Given how underrated – and, to a degree, overlooked -- Patti’s 2004 album Trampin’ was, you’d be forgiven for not even realizing that she and her group toured behind it fairly extensively. Much of it took place in Europe during the summer months; her overseas audience is considerably larger than her American one. And while some pretty incredible fan-circulated CDRs were generated by the ’04 trek, Crystal Cat apparently used the opportunity of Smith playing in their back yard to haul out their best gear and their most skilled taper as this is one of the finest audience recordings I’ve heard in recent years. It compares favorably to some of the drop-dead perfect Dylan recordings from a few years ago when he was playing medium sized theaters and auditoriums. Put another way, even though some sellers are erroneously listing this as a soundboard recording, it’s as good as one. Possibly even better, given its presence, depth and overall ambiance compared to the oftentimes flat/dimensionless quality of board tapes. Every vocal and stage comment from Patti is clearly heard, suggesting the taper was extremely well positioned relative to the p.a.; instrument separation and imaging is noteworthy (for example, on a soft-to-loud rocker like “Gloria” you can close your eyes and feel where each player is positioned on stage); and there’s virtually no crowd noise save the between-song applause.
As you can see from the setlist the show prominently showcases much of the Trampin’ material. It’s interesting that while that album was a very slow-grower on me (by year’s end it had become one of my Smith faves, but I didn’t like it at all when I first bought it), in concert its songs have a genuine immediacy that I suspect is the result of taking the tunes out on the road and giving ‘em a good whuppin’. They are skillfully worked into the body-of-work context, meaning that a tune like “Peaceable Kingdom” works well coming after “Because The Night,” or “My Blakean Year” segues smartly from “Beneath The Southern Cross,” etc. Plenty of old-school Smith classics are performed as well (“Free Money,” with its lengthy piano intro, has lost none of its lustre), and it’s also a treat to hear “People Have The Power” done by Smith in the general context of the American election year. Sharp-eyed readers will recall that the song that Patti and her late husband Fred “Sonic” Smith wrote together was adopted as the de facto theme song of the 2004 “Vote For Change” tour; its resonance has become more profound over the years, and in 2004 it became nothing less than a universal anthem.
The five bonus cuts, none of them performed in Stockholm, are all well-chosen. (Nice to hear Patti whip out the clarinet during “Seven Ways Of Going”.) The sound quality isn’t as immaculate as the main program, but it’s still up there. An 8-page booklet loaded with the obligatory concert photos plus a 2-page essay on Smith and the Stockholm show is included, making the overall package as fine as one could ask for. Good job, Crystal Cat.
--OSWALD
