Gov't Mule "Shout!"

I handed over the "Guests" CD to a friend at one of my favorite adult beverage retail establishments and he said, "Damn, you do like some Gov't Mule."  Yes, yes I do.  The Mule and/or Warren Haynes occupies the biggest file on my portable device.  BKP has provided several officially sanctioned concert boots which also monopolize a majority portion of the desktop's music file.  You never know what they will cover and they certainly don't reproduce a track note-for-note like The Killers.  Let's go back to that "Guests" part.  By now, most of you know this is a Mule CD with a second disc of specially selected artists assisting/interpreting an appropriate track.  The first guest I heard about was Dave Matthews...and I wasn't thrilled.  Not a fan.  What the hell could he do that would top the original (nothing, as I assumed...)?  I believe that was the reason I sat on this for a couple of months...well, that plus it's 138 minutes of music (times 3) to play before attempting a post.  So here we go.......

The Mule disc is a 9 on a 10 scale, the only demerit being the reggae-tinged track.  Didn't work on either disc, for that matter.  The album's opener, "World Boss," is such a hot track that even I could sing it and it would be good (that may be a stretch).  Ben Harper does the honors on the alternative take and performs admirably, but there was no chance of besting the original.  As far as "besting the original," only two artists qualify for the honor.  One is a song that Haynes spoke about in an interview saying it was unlike anything he'd written for Mule before, that it harkened back to the late 70's and a band called The Attractions.  So guess who does the guest spot?  Correct, you old farts...



Bizarre little video but the song sounds as if it could have been a bonus track on any of My Aim/Model/Armed/Happy.  The other topper that sounded like it was written for him belongs to Dr. John, ten indulgent minutes which Haynes said was actually written with Sly & the Family Stone's "Fresh" album in mind.  The other guests who earned keeper status with their interpretations are Jim James, Glenn Hughes (though it took him a second to warm into it), and Steve Winwood.  I expected Grace Potter to make the fold but no matter how much I love this woman (and would love to love this woman...I'm old, not dead), it did not work.  I found a snippet of a live version that has more smoke in it than the entire studio cut...



Damn, is that girl a white-woman-Tina Turner with those legs and voice or what?  I'm going to wrap up with Haynes doing a solo take of the track that Winwood does for the second CD. 



The man is easily one of the greatest talents in rock music over the past two decades...