You’re the man dude! I was at several of the shows on Vol 3. Having fun with these playlists!
2 Likes
Since the biscuits can’t get their SBD’s up on nugs from RR, I powered through this playlist this morning. Did the 2nd half of that jam in HBB become a song? The riff behind the lyrical feels very familiar but I can’t place it. Going to dig into Vol. 3 this afternoon.
Sounds very familiar. I thought it was a cover jam
Speaking of cover jams. I forgot to comment on that Bobs Cloud jam from Vol 1. Dr. Didg FTW!!!
I think that HBB is a raw stewage but idk which one…
1 Like
Yeah I was thinking it might be part of Breaker now. It’s definitely been raw stew’d
1 Like
I just looked through all the Raw Stewage notes on atu and didn’t see it…
Edit: Maybe it’s just a repeated stew?
2 Likes
Oh shit this whole time I meant the 10/13/05 Blecho 2nd jam
2 Likes
It’s a repeated lyrical stew. Not sure if not evolved into anything, though
Absolutely love this Stew.
Here’s the 4th volume in the Pook’s Picks trilogy 
Example 1 (10.07.09 Traverse City MI) 17:06
- For those who haven’t heard this show, this one is a must-hear! On the old bort they used to say that any show opening with Example 1 is a guaranteed heater and this one is no exception. This is, IMO, the GOAT Example 1. It starts off with an extended intro, goes into Example 1 and then goes into full blown jam mode at 4:26. The show notes annotate XXXplosive teases, which are absolutely there. But there’s also this funky slowed down dance party through the whole thing. I fucking love this version! Improv length is 12:40
Resolution (3.09.17 Salt Lake City UT) 19:04
- This show is one of the underrated gems from the March ‘17 run and this Reso is one of the reasons why. The band gets through the first part of Reso and gets into a jam at 1:49 that is simultaneously jazzy, bluesy and trippy with a Stasik/Joel bass and keyboard jam that sounds familiar but I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly. The jam shifts into a more rock style before going back into Reso at 6:56. The band leaves Reso at 8:00 and goes into a laid-back classic rock style jam that can be best described as Styx meets Steely Dan for lack of a better description before going into a jam that’s more of the 2012/2013 style, with sections mostly led by Joel. This Reso is a very rewarding listen! Improv time of 16:11
Breathe (1.23.13 Winston-Salem, NC) 14:19
- As a big Floyd fan I appreciate when UM covers them. And their dub cover of Breathe is a cover I truly love. This starts in typical dub fashion and gets into a jam that at around 4:50 that goes away from anything dub or Floyd related. It’s dance-y and fun but not exactly a stew. And then at 7:25 the guitars seem to tease SOYCD for a few seconds, and then evolves into a hard(er) rock section that goes back to Dub Breathe at 11:39. Nice version here! Improv time of 6:49
Deeper (9.3.11 Washington DC) 10:05
- Pretty standard Deeper here - that is, until…what’s that at 1:14? Why, the origins of There’s No Crying in Mexico. It gets teased for a few seconds and goes back into Deeper. At 5:07 they leave the end of Deeper for a funk jam and No Crying in Mexico comes back at 5:27 with the funk jam in the background. Then at 7:33 it becomes a full blown rocking No Crying in Mexico jam for the remainder of the track. Improv time is 4:58.
Hurt Bird Bath (1.26.13 Buffalo NY) 17:50
- HBB got the treatment in Buffalo TWICE in ‘13, so here’s the first one. The band leaves HBB at 2:20 for a subtle spacey dance jam that gets rocking and spooky at about 4:45. I hear subtle hints of Aldo Nova’s “Fantasy” on Joel’s keys in this part until the band shifts gears into a more rock section and then back to the spooky section before going back into HBB at 7:16. At 8:13 comes the familiar drum rolls and audience woos. Then at 8:34 the band leaves HBB for another jam session. This jam evolves into a psych-dub type of jam that almost teases Higgins for a split second but stays in this dub (ish) jam. Around 12:31 the band shifts the jam into a more Floyd-like jam almost like SOYCD that morphs into a soaring rock jam that heads back to HBB at 14:42 and ends at 17:27 with Bayliss announcing a set break. Improv length is 8:04. Great version with 2 jams!
Robot World (11.02.12 Jim Thorpe PA) 13:12
- With HBB ending set 1 in Buffalo why not make the next track a set 2 opener? Great RW from a great PA show! This is a nice hard-rockin version…damn I love the guitar tones on here. Things get heavy-chuggy at 3:00…fuck yes! This jam is very Tool sounding- at least in terms of guitar tone. Imagine Tool doing a slowed down version of The Spirit of Radio and you get the picture. 6:30 sees this jam getting more aggressive in a Remind Me kind of way. 7:57 has the band going into a psychedelic Tool-ish jam. What’s this bass line? Damn it sounds so familiar…anyways this jams goes for the rest of the song. 10:12 of
some metal as fuck jamming.
