|
|
|
|
| |
Widespread Panic - Free Somehow
| Pastemagazine | With the thunderous opening timpani roll of sun-soaked strut “Boom Boom Boom,” Widespread Panic begins its new album on a familiar—albeit, sonically fresh—foot. Once again calling on former Led Zeppelin/Al Green producer Terri Manning (and once again leaving behind the comfort of hometown Athens, Ga., and longtime producer John Keane for the total immersion of the Bahamas at Nassau’s Compass Point Studios), Panic has made the big-budget, big-production record most bands dream of someday making.
With the added force of new textures—strings, bells, horn sections, gospel choirs—Free Somehow frees the band from the constraints of its musical legacy, while also revisiting what made Panic great to begin with: chiefly, its gritty blend of hope and sorrow; of all-night revelry and the somber reality of a Sunday-morning hangover....full text |
| | Courant | | "Free Somehow" is the 10th studio recording from improvisational rockers Widespread Panic, though it's the first to feature songs written with guitarist Jimmy Herring. Herring took over when George McConnell — himself a replacement for founding member Michael Houser, who lost his life to pancreatic cancer in 2002 — abruptly left the band in '06. It's the second album produced by Terry Manning after recording almost exclusively with John Keane the band's entire career....full text |
| | Allmusic | | Another Widespread Panic album, another attempt to transfer the band's live energy onto tape. Free Somehow isn't Widespread's best studio effort to date, nor does it pack the same punch as the band's ever-popular concerts, where extended solos and long-running jams are more likely to illicit dropping jaws than drowsy, nodding heads. Still, this disc is nothing to sleep through, even if Widespread Panic haven't learned to utilize a studio's amenities as well as Phish or moe. "Boom Boom Boom," "Walk on the Flood," and "Flicker" are fierce tunes, full of enough guitar muscle and saucy strut to make them worthy of repeated listens, although they do sound geared for a live setting....full text |
|
Widespread Panic lyrics |
|