CD REVIEW: Flying high tunes
Tony Burchyns
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Flying Other Brothers
52-Week High
Minor Label Records
It's hard to criticize the Flying Other Brothers without ripping jam band culture entirely and upsetting the Gods of Shanga, and who would want to do that?
After all, the quintessential college experience still requires a couple of lava-lamped dorm rooms blasting the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Buffalo Springfield, Hendrix and Phish on sunny afternoons, right?
Right.
And so, pranksters in tow, in step with the glorious tradition of sonic psychedelic sundrops, along come the Flying Other Brothers out of San Francisco with their national CD debut, "52 Week High" (Minor Label Records).
Need a miracle?
Well, keep scoping the parking lot, and consider e-mailing the Flying Other Brothers for a free live CD. Don't worry, their Web page encourages taping and pirate distribution, so dust off those Maxells and call some friends.
The Flying Other Brothers - FOBs for short - offer listeners a familiar elixir of sweet and innocent guitars and happy bass lines, rippling with doubled percussion and keyboards.
Truth be known, the core members of the FOBs are Silicon Valley computer world executives who united three years ago - with the help Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead - to play at Gore 2000 Bay Area fundraiser shows.
Now, without Weir and Hart, FOBs leader Roger McNamee has taken this loose-knit group of friends/musicians out on the road and into the studio.
Fresh off a mid-March tour with jam band favorite Left Over Salmon, the FOBs are scheduled to play three Bay Area shows in May, including a night with Les Claypool of Primus at the San Francisco Civic Center on May 31.
Meanwhile, "52 Week High" hits stores today and features 11 original tracks, from two and a half to 12 minutes long.
Of note are playful jaunts "Clueless," about a failed trailer park romance, and the politically incorrect hidden track, "Dubya."
What's that? A flinch?
OK, but the band's goofiness, if it can be so called, is not without a ridiculous Shire-like charm.
Indeed, if there's an earthy tavern on this blue marble that can match poor Guinness sales with FOB jukebox selections, this reviewer will eat his keyboard.
Intoxication may be required to buy "52 Week High."
- Tony Burchyns
