Among the quintessential songs from the Spirit Caravan era, “Lost Sun Dance” appeared first on the band’s original self-titled 7″ when they were still known as Shine. That version also appears on the excellent two-disc MeteorCity compilation, The Last Embrace, but this one was re-recorded by Spirit Caravan for their 1999 full-length debut, Jug Fulla Sun, released by Joe Lally of Fugazi on his Tolotta Records imprint.

I could probably post each track from Jug Fulla Sun individually and call it “quintessential” — and, let’s be honest, I probably will as the Wednesdays go on — but what stands out most about “Lost Sun Dance” to me is the balance it hits between tonal warmth and a kind of colder exterior. That contrast has become a key element in the ongoing development of Wino‘s blues, and the stomp here of Dave Sherman‘s bass and Gary Isom‘s drumming underscores how special this band really was in their day.

Man, I swear to Robot Jeebus that solo is talking.

Happy Wino Wednesday:

This is nearly as close to “what it’s all about” as it gets. For this week’s Wino Wednesday, we find the trio Spirit Caravan absolutely nailing Black Sabbath‘s “Wicked World.” The track didn’t originally appear on the British version of the self-titled Sabbath debut, but it was on the American edition of the album, which is obviously what Wino, bassist Dave Sherman and drummer Gary Isom would’ve encountered at the time.

The track is them performing the song live, and it’s taken from the first Sucking the ’70s compilation on Small Stone Records. I humbly submit that it’s better than at least 97 percent of what appears on both Nativity in Black tribute discs, and among the most honest Sabbath covers put to tape. Considering the legacy Spirit Caravan left behind them in their too-short tenure, it’s fitting.

Although, with that solo, just about anything would be fitting.

Anyway, enjoy. Hope you have a great Wino Wednesday:

Among the most potent of heavy rock power trios, Spirit Caravan began as Shine and was Scott “Wino” Weinrich‘s next project post-The Obsessed‘s reunion in the 1990s. The band was Weinrich alongside bassist Dave Sherman, who went on to form Earthride, and drummer Gary Isom, who’s played with everyone from Pentagram at Valkyrie at this point and is currently playing guitar in Weed is Weed, which is fronted by Sherman. Their 1999 full-length, Jug Fulla Sun, is one of the greatest albums ever released — period.

The clip below finds Spirit Caravan of that era (they also released the Dreamwheel EP in ’99) playing in Copenhagen, Denmark, in November 2000. What’s interesting about this show is that as you watch it, you can see there’s almost nobody there. The YouTube video information — provided by user TNTFreedooM — sheds some light on what the situation was:

Because of Motörhead playing Copenhagen the same night, and Megadeth the night before, only 11 people showed up, but the band did not care as you can see in their performance. During the show another 10 people came. Before the show Wino said to me, “We don’t care, we’ll just play a private show for you.”

…Which is why he’s Wino. Enjoy “Black Flower” and “Healing Tongue” on this Wino Wednesday:

Here’s a quick tip for those of you on either side of the buying and selling of goods via the webunets: USE A FUCKING PADDED ENVELOPE.

Doesn’t seem like too much to ask, right? And perhaps you’re thinking to yourself, “What the hell does it matter? I sandwiched the disc between two pieces of cardboard and sent it in a regular envelope, it should be fine.” NO. It makes a difference, and two pieces of cardboard is not the same as bubblewrap. This should be kindergarten level shit, but apparently it needs to be said.

And I say “apparently” because twice in the last month have I received packages of CDs — one off eBay and another from the StonerRock.com message board (not the All that is Heavy webstore, with which I’ve had no such issues) — where, after dashing to the mailbox and rejoicing at seeing the wanted package, I’ve opened it up and found the jewel cases smashed all to hell.

No problem, right? I’ve got extra jewel cases, and a switch is easy enough. But hey, maybe after paying $35+ for a copy of Spirit Caravan‘s rare-as-fuck Jug Fulla Sun, I’d like to get it without the back liner ripped because broken shards of jewel case plastic punctured it? Same fucking thing happened with the Man’s Ruin issue of Brant Bjork‘s Jalamanta a couple weeks ago, so clearly, for the good of the internet buying community at large, I need to repeat myself: USE A FUCKING PADDED ENVELOPE.

This concludes this public service announcement. Remember kids, padded envelopes save lives, or at very least make you seem like much less of an asshole to the people buying out-of-print albums from you.

NOTE: Nothing went according to my evil plan. The post below is from Friday. I scheduled it to go up while I was gone (along with two others that now need to be rewritten) and nothing happened. Stupid internet, making me look like a jerk once again. This was saved as a text file, and this video rules so I figured no one would mind, even two days later.

If all (or at least some) goes according to my evil plan, by the time you read this I’ll be well on my way to spending a weekend with some family friends just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Via recommendations I spied on StonerRock.com, I’m planning on hitting up The Sound Garden in Fell’s Point, so hopefully I’ll come back with a decent bit of buried treasure. In the meantime, to honor this most crabtacular of states, I present this live Spirit Caravan video from 2006 — and here I thought they were broken up by then.

In case you forgot, the trio is Wino on guitar and vocals, bassist Dave “Sherm” Sherman (whose band Earthride is playing Krug’s Place in Fredericksburg Saturday night with Ol’ Scratch and Admiral Browning; unfortunately I won’t be there) and drummer Gary Isom, who just did those shows with Pentagram and has been in Valkyrie and countless other bands. Cool shit. Here’s “Cosmic Artifact.” Enjoy your weekend.