It’s difficult to resist calling The Black Seeds the finest reggae band walking the planet … nevertheless, it’s pretty much true, with this album shimmering as the proof, delivering a riveting twelve songs that flow seamlessly.

Unexpectedly, the songs are taken from various venues across the world from the years 2003 through 2009.  While infused with a reggae backbeat, this outing launches the band into a funky atmosphere of rhythm and blues, housed in a package of dynamic horn arrangements that are balanced by front and center vocals.  All and all, what’s presented here comes off as some sort of funky accessible R&B jazz fusion that will rock you back and knock your socks off.  Obviously the band has chosen these tunes carefully, in order to present this disc as a live event that’s tightly and flawlessly delivered.  Another bit of consideration is that the crowd applause has been kept to a minimum, meaning that if you didn’t know this was a live album, you’d be very surprised at both the context and crispness of the recording, where each section of this eight piece band is captured with it’s full intensity.

Of course I needed to be assured of the perfection found here, and after listening with headphones, it quickly became evident that failing to be able to distinguish one show from another over a six year span meant that The Black Seeds had been considering this adventure for a very long time, taking a cue from The Dead, and presenting soundboard mixes that captured the dynamic ranges of these spacious swirling jams from all of these venues, then puzzling them together wonderfully.

Review by Jenell Kesler