With Sticks and Stones, Moe needs only 40 minutes to prove that the word 'brevity' should no longer be feared by the jam-band faithful. Rather than following the usual equation of road testing a slew of songs, jamming them to the limit, pressing record, and then overdubbing later to create a live-sounding studio album, the quintet took to a recording studio in an old church and hammered out a batch of fresh tunes. What results is a concise alchemy of eight new compositions joined by two previously unreleased tracks. Although each sonic voyage is kept brief, the possibilities for greater fulfillment will be realized on the road, as these tracks can only ripen with each touch of improvisation.
"Z02" is no exception, as it ascends and descends on the coattails of guitarist Chuck Garvey's satanic riffs. With each rhythmic wind-up comes a densely liquid release where Garvey and fellow guitarist Al Schnier trade melodic sentiments, fueling the fire for another controlled explosion. With percussionist Jim Loughlin along for the ride on the xylophone-like mallet-kat, "ZO2" will stand well next to any jam-heavy vehicle in the Moe live repertoire.
Moe has separated itself from other jam-bands through witty song writing tactics. Both Schnier and bassist Rob Derhak are responsible for the majority of the song writing duty on Sticks and Stones, but Garvey steps up on the previously unreleased "All Roads Lead to Home." With a treble-heavy, dual-guitar attack aided by Garvey's angelic slide licks, this one may have been plucked directly from the Stones' Exile on Main Street, but chewed up and then spit out, while having absorbed the personality traits of the five-headed jam monster.
The astutely titled opening track, "Cathedral" reveals that we are dealing with a far more serious Moe, which in the past has had a knack for supplementing instrumental prowess with a great deal of vocal trickery. Garvey and Derhak get down to business with their soaring harmonies, while Schnier pierces the thick arrangement with the joyous strum of a mandolin. As usual, it all comes to fruition in the chorus with a three-way vocal harmony that dances gracefully over an angry power-chord-heavy grittiness. But it is all kept in check by a highly sensitive string arrangement - a first for Moe.
With only 10 tracks to focus on, Sticks and Stones hardly lets up and closes with Schnier's friendly barroom-stomp number, "Raise a Glass." Featuring an adventurous fiddle joining in for the festivities and an all-out, sing-along chorus, it is hard not to call this an Irish-folk song. Fittingly the line, "And may we never get what we deserve" gives way to an ending fiddle solo. With Sticks and Stones, it is about time that Moe got what it deserves. B+
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