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Album Details

• Artist: David Dondero
• Album: Live At The Hemlock
• Label: Future Farmer
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: challey on 2004-11-04

"I'm very honored to be standing on the same stage with one of the finest percussionists in the world," teases David Dondero in the first line of Live at the Hemlock. At first he sounds serious, but a few songs into this recording it's obvious that there's a rough patch in David Dondero and drummer Craig D's relationship. Apparently, at the end of "Pre-Invasion Jitters," Dondero really pisses Craig off, causing him to hit Dondero in the face with a drum stick. During the last song, "The Waiter," the drummer stops mid-song and violently assaults Dondero once again (it's hard to tell exactly what happens, but it sounds like a pretty angry attack just from the sound of things crashing). This show would almost work better as a video release, just because it would be clearer as to what actually happens between them.

Despite the aggression between these two very drunk members of the band, they manage to pull of a pretty impressive show. The performance gets kicked off with "Living and the Dead," a fast-paced folk song that comes off sounding somewhat like what early Uncle Tupelo would sound like had they been an acoustic band from the beginning. "Ashes On the Highway," also from 2003's The Transient, is a pretty standard affair. The album's standout, however, comes two songs later with "Pre-Invasion Jitters." It's a brutal, honest (yet humorous) anti-war effort that may go down in history with Country Joe's "I'm-A-Fixin'-to-Die Rag" in the novelty war-song category.

Unfortunately, the album loses some of its edge in the second half. "You Shouldn't Leave a Lover Alone Too Long" isn't as interesting as the other material, and the tone of the album starts to get a bit monotonous near the end of its 66-minute running time. Also, some of the later songs are stretched too thin, and occasionally it seems like Dondero is just making it up as he goes along. Regardless, Live at the Hemlock, is a sharp, focused recording, and will hopefully add a few listeners to Dondero's fan base.

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