Tool for Evening

Although the Big Wu fit the jam band stereotype to a certain degree, their playful and rootsy attitude has more in common with the likes of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen or even the sainted NRBQ than with the flaccid white-boy wiggle of the legions of Phish imitators. Kicking off with the rollicking, piano-driven jump blues of "Texas Fireball," Tool for Evening consists almost entirely of concise and catchy pop songs rather than lengthy frameworks for expanded noodly solos. Although the quartet can vamp with the best of the jam bands (as shown on the centerpiece "Jazz 88," one of only two tracks to break the six-minute barrier), they wisely focus their energy here on creating memorable hooks and singalong choruses, as on the countrified "Stole My Girlfriend" and the particularly NRBQ-like "Dog's Dead." Guitarist and co-lead singer Jason Fladager quit the band before the writing and recording of this album; what relation there might be between his departure and the Big Wu's newfound focus on their always evident pop skills is unclear, but it must be said that Tool for Evening is the Big Wu's best studio album by some distance.