The wonder is that it's taken five years to follow up the splendid Out Louder with this mammoth double CD live set. After all, the band grew out of the live jam band scene, so to hear them in their natural habitat before raucous audiences and stretching out on endless solo choruses makes sense. Kind of. Much of the studio release's pleasure lay in its tight but loose, Meters-influenced funk, notable on killer grooves like ‘Little Walter Rides Again’ and ‘Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing’. Live, though, the funk falls by the wayside and Martin and Wood default, not surprisingly, to laying down a reliable, four-square and rocking base layer. Admirable, but no cigar for wit and invention. At its best, the jamming vibe leads to spectacular space for Sco and Medeski to take off, notably on the closing riot of ‘Hottentot’ or the darker whirligig that is ‘Hanuman’. But at its worst, (the cacophonous ‘What Now’), form falls apart as effect drowns content. Sco, of course, can ramp up the energy in whatever context, and few guitarists of his generation are better at traversing rock, blues, funk and post bop celerity so seamlessly. But there's an irony that as a Miles sideman who constantly had to inhabit acres of undefined space for the Magus, he struggles to fill the gaps in MSMW's Miles-inflected ‘Miles Behind’. You may feel life's too short to sit down to two hours of mayhem, but there's no doubting the smokin' energy the band whip up. And at least it can be enjoyed without having to queue for the doughnuts and beer.