Sweep the Leg Johnny & Rumah Sakit
“Live”
(Sickroom Records, Ltd.)
Live shows are popular. Do you know who grossed the third highest total of concert receipts in 2002? Cher. Seventy-six-point-three-million dollars. That’s disgusting. I blame your mom for having such horrid taste. If Cher was third, I’m guessing Sweep the Leg Johnny & Rumah Sakit finished around 17,836,123rd on the list. Sickroom has released a double CD from the two bands September 9th, 2000 show at The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.
Judging by the crowd noise, all four people in attendance had a wonderful time. Chicago’s Sweep the Leg Johnny contribute six tracks with their jam-punk style in full effect. Sweep begin their set in their unique punkabilly way, saxophone wailing and cymbals crashing. It’s got to be quite an experience to witness Sweep the leg live, but so much of their flair seems to get lost somewhere in the translation to the recorded medium.
Rumah Sakit play some hippie jam rock that is surely all the rage in the Bay Area these days. They’re banging on one thing while strumming on another and don’t seem to feel the need for any vocals. In a lot of ways they’re just an instrumental Sweep the Leg Johnny, minus the saxophone. Surely not the kind of thing that’s going to appeal to a lot of you, but for those of you looking for something new while you’re lighting your patchouli stick-this could be the one.
