Catch all the excitement of Vital Information live with this two-CD set recorded in concert in Amsterdam, Toronto, Chicago, and Sydney, Australia during the quartet's 1998-1999 World Tour.

Tom Coster,
Hammond B-3 organ, Fender Rhodes, accordion

Frank Gambale,
guitar

Baron Browne acoustic & electric basses

Steve Smith,
drums

Tracks:

Disc 1: First set

1. Dr. Demento (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 18)

2. Moby Dick (recorded at The Bamboo Club,  Toronto, Canada, April 5)

3. Swamp Stomp (recorded at Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, March 14)

4. Cranial Jam (recorded at The Bamboo Club, Toronto, Canada, April 5)

5. Happy House (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 18)

6. Fortaleza (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 18)

7. First Thing This Morning (recorded at The Bamboo Club, Toronto, Canada, April 5)

8. The Perfect Date (recorded atThe Beat Kitchen, Chicago, USA, April 2)

Disc 2: Second Set

1. The Drum Also Waltzes (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 17)

2. Take Eight (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 17)

3. Listen Up! (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 18)

4. Europa (recorded at Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, March 14)

5. Do You Read Me? (recorded at The Bamboo Club, Toronto, Canada, April 5)

6. Over and Out (recorded at The Bamboo Club, Toronto, Canada, April 5)

7. Mr. PC (recorded at The Basement, Sydney, Australia, June 18)

Album Credits:

Produced by Steve Smith

Mixed by Robert M. Biles at Vox Humana Music, LA, CA
Sept. 17, 18 and 20, Oct. 29, 30, 31, 1999
Mastered by Scott Hull at Classic Sound, NYC
Photos by Alex Solca and Steve Jennings

Melkweg recorded by M.R. Vanderbob

Beat Kitchen recorded by Kevin Chalfant assisted by Rick Powell

Bamboo Club recorded on the Live Wire remote truck by Doug McClement assisted by Pete Hamilton and Wayne Bach

Basement recorded by Peter Pagac and Veren Grigorov

Live Around The World! Who would have thought that our Where We Come From recording would have generated enough interest to bring us all over the world, but it happened. With a new direction that brought Tom Coster's Hammond B-3 to the forefront, along with Frank Gambale's jazz guitar roots, my renewed interest in R&B grooves and newcomer Baron Browne injecting it all with a shot of fresh "funkified" energy, we were off on a whirlwind tour that kept us working for almost a year. The fans who had been with us from way back were digging our new sound and we seemed to have gathered some new listeners in the process.

As you'll hear on these two discs, we were able to expand on the original recordings of these songs significantly. Playing the music night after night always opens us up to many new ideas and interpretations of the same piece of music. When Stefan Gross of Intuition Music came to our concert near Frankfurt, Germany, at the beginning of our European Tour he heard we had already taken the music beyond the original Where We Come From recording. He suggested a live album and as we further discussed the idea we settled on recording performances in different venues "Around The World."

We first recorded in Amsterdam, Holland a few weeks later and from that concert we have the beautiful Coster/Carlos Santana composition, "Europa." We have been playing this piece for years but the way Tom plays it on his accordion brought new life to this timeless tune. 

The next concert that we recorded was in Chicago, USA. We captured an exciting rendition of another tune that we've been playing for years, "The Perfect Date."

Two days later found us in Toronto, Canada. As we grew more comfortable with the live recording process we had an especially prolific night throwing down definitive versions of "Moby Dick," "Swamp Stomp," "Cranial Jam," "First Thing This Morning, "Do You Read Me?" and "Over And Out"!

By the time we recorded two nights in Sydney, Australia near the end of the tour, the music had really evolved. "Dr. Demento," "Happy House," "Fortaleza," "The Drum Also Waltzes," "Take Eight," "Listen Up!", and "Mr. PC" were taken from those high energy nights.

After we got home I had the job of listening to all the music that was recorded and zeroing in on the takes I felt best represented each tune. That was hard work!  Every night had a very different version of each tune and there were a few tunes that I couldn't chose which version I liked better. After playing them for Tom, Frank and Baron we were able to make the final selections for this album.

The order of the tunes is as we eventually played them when we had a two set club gig. We also decided to include a new studio "bonus" track on each disc. "It's A Jungle Out There" is a jam that started with me playing a tom tom groove using the Vic Firth "Emil Richards" Timp-Maracas that have have shakers built into the handles themselves. Baron really paid tribute to Jaco on this one. "Soulful Drums" is a classic drum feature originally recorded by Joe Dukes on a Jack McDuff album called "Screamin'." I wanted to do a remake and we all got into the spirit of the original 60's recording.

We enjoyed ourselves immensely touring and making this recording for you. Tom, Frank, Baron and I feel it's a privileged to be able to play our music for audiences all over the world. Thank you very much for listening to us and we'll see you on the next "Around The World" tour.

-- Steve Smith