Nothing exceeds like excess, and nobody knows that better than Gov't Mule, the jam-happy blues-rock trio that started out as a side project for Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody in 1995 and continues filling the Grateful Dead gap, along with Phish and all their brethren. Since Woody's death in 2000, the band has employed a succession of fill-in bassists, and subsequent recordings have featured pretty much every bass player of note who still has a heartbeat and pulse. (Andy Hess was recently announced as Woody's full-time replacement.)

While Haynes lacks the incandescent brilliance of his youthful Allman Brothers guitar foil Derek Trucks, he's a solid-if-unspectacular player-singer-writer who carries the band. He and drummer Matt Abts have digested the whole history of blues-rock in all its permutations, from Cream and Hendrix through Free and Blue Cheer. People who don't know better compare this music to jazz, based on the fact that the principals solo at extreme length in a manner that recalls the days when Bro. Duane's extended rides on The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East created interesting architecture in the minds of listeners with lysergically extended attention spans. Jam musicians will play this stuff all night if you let 'em.

This live two-disc set with accompanying DVD clocks in at a mind-numbing six hours, with bass contributions from Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady (best muso to emerge from that whole '60s San Fran love 'n' flowers scene, IMO), Primus' Les Claypool, Phish's Mike Gordon, and Bela Fleck's Victor Wooten, among others. It matters not a whit who's holding down the bottom end, though. Internal dynamics aside, the Mule boys always sound pretty much the same: either riveting or boring, depending on how you feel about '70s blues-rock and southern boogie. Personally, I teethed on that kinda jive, but as much as I want it to, this mess of blooze just doesn't move me.