Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars @ Yoshi's 2/12/08

[Drunk Monk]

Mrs. Dm surprised me with an early Valentine's gift, a babysitter and tickets to the show. She knew I had been totally impressed by SLRAS at SNWMF last year. They totally stole the show then, so much so that I got the CD but wasn't that impressed with it. The Yoshi's show was intimate; it's such a small elegant venue. We tagged some seats right in front of soundboard, but the mix was a little mushy on the high end, and soft on the bass. Since SLRAS is African traditional and reggae, this gutted their sound. They play a lot of maracas and beaded gourd, a simple instrument, yet powerful when some one really masters it. They require a crisp high-hat-like range to be captured properly, and this was lost in the Yoshi's mix. Don't even get me started on the bass. Still, the band was great and the energy was high. Surprisingly few dreads. The crowd seemed more into the African stuff, which I enjoy but have a hard time dancing to, so we didn't dance at all.

Today, I played the CD again and it totally openned up to me. It captured the delicacy of SLRAS's high range riddems, as well as the richness of the bass. Now I really enjoy the CD. Funny how seeing someone live can really make you understand the recordings.