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The Daily Ghost

The Daily Ghost #130 10/24/2014 The Forum, Inglewood, CA

https://soundcloud.com/undermind1978/1-4-ghost-2014-10-24-the-great

Background (Set: 1 of 2 – Song: 4 of 11- Show Gap: 2)

So let’s get caught back up. It’s been a while. Welcome back! At this show, “Ghost” is played in the first set for the first time in more than a year, but this is something we are going to see a lot more frequently going forward. “Ghost” follows “Train Song” and comes from a dead stop.

Intro (0:00-3:15)

Nice eased in start. “Ghost” builds nicely to start and the band is fully connecting at this tempo. Lyrics and vocals are solid. I’m digging this. Trey’s playing is strong in the solo section. It ends up being one of his more aggressive and successful solo sections, in fact.

And even the drop is solid! This is a friggin’ pretty damn good intro, all around.

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Page, Mike, and Fish doing some cool things….Trey….ummmm (3:16-8:48)

The jump into the jam is also smooth. Things are going nicely. Everyone is having a good time! Every member is going in a different direction and yet, it is all working, somehow. Not a lot of bands are willing or able to pull that off.

I love the little switch by Page to the piano at 3:45. Man, in this time of darkness the ivories of Page’s baby grand can really help soothe the soul. It’s in that moment that the jam starts to take its shape. Trey comes back with a super cool lick before he goes searching. As promising as Trey is to start, he’s struggling to TRULY find it. Now, don’t get me wrong… Trey searching is still better than most people hitting their stride.

The true tragedy is there is some incredible playing going on underneath Trey. Page, Mike, and Fish all have each stolen my ear during different listens. I feel like those three guys could make me sound good on guitar. Important side note: I don’t play guitar.

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Mike is doing his Mike thing. Carrying the rhythm with runs and notes that no human being should be able to conceive of, let alone make them work. It’s a treat to listen to Mike Gordon do his thing. I don’t ever take him for granted.

Same with Fish! Take a rewind and just focus on him. What in the fuck? How does what he’s doing make any sense? Every bar is different. He’s the most unique drummer I’ve had the pleasure of analyzing.

I like where the jam breaks around the 5 minute mark. Page with another gorgeous melody that Trey repeats before playing some longer notes. With each of those long Trey notes, it’s a great opportunity to hear just how much the band is crushing around him.

Unfortunately, Trey struggles coming off those notes and noodles a bit. He does, however, come rip roaring back in around 6:35. Hot damn! Pretty unique sound for Trey and played with authority, to boot. I like that it’s almost peak-like even though the band isn’t fully there. I love that. Bring me all the unique. Trey took a chance and it most certainly worked.

The flip side to that is, because the rest of the band wasn’t fully there, after that sudden surge from Trey, things begin to struggle again. Shortly after that, it’s almost a full train wreck. Trey feels he’s lost touch and pulls the plug at the 7:35 mark. Yikes. It’s actually probably the move, thought. The band falls in line quickly to salvage it from being a full meltdown.

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Unlike the Corona virus, this was over before it started.

This “Ghost” clocks in at a super short 8:48. That is, however, longer than the amount of time I worked this week. That is also longer than the amount of time I’ve been outside this month. But that is actually much less time than the amount of time I’ve spent watching porn today.

Final Thoughts

Not sure if I have ever explained how I do a TDG post. I listen from start to finish to get an overall feel of each “Ghost”. Then, I work on each section, rewinding back multiple times to make sure I get every single detail. When I played the song all the way through, I was NOT impressed. I was ready to put this right on par with Superball (2nd worst ever). However, upon serious breakdown, everyone but Trey has some serious shit going on. Take a couple of listens and focus on Page once, Mike once, and Fish once. It’s all killer. However Trey is in the band and he kind of kills this jam. I enjoyed listening to this but it’s tough competition in “Ghost” land. So sorry, The Forum, but you are at the lowest of tiers…

Score: 6.5 (AKA Yikes)