siLLy puPPy
PIKE 317 - LIVE FEATHERS 15th installment of 2022 Not everything played by BUCKETHEAD because this is a LIVE release Total playing time 28 minutes and 51 seconds All instrumental as always! No chickens injured in the making of this recording :/
With thundering applause the latest PIKE begins with an audience ushering in the chicken lover’s guitar antics on this new trend of releasing live albums under the PIKE series. “Jordan” has always been a popular live tune with its chicken clucking guitar wailing and strange tone modulations. This one pretty much features all of BH’s more aggressive guitar playing techniques including metal riffing, crazy solos and nice hairpin turns after groovin’ it up.
This PIKE also rides the wayback machine with the classic “Welcome To Bucketheadland” which is one of Bucky’s first and best known cuts. “Soothsayer” has become a live classic too with its slow lullaby dreamy beginning and slowly ratcheting up into heavy metal ballad wankery. This is actually a great song and it’s always nice to know that musicians you listen to regularly can actually play things that they put down to a recording. Very strong solo at the end.
“Toy Store” is also a nice tune with some bitchin’ cool guitar effects that erupt over a strong bass and drum groove. This track also features a nice traditional mix of classic heavy metal and 90s alternative metal with riffs alternating with guitar licks and finally a scorching solo. “Ghosts of Broken Eggs” continues the diversity in tracks and features a nice slow groove with some bluesy guitar extravaganzas. It’s a nice jamming track perfect for a live setting and BH showcases his trippy guitar wah-wahs and guitar effects.
“Forneau Cosmique” ends this set and is a feisty alt metal rocker and to be honest the most typical style of playing within the entire 300+ PIKE series. This is BH at his most generic and to be honest i’ve heard this formula so much by now that it does absolutely nothing for me. Compare this to the exhilarating track “Welcome To Bucketheadland” and its apparent how generic BH has become in the majority of his output in the last decade or so. Of course there are exceptions but they are too weird for a live experience!
Overall not a bad set of live tracks. I have no idea if these were all recorded in a single concert or over many but my guess is selecting from various venues. I’m not a huge fan of live albums especially when they add nothing to the original compositions and in this case there’s not really a lot to distinguish the tracks from their original source but LIVE FEATHERS is a decent representation of the modern day chicken lover in action a live setting. A very good release but nothing i would even remotely consider essential.