Here's to Fu: Fighters for the rock ethos

Fu Manchu is one of those bands that has no real songs, just a sound. Songs begin with nuclear, lysergic, instantly familiar, epic, bong-fueled, puppy-neutering guitar riffs. The listener knows what he or she is going to get.\nGo For It ... Live! is a two-disc celebration of not only the band's 1970s-derived sound but of its 1970s-derived, dazed and confused rock ethos. The best examples of this in today's music might be jam bands actually, but Fu Manchu is no jam band. It makes fairly concise, hooky songs and throws in a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla." The group takes few liberties live, though there is Scott Reeder's lengthy drum solo on "Anodizer." But heck, in its ethos, a drum solo is almost expected, as you could imagine them packing a gong.\nThe listener will notice the guitars immediately but will keep coming back for the rhythm section. Brad Davis' charging bass meshes with Reeder's drums in a powerful groove. They bring a sense of busy upkeep and treacherous doom, important, because in-the-pocket playing would make this sound too lightweight.\nTwo discs of it might overwhelm, but then again, we might not have been there.