Kabump (3.12.14 Ashland OR) 17:27
- This show makes a VERY strong case to be 2014’s SOTY and this Kabump is one of the many highlights of this night. The band leaves Kabump at 6:28 to head into a heavy Tool inspired jam. The story is that they saw Tool in either Sacramento or Oakland the night before, which explains this heavy as fuck show. Anyhow, the Tool jam gives way to a dance party at 10:53 that evolves into a dance rock party. Improv time of 10:59.
Slacker (10.28.10 Urbana IL) 18:56
- thanks to @sabretooth for showing me the light with this show. This is arguably the best Slacker or at least a top 3 version. They waste no time jumping to a jam at 2:12 led by Kris with some guitar interplay that goes into UNTZ mode at 7:29 before going into chug-metal dance at 8:31. Things get chill at 12:01 and slows down then builds up until going back into Slacker at 14:54 with things ending at 17:45. Rest of the track is audience and BB admiring the ‘stache of a guy on the balcony. 12:42 is the improv length here. Great version!
Utopian Fir (10.14.13 East Stroudsberg PA) 18:57
- Just dawned on me that a third of this playlist is 2013. Oh well 2013 had great shit! This Fir has a quick Mullet (Over) type jam in the early part but then Fir gives way to the jam at 3:03, which is a drum n bass led jam that gets jazzy in almost a Steely Dan way but transits into a rocking electronic-rock jam before going back into Fir at 12:47 and goes space-reggae for the remainder of the track.
Improv time of 9:44
ITK (8.16.18 Orlando FL) 11:57
- for the final track I appropriately picked a song from an encore. This Kitchen has a Roundabout intro before going into ITK. The jam starts at 4:08 and is a space trance type of jam with some tropical flavor. This jam stays chill with plenty of e-drum goodness, going back to the Kitchen at 8:47. Improv time of 4:39.
8 Likes
This is way better than the podcasts.
4 Likes
This is the best Pooks Picks yet IMO.
Forgot all about this Reso, that 2nd jam gets way out there…
2 Likes
Got a long drive home so I’m about to pop this on. Thanks Pook!
1 Like
Thanks! This was probably the most challenging one to put together. My first volume 4 playlist had none of these songs and i switched them all out numerous times before making this the final edition. Now to focus on Volume 5
2 Likes
Volume 5 is here! This volume travels back in time a bit. There’s a mix of well-known and more under the radar stuff. 9 songs clocking in at 2 hours 38 minutes - going towards the longer end of UM show lengths. Keep in mind though - only 9 songs…
The Crooked One (10.23.08 Vancouver BC) 32:35
- This 2nd set opener is arguably the GOAT Crooked. At the 4:00 mark begins the journey out of Crooked and into jam territory for the next 28:35. The first section sounds a LOT like OHMphrey’s 2 albums. This sections starts to transition into a tripped out funk session that almost seems to tease Sociable Jimmy. This shit is trippy as hell - you don’t hear UM doing this kind of stuff these days. 8:48 sees the OHMphrey metal section coming back with a thrash vengeance that settles into a slower paced metal riff that reminds me of Prong’s “Dear Life”. Back to the trippy funk section at 11:03. This jam can’t make up its mind lol - not that this a bad thing. Then comes this cool section around 11:35 which has Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” played with this funk section in the background. Unreal and very creative! 14:28 has them tripping balls again with the funk. Roll with this - this is damn near a religious experience. UM doesn’t make jams like this anymore. 20:39 sees this jam getting some e-drum treatment before going into a faster tempo. At 22:03 they add the Stones’ “Paint It Black” to this now uptempo dance party. The dance party just continues and you’ll catch snippets of some Magner-style synths, giving this UM epic a bit of a Bisco feel. Things slow down at the 31 minute mark with Paint It Black being reprised and then closing out with guitars only teasing IC. If you have NOT heard this before, get on it STAT! This might be better than IC > Synco. Improv time of 28:35
Bridgeless (11.18.08 Knoxville TN) 22:01
- The jam session starts here at 5:58. Starts off low key and builds into a psych-rock section with some synth injections and then transits to a funky dance rock section at 9:19. Put on your dancing shoes- this is quite the nice multi-faceted dance party. Bass n drums, e-drums, synths, tasty guitar riffs - this dance party has it all. Then the last minute is a piano Oruro - think Faith No More’s “Epic”. Back to back ‘08 tracks and you’ve almost had an hour of badass. After all this is ‘08 we’re talking about. Improv section time is 16:03.
