Panic in the Streets [Expanded] - Widespread Panic

Panic in the Streets was an official live album by Widespread Panic documenting the launch concert for Light Fuse, Get Away. Held in Athens, GA, in 1998, it shows the band at the first real peak of its live improvisational powers. This reissue adds the formerly semi-official Live from the Georgia Theatre, a 1991 concert. The difference between the two sets is rather astonishing. While Panic in the Streets concentrates on the band's increasingly precise songcraft as a way into improvisation, Live from the Georgia Theatre offers a view of an excited young band whose members couldn't wait to leave song forms behind and get to Mars. In many ways, it's like hearing two different bands. Both shows possess fine sound, and both are noteworthy performances, but Panic in the Streets is so deep in the game that it's a good thing it's first. John Bell was really coming into his own as a frontman here, and the complete exploration of harmonic and rhythmic structures in the heart of the rockist "Tall Boy," Vic Chesnutt's greasy funk ditty "Aunt Avis," and the dynamically diverse "Pilgrim" makes one wonder why anyone ever got excited about the Grateful Dead -- and no, that's not hyperbole. As for disc two, the standout tracks are the more songlike tracks such as "Walkin' (For Your Love)" and "Send Your Mind," while the others are an orgy of rhythm and guitar and keyboard flash that sometimes borders on magic and at others borders on wonderfully exuberant rock & roll. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide