Squirrel Nut Zippers - Lost at Sea Review

Posted by Jesse Coy on 10.26.2009

Down some highballs and dance the night away on a cold winter night in Brooklyn with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Or check out this live recording if you missed the show.


Squirrel Nut Zippers
Lost at Sea
Southern Broadcasting/MRI
October 2009



1. Memphis Exorcism
2. Good Enough For Grandad
3. It Ain’t You
4. Prince Nez
5. Put A Lid On It
6. Fat Cat Keeps Getting Fatter
7. Danny Diamond
8. Suits Are Picking Up The Bill
9. My Drag
10. Happens All The Time
11. Bad Businessman
12. Hell
13. Ghost Of Stephen Foster
14. You Are My Radio
15. Blue Angel
16. Do What
17. Missing Link Parade


Ah, yes… it’s been some time since we’ve heard from this nutty, squirrelly crew. It’s been nine years since they released any material, or so I’ve been reminded. That was 2000’s Bedlam Ballroom. Well, the band is finally back in full swing (all pun intended), issuing their first full-length live release. For the SNZ connoisseurs out there, you may know that there’s 1997’s Sold Out, which features a handful of live ones. That was an appetizer at best, or maybe an aperitif of a live offering. With Lost at Sea, we have a full blown meal, every course represented from the tasty, freshly baked bread, to the soup and salad, meat and potatoes, side dishes, oh-so-sweet dessert, and let’s not forget the martinis and brandies, and maybe a fragrant cigar to sate the palate.

Is it dinnertime? We were talking about a live album, right? Yep. So what makes for a great live album? Let’s merge that with dinner. I’ll only talk about the main course. Let’s make it a steak, shall we? Were are the live album parallels? Here are some ingredients.

Key Ingredient #1: A Fresh and Tasty Slab of Meat

Or put in musical terms, first you need to have a really good to great band. If the music on their albums sucks, it’s doubtful a live translation will do much to enhance. The Squirrel Nut Zippers are a great band. For those unfamiliar with them, or only vaguely familiar, they were part of the swing revival of the 90’s. It was a trend that record labels picked up on, pushed considerably for a short time, and then being the fickle sorts that they can sometimes be, subsequently abandoned, little explanation provided. Not that it matters. Some of those at the forefront of the genre persisted. Brian (Stray Cat) Setzer continues to regularly issue albums. The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, who were always far more than just a swing band, recently reassembled.

And then there’s the Squirrel Nut Zippers. “Hell” made its rounds, well received, and well deserving, as a hit single. Various films used this track or other Squirrel Nut goodies on their soundtracks. What made and still makes the Squirrel Nut Zippers stand out? They are certainly tapping back into a specific era, say from the Swinging and Roaring Twenties to the bluesy, jazzy Great Depression Era of the Thirties. Yet under that umbrella, they include a great range of styles. They always felt very New Orleans to me, but the band actually hails from North Carolina, as anyone who has their 1998 Christmas Caravan album might well know, via “Carolina Christmas.” That particular album is the only one not represented in any way on this live release, but hey… it was a Christmas album. But that brings me to ingredient number two.

Key Ingredient #2: Mouth-Watering Seasoning and Exotic Herbs

Once more, let me translate that into musical terms, live album specific. The seasoning means choice of song selection and the exotic component is how those songs are translated into the live format.

Song selection is always subjective. But for a band that has a number of albums to their name, on a live album, I always like to see a sampling from each album. From the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ five main albums (Sold Out being more an extended EP with a couple new tunes and a few live tunes), four of the five are represented, the heaviest concentration coming from the middle albums, especially 1996’s Hot, seven of these seventeen tracks from that one. There’s four from Perennial Favorites, two from their debut, The Inevitable, and two from Bedlam Ballroom. Rounding things out, one is from their rare 4-song EP, Roasted Right, and one track, “Happens All the Time,” is a newbie.

Anything missing as far as I’m concerned? I maybe would’ve liked to hear a bit of “Bedbugs” or “Bedlam Ballroom,” from their last studio release. I’d say “La Grippe” off their debt, but then again, there’s a wicked live version of that one on Sold Out, almost salsa-fied and untouchable.

And that brings me to the second point, which is the live translation of tracks. After all, who wants to hear the tracks exactly as they’re done in their studio form? Mind you, don’t go overboard with this. Walk that fine line of re-tailoring the songs. The Squirrel Nut Zippers get an A+ here. But I wouldn’t expect much less from them. They’re an ideal act for adding crazy little improvisations and embellishments, being such a full live band as they are. You even have the case where certain tracks, very good in studio form, shine even more as live tracks. The two big ones here are “Danny Diamond” and “Bad Businessman,” the former feeling somehow more intimate in a live setting, and the latter receiving a tweak on the guitar work.

Key Ingredient #3: Table Settings and Portion Size

Table settings can be reinterpreted for a live album as the interaction of the band with the live audience. Add in some occasional between-song witty banter. On this one, it’s obvious that the Squirrel Nut Zippers are having a great time. Guitarist and vocalist Jimbo Mathus is oozing with charismatic, fun energy. Fellow vocalist Katharine Whalen is sweetly seductive. The entire band has never sounded better. So it’s just as obvious that the audience is enjoying the hell out of this one. That makes for tasty audio deliciousness for the after-the-fact listener (i.e., you weren’t at the actual performance, but now you are). You might also consider audio quality under the table settings category. The quality here is awesome, all instruments and the vocals perfectly balanced.

Portion size? At 17 tracks, the release clocking in at over an hour, our nutty, squirrelly zip-heads aren’t being stingy. And at such a length and with such a track selection, while the band has a “best of” release to its name, might I make a suggestion? If you don’t know the Squirrel Nut Zippers as well as you’d like to know them, or just want to get to know them in general, you would be better off to go with this live one, as it showcases their high points without the redundancy of a “greatest hits” package (redundant if you plan to explore other albums by the band at a later date).

VOILA!

Time to eat while Lost at Sea.

The 411: By the way, I’ve yet to see the Squirrel Nut Zippers live. Of the hundred or so bands left that I’d like to catch, these guys would make my Top 15 “need to see them” list. Lost at Sea is a great preview of what to expect I might expect, and an all-around awesome live recording.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]