Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers - Bride Of The Noisemakers (2011)

If any listeners still consider Bruce Hornsby a clean-cut heartland rocker, Bride of the Noisemakers should set them straight. A double-disc, 25-track collection of live performances recorded between 2007-2009 with his latter-day band the Noisemakers, Bride of the Noisemakers contains none of his hits -- but none of his fans expect that from him at this point anyway. What they do expect is a winding, unpredictable amalgam of pop, jazz, classical, rock, and a hint of country filtered through a sensibility learned from the Grateful Dead, even if Hornsby never exactly sounds like the Dead. Nevertheless, the Noisemakers retain a similar spirit of adventure, of having melodies and interludes seamlessly shift, of having time turn elastic, and while that sense of freedom may not quite click with those listeners who long for a return of the Range, this is possibly the best immersive introduction to the quirks of Hornsby & the Noisemakers.