Wide Mouth Mason — Live! Montreux, Switzerland

Live! Montreux, Switzerland

Montreux Sounds

Jared Morano (CHARTattack)

11/04/2009 3:21pm

Despite being one of the best blues rock groups in the world, Wide Mouth Mason never seemed to creatively get out of Saskatchewan. Their name, probably the biggest obstacle to their success, is a local term for a type of canning jar, and they dressed like farmers in their music videos.

So when Wide Mouth Mason played international stages, such as these two Montreux, Switzerland performances, they almost literally came from nowhere. Audiences who couldn't have expected much from this trio of 21 year-olds were blown away by the skill, cohesion and interplay only produced by years in an isolated city.

Who was blown away? Well, Van Morrison, for one, and he even invited vocalist/guitarist Shaun Verreault to join him onstage for a later performance. That was Wide Mouth Mason in a nutshell, the band older musicians respected, which is probably how they got to open for AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, The Guess Who and ZZ Top, and much of that came from these 1997 and 1999 performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

I have no idea why they waited 12 years to release this product. It's certainly not going to help the band now. They've been in permanent decline since 2000's Stew, mostly because the radio-listening public had no idea what a great live band they were. If only they could have heard these recordings of "Sister Sally," "Why" and "Tell Me" back then.

This CD/DVD package highlights the band's strengths that studio singles could never capture — their brainy improvisation and organic musicianship. When Verrault messes up the beginning to "Midnight Rain," it makes him more human, unlike the studio version, which edits every pluck to split-second accuracy. Now if only they could've found a way to make his voice not sound feminine.