PIKE 324 - LIVE SPRINKLES

IKE 324 - LIVE SPRINKLES 23rd installment of 2022 Everything played NOT by BUCKETHEAD. It's LIVE, duh! Total playing time 50 MINUTES and 21 SECONDS!!!! WHAAAAAT? All instrumental as always! Yep, still true despite being a live album

Well i knew once BH opened the floodgates by releasing live releases under the PIKE series that it would trickle and then flow like a firehose but this is where we are at the latter stage of the year 2022 and BH has done it once again by release PIKE 324 as LIVE SPRINKLES which showcases some of the better tracks of his massive canon. Not sure if these were all recorded in one concert or individual from various sources (my guess is the latter) but the entire experience is fairly cohesive.

No idea who's playing the instruments other than BH on guitars but i just got back from several trips and really don't care. What's amazing about this PIKE is that it extends well beyond the 30-minute-ish mark and seeps over 50 MINUTES OF PLAYING TIME!!!! Yes, that's right! Not that it's unheard of. The earlier PIKEs varied in length with some equalling playing time before a sort of uniformity emerged. Whatever the case i'm very loath to experience PIKEs these days and only do so because i signed up to review every album so 50 minutes didn't excite me.

Having said that, this one isn't really that bad at all! Even though i'm a BH fan i have had bad experiences with live performances and a majority of the PIKEs simply are OK but don't excite me beyond belief. This one has actually captured me unexpectedly and reminds me of what live rock music is supposed to evoke, namely diversity of moods and a thrilling reinterpretation of studio compositions. LIVE SPRINKLES does just that. BH brings these studio recordings to a live setting and makes them shine as best as he can.

BH compositions are easy to get lost in. All the more so because they are instrumental. What's cool about LIVE SPRINKLES is that BH actually took the time to place each track in a way that made it all the more impactful. All in all it doesn't even matter where each track came from in the vast universe of BUCKETHEAD. These live recordings bring them all back to life in an interesting manner where everything connects. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I immediately wanted to give this 2 stars just because it was 50 minutes long! Ugh. I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. Probably not quite brilliant enough for a huge "essential" tag but certainly worthy of best of BH live.

3.5 rounded down