume One is an impressive launch for this new series of vintage Cheese releases, combining a killer setlist with impressive sound.

“Wow,” you say. “With a debut like this, what can they possibly do for Volume Two to match it?”

“Good question,” I answer.