Hey Jeff- IMO, Tambourine is not a great album but there are some good tunes on it. Check out "When I Cross Over" from Bramble and Rose. However, the live format gives her band a chance to stretch out a little and also lets her personality come thru. Anyone who looks out at the audience in a club/restaurant and asks the management to lower the lights, "to make it a little sexier, a little more rock'n'roll" can't be all bad. AS far as needing to be "pharmacological restrained" her opening act apparently needed to be "pharmacological altered" to step on stage. He picked up his guitar and started playing; no intro and not a word to the audience. Droning voice. Plays 3-4 songs, all run together w/o a word; changes instruments and does 3-4 more. Repeats until audience is begging for mercy. Walks off stage w/o a word. Reminded me of the scene in Play it Again, Sam where Woody Allen tries to pick up a woman at an art museum-
Woody- what does it [an abstract painting] say to you?
Woman- It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous, lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity, like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void
with nothing but waste, horror and degradation forming a useless straightjacket in a black absurd cosmos.
Woody- What are you doing Saturday?
Woman- Committing suicide.
Woody- What about Friday night?
Rimshot!!!
But Tift was awesome!!!!