curiously strong mint

it may be a few days before i recover from what i witnessed this weekend. i saw the band mint condition perform in raleigh, north carolina where they covered a century of american musical history in a two-hour set. i screamed (thanks for screaming with me, lois!), headbanged, laughed, fought a lump in my throat and swooned all in one night.

most of the band is from minnesota's twin cities, except for bass player ricky kinchen who's from chicago and houston native, drummer chris dave who tours with them. they are doing a fine job of continuing the legacy their minnesotan predecessors began.

they may speak the contrary, but they really seem to be peerless. there are very few bands with a 20-year history that have a voracious work ethic, are still making relevant albums and touring on a regular basis. these guys are, and they're still a well-kept secret.

their flagship song, "breakin' my heart (pretty brown eyes)" was a tremendous commercial hit in 1991. other hit ballads followed: "you send me swingin'" (1993), "what kind of man would i be" (1996) and "if you love me" (1999). but this is a compact band that makes complete albums, not just one hit and a bunch of filler.

people are doing themselves a huge disservice if they only stop at the hits. mint condition satisfies every musical appetite, from straight-ahead rock ("sometimes," "fallin' apart"), funk and jazz to elements of gospel, classical, caribbean, hip-hop, latin, afrobeat and blues. sometimes you get a surprise treat like the two hidden tracks at the end of 1999's, life's aquarium, or they'll throw in some steel pan, reminding you that this instrument exists! other times, you'll get several elements in one song ("the tempest").

they do a thorough job of using their instruments to explain why they do what they do. it feels like a church service--you watch them simultaneously worship, praise and perform. at the raleigh show, they paid tribute to their hometown heroes (guitarist, o'dell teased the crowd with riffs from "d.m.s.r." and "777-9311") and james brown (they did a funked up rock romp version of "soul power"). there was also an exhaustive drum duet between lead singer stokley and chris dave and a jazz segment featuring their keyboardist lawrence waddell and keyboardist/saxaphonist jeffrey allen. when it was all over, i stood there, deranged and inspired.