Live... With A Little Help From Our Friends

A bad-ass among bad-asses, former Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes shook the pillars of Atlanta's Roxy with Gov't Mule at this New Year's show. Presented on LIVE are two discs worth of highlights, with guest appearances by such firebrands as Jimmy Herring, Bernie Worrell and Chuck Leavell. Who other than these boys would do such powerful renditions of Black Sabbath, Elmore James, Neil Young and Coltrane tunes all in the same night?
Midnight is rung in with the Sabbath doomsday classic, "War Pigs". The Mule pays tribute by closely following the original sound. "Mr. Big" proves to be particularly ferocious here, with Marc Ford pouring molten guitar all around. Warren comes out as the filthy-good slide player he is on "Look On Yonder Wall", with boogie piano by Leavell. Mr. Worrell holds church with his double-organ intro to Warren's own "Soulshine". Allen Woody's bass playing is dexterous throughout, a fine complement to Matt Abts' dead-on kit-bashing. This is torch-bearing hard rock to make Granny smile real big.|