Live improvs...what goes around comes around!

[holden]

hey folks,

Lately, i've relistened to the oldest UW shows i have, from 1994 and 95, and it's very interesting to hear how the fluidity of those early dates has reimerged somewhat in the latest gigs, 2005-06.
Back then, the boys would jam on a track like "oich Oich" or "Mmm Skyscraper" for literally a half an hour! These gigs are pushing 3 hours of constant beats, rarely a break taken! Sure, you can tell a lot of the time, Rick and Daz are working out things, sometimes roughly, but the tech. and the style were different. Also, they didn't really have to pull out any big hit singles. Nuxx hadn't hit yet, even!

Lately, with Pricey on board, and armed with new tunes from the riverrun series, the shows have aimed toward being heavy on the improvs again. Sure, jamming on Leave Home for 20 minutes is unlikely to still occur, but consider how old faves like Pearls Girl have gotten the makeover with fresh beats (often paired with Yard Beat) and King Of Snake is often extended to include the early mix from the archives. And take the Cocoon gig...new tracks, other artists' tracks, a continuous mix! unheard of for UWjust a few years back!

Contrast this with the era 1998-2003, when you could be fairly confident that the singles would be played, and increasingly as separate tracks. Maybe this had to do with Rick being mostly on his own behind the board post 2000, or maybe as Karl has hinted, they were getting tired of playing the same tracks at the big festivals.

I guess this has been discused in various ways in many threads, but i was wondering, what do you think has been more energizing to the UWLive experience? Darren Price helping to mix and adding improv tracks, or the influx of new UW tunes from riverrun and perhaps in prep for the new LP? Discuss!