The debut album from neo-hippie jam band
Big Wu is loaded with the type of musical exploratory/improv pieces that one expects from such proficient players. Like their post-Dead brethren (
Phish, Moe, et al.), however, Wu don't have much to say beyond that proficiency. The songs here sparkle and shine, but there's little emotional core to them. And the expected extensive song lengths certainly don't help matters. By the time the nine-minute album closer crawls to a finish, only the Wu's college-schooled skills are prominently displayed, and that hardly makes for invigorating rock & roll. ~ Michael Gallucci