Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit (album)

Last updated
Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit
Col Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit.jpg
Live album by
Released1992
Venue Georgia Theatre, Athens, Georgia
Genre Southern rock
Length58:31
Label Capricorn Records
9 42000-2
Producer Johnny Sandlin
Aquarium Rescue Unit chronology
Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit
(1992)
Mirrors of Embarrassment
(1993)
Bruce Hampton chronology
Arkansas
(1987)
Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit
(1992)
Mirrors of Embarrassment
(1993)

Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit is a live album by the band of the same name. It was recorded at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia, and was released in 1992 by Capricorn Records. On the album, band leader Bruce Hampton is joined by guitarist Jimmy Herring, mandolin player Matt Mundy, keyboard player Chuck Leavell, bassist Oteil Burbridge, conga player Count Mbutu, and drummer Jeff Sipe, listed as "Apt. Q-258." [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]

In a review for AllMusic, Brian Bartolini wrote: "Mix together some Southern rock, some blues, some funk, a little jazz, and a touch of psychedelia, and that's what you'll find on this enjoyable live set." [2]

Rolling Stone's Robert Palmer noted that "there's a truly unique sensibility at work," and stated: "there's a bit of the Allmans' jazzier mode of improvising, Sea Level's sophisticated song structures and Wet Willie's cranked-up roadhouse R&B in the ARU's stylistic mix master. But this music is also post-Beefheart, post-Steely Dan, postbebop, post-Dixie Dregs, post-Sun Ra – it's just about posteverything." He concluded: "It rocks, swings, smacks, clangs, walks and runs, this music, with its eyes rolled back in its head." [5]

Dan Kening, writing for the Chicago Tribune , called the music "an anarchistic mixture of jazz, rock and blues," and praised the album's instrumental work, but cautioned: "this chaotic curiosity is not for the faint of heart." [6]

In an article for The Baltimore Sun , J.D. Considine commented: "Combining the best elements of Little Feat, the Dixie Dregs and Captain Beefheart, Hampton's... band offers a deft mix of Southern rock, casual jazz and warped blues that's tuneful, funny and unexpectedly addictive. Definitely worth taking a chance on." [7]

Mike Joyce of The Washington Post remarked: "Hampton and the Rescue Unit shake things up..., improvising freely on Southern rock, blues, jazz, folk, R&B, bluegrass, fusion and gospel styles with a kind of playful virtuosity that's drawing increasingly bigger crowds." [8]

Track listing

  1. "Introduction" (John Bell, Widespread Panic) – 1:29
  2. "Fixin' to Die" (Booker T. White) – 3:23
  3. "Yield Not to Temptation" (Ralph Bass, Sonny Thompson) – 4:01
  4. "Working on a Building" (trad. arranged by Matt Mundy) – 4:46
  5. "Time is Free" (David Earle Johnson) – 6:47
  6. "Basically Frightened" (Bruce Hampton, Ricky Keller, Tinsley Ellis) – 4:19
  7. "Compared to What" (Gene McDaniels) – 5:04
  8. "Time Flack" (Bruce Hampton, Oteil Burbridge) – 4:47
  9. "Davy Crockett" (Bruce Hampton, Charles Williams) – 5:07
  10. "A Walk with Peltor" (Jeff Sipe) – 3:57
  11. "Jazz Bank" (Bruce Hampton, Victor Francs) – 3:50
  12. "Quinius Thoth" (Aquarium Rescue Unit) – 6:47
  13. "Planet Earth" (Bruce Hampton, Oteil Burbridge) – 4:14

Personnel

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit</span> American jazz fusion band

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The Codetalkers were a jazz, rock and roll band from Savannah, Georgia, United States, composed of Bobby Lee Rodgers, Mark Raudabaugh and Andrew Altman. The band was formed in 1999, upon the meeting of Rodgers and Col. Bruce Hampton at a show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. The group toured for many years as a four-piece with the lineup of Rodgers, Hampton, Greenwell and Pecchio. In the spring of 2006, the band announced they would be touring without Hampton, who was stepping down for a multitude of reasons. The band was aiming to undertake a heavy touring schedule in support of their recent release, in which Hampton was unwilling and unable to participate. He had lent his name to the project for years in order to help Rodgers gain the recognition Hampton felt he deserved, but as a touring musician for 40 years, the grueling demands that a national tour would place on him didn't seem very alluring. Coincidentally, just as this announcement was to be made, Hampton trumped the press release by citing his own health reasons for leaving the band.

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References

  1. Grillo, Jerry (2021). The Music and Mythocracy of Col. Bruce Hampton: A Basically True Biography. University of Georgia Press. p. 179.
  2. 1 2 3 Bartolini, Brian. "Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit". AllMusic. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  3. "Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  4. Swenson, John (1999). The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide. Random House. p. 24.
  5. "Col. Bruce Hampton & The Aquarium Rescue Unit". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2007. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  6. Kening, Dan (March 19, 1992). "Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  7. Considine, J.D. (January 31, 1992). "It's hard to find fault with Strait's album of hits". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  8. Joyce, Mike (August 7, 1992). "Unconventional Hold Convention". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 4, 2022.