Eat (10.04.08 Peoria IL) 17:05
- a triple decker of ‘08? Yup!! From this highly regarded Peoria show is this jammed out Eat. The band plays Eat for 1:35 and says fuck it let’s jam! So off they go into this jazzy laid back jam session that morphs into a synth psych section. And in true ‘08 fashion throw in some e-drums and Bisco like keys and some moog sections before going back into Eat at 13:18. Eat comes to close at
16:06 and the last minute is crowd noise and guitar tinkering. Improv time of 6:43
ITK (10.23.10 Cleveland OH) 13:10
- This 2nd set opener starts of a bit funkier than usual for ITK and they depart ITK at 4:35 in favor for a funk section with some Hendrix like noodling. This evolves into a 70’s funk dance party that just keeps going and then at 12:15 begins a → into Walletsworth. Improv time of 8:35
Walletsworth (3.27.09 St Louis) 6:03
- went with this Walletsworth instead. Short and sweet version here thats well played. Some moog guitar (?) at 2:03. It’s a well played version made a little unique with the moog. No improv to speak of here - just a solid standard-great version with some moog and funk thrown in.
Dump City (2.21.09 Asheville NC) 13:51
- Starts off standard enough and then the synths put this Dump into weird trippy mode - must be something in the water in Asheville lol. This is some realty tripped out UFO alien invasion shit going on here. Then comes a Billie Jean jam at the 5:41 mark that is short lived and gives way to a Mullet (Over) type of jam session. Only in Asheville, right? The jam session goes back into a sped up funk mode that gets jazzy laid back and then takes on a more rock flavor before going funk again. True ADHD jamming here that also gets into some bluesy territory before going back into Dump at 11:01 and coming to a close at 12:17. Rest of the track is audience and Stasik banter about losing a bet. Improv time of 7:00.
Nemo (9.14.07 Urbana IL) 20:03
- They waste no time jamming this, going into the jam session at 2:15 that sounds like a mix of Dub Breathe and Higgins. 4:33 introduces a lyrical stew and stays in this dub jam before going into a more dancy section at 9:20 until going back into Nemo at 16:42. Improv time of 14:27. Rest of Nemo is Bayliss banter and crowd noise.
3X (11.20.09 Washington DC) 16:33
- 3X starts off normal enough and then gets into the improv at 3:33. Almost sounds like a hybrid of ITK and I Ran then appears to tease Bright Lights at 4:48 and evolves into an almost Bright Lights-but-not-quite jam with what sounds like a very minor tease of what would become Miami Virtue and then gets funktronic at 7:33. I also catch possible Synco teases as well and then you get a preview of the 2011 sound at around the 9:20 mark. The electro-funk-rock sound. Is that Comma Later I’m catching as well at around 12:09? Seems like they’re teasing a lot of stuff in this jam! Talk about an under the radar 3X! This is outstanding! Sounds like a 2011 jam. Improv time of 13:00
JaJunk (3.26.09 Lawrence KS) 17:22
- This 2nd closer from Lawrence’09 is also the closer to this playlist. The jam starts at 3:43 as a drum and bass driven session that becomes somewhat more guitar driven at around 6:28 and slides back into JaJunk at 9:47. They just let it rip until they wrap up at 15:22. The rest of the track is audience noise. Improv is 6:04. Not lengthy on the improv but it’s a well played version.
Enjoy the playlist everyone!
3 Likes
If I’m not mistaken, this jam is the beginning of Kris’s Lounge Groove which was in the Asheville (Utopian Fir) and Minneapolis (Wappy w/ Kevin Sinclar) 2010 shows that later became what is now referred to as Night Nurse.
Thanks for putting these together. I’ve heard several of the jams, was at the Knoxville shows with that Bridgeless, and I appreciate the concentration on 2007-10 here. Looking forward to spinning this one.
2 Likes
I deliberately made this volume old(er) school for the newer fans on here. I remember being new to the bort in 2012 and asking for show recs. You guys always pointed me in the direction of 2007-2010 with a few ‘06 shows thrown in and I always appreciated that. This is my way of paying it forward to the newer fans on here. No question that this era of UM is crucial in making them who they are today. Since I got the nugs app a couple of months ago I’m also realizing that 2009 wasn’t THAT bad.
The next few volumes will be more stuff from this era just FYI
3 Likes
Just FYI. Pooks picks has not been abandoned. We’ve been busy getting ready set for my daughter’s wedding next week so I haven’t had time to properly put together a good list. It’s partially done. But thanks for your patience
6 Likes
Pook’s about to drop the 4-hour Pook’s Picks: Wedding Edition he blasted during the reception. First dance is going to be 02/14/2013 Kabump (it was on Valentine’s Day so it’s romantic).
3 Likes
Lol if I played umphreys at my daughter’s reception she would kill me 
6 Likes