Howlin' Rain - Magnificent Fiend

Genre jam band Publisher American External Links Howlin Rain

Howlin' Rain and their new effort, Magnificent Fiend, is the California Roll of jam band music. Yes, it still conjures images of pot-smoking, ultimate playing, drum circle having neo-hippies, but it has a strong 70's cock rock tinge to it as well. The presence of a raspy and alluring lead singer (Ethan Miller), like Rod Stewart when he still semi-rocked, makes the disc palatable to the un-jammers. Howlin' Rain is the bridge between Phish and The Black Crowes. I'm not going to lie, I have partaken in the occasional drum circle and thoroughly enjoyed Bonnaroo in its pre-Clear Channel days. For those looking to try out jam band music, but not quite ready to hit up the music festivals and taste the Phish, Magnificent Fiend is a great sampling of free flowing and organic music with frantic outbursts of acid-organ.

Howlin' Rain is a series of jammy interludes interspersed among thrashing and strutting bouts of Southern-fried rock n' roll revival. There is no song where this is more prevalent than in "Lord Have Mercy." "I caught a glimpse of your body by the river" surrounded by the whisky beat of a snare and the tinkling of piano keys brings to mind classic bluegrass melodies. The song includes hyperbolic recanting of past sins including the grinding of "your wild peacocks," the shooting of "your father in the first World War" and the abandonment of "your sister." "I once vowed to love your sister for a lifetime, took her to the altar and left her like a windchime," breaks into the refrain of "Lord Have Mercy," the song's titular line, in a frenzied and panicked plea for forgiveness in this six-minute requiem. Complete with back up gospel choir vocals, this song swings from bluegrass to southern revival music to 70s rock and roll and ends in one sensational jam with a guitar solo that in a different setting would make your face melt.

After a week of listening to nothing but "Goodbye Ruby" on repeat on my iPod, I've finally pinned down what the guitar introduction reminds me of. The twangy and swaggering funk guitar that is introduced by a downward progression is the perfect mix of a little Bootsy Collins and a whole lot of "Shakedown Street." The phrasing of the song, as a whole, closely mirrors the Grateful Dead classic with the wailing and moaning of Jerry and Ethan interspersed with seemingly unplanned guitar interludes. The up tempo instrumentals belie the mournful lyrics " Childish beauty / Sunday charm / All has made a ghost of me, spirit dead, shackled arms / As I hung the wind whipped your wild name" while the emotion that hangs in Ethan's voice contributes to the overall mood of the song.

So whether you're a jam band fiend, white boy dreads and all, or have a penchant for "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" style organ, you need to hear this disc. A lot of people have a deep dislike for anything that remotely resembles Jethro Tull or any project that Trey Anastasio has had his hands in, but the rock aspects of this album can't be denied. After all, jam bands are, as Budnick (co-creator of the Jammys) says, "a rich palette of sounds and textures. These groups share a collective penchant for improvisation, a commitment to songcraft and a propensity to cross genre boundaries, drawing from a range of traditions including blues, bluegrass, funk, jazz, rock, psychedelia and even techno. In addition, the jam bands of today are unified by the nimble ears of their receptive listeners."