Prompted by the death of original Spooky Tooth & Humble Pie bassist Greg Ridley in 2004, surviving members of the classic hard rock band Mike Harrison (vocals, keyboards), Gary Wright (vocals, keyboards) and Mike Kellie (drums), decided to once again raise the Spooky Tooth banner for a series of concerts in Germany. Nomad Poets-Live in Germany 2004 is a DVD documenting parts of those performances, as the band, along with guitarist Joey Albrecht and bassist Michael (`Bexi') Becker, successfully bring to life some of the stellar early Spooky Tooth material in front of a loyal outdoor audience.
I'm not sure whether the actual concerts featured more than the 10 songs on the DVD, but despite the fact that this is somewhat of a short set, the band is really 'on' and do justice to these great songs. The best from the seminal Spooky Two album are here, like "Waiting for the Wind", "Better By You Better Than Me", "Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree", "Feelin' Bad", and "That Was Only Yesterday", plus two stellar tracks from their first album It's All About, the bluesy "Tobacco Road", and the chilling "Sunshine Help Me". Though Wright looks a bit odd in his fire red jumpsuit and key-tar, his playing is superb and his vocals alongside Harrison bring back some fond memories. Hearing the two trading off on the heavy "Evil Woman" is a joy-Wright's high pitched wailings and Harrison's bluesy tone perfectly work in synch, and then Wright's synth lines do battle with Albrecht's stinging guitar leads for a lethal finale.
As bonus material goes, you get some interviews with the three surviving members, plus two songs from a 1976 Gary Wright Band show in Oakland, California at a huge stadium. The sound and video quality is quite good throughout the main set, and even though it's been a few years since this one was filmed, one can only hope that this isn't the last we've heard from Spooky Tooth.
Track Listing
1 Waitin' for the Wind
2 Sunshine Help Me
3 That Was Only Yesterday
4 The Wrong Time
5 Feelin' Bad
6 Wildfire
7 Better by You, Better Than Me
8 Tobacco Road
9 Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree
10 Evil Woman
Bonus Material-interviews with Harrison, Wright, and Kellie, plus live clips of Gary Wright and his band in Oakland, CA, 1976
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