Man, I could totally get behind Ted singing On A Perfect Day. I'm imagining it now.
In other news, I've ordered Octane! No SB albums for 2½ years (since I got V in Oct 2015), then two in a couple of weeks.
After a couple days of listening to the Live At Sweetwater EP in my car, I can say that it was indeed a good purchase. This line-ups take on these 3 songs, all from different "eras" of the band, is pretty amazing. Ted's vocals on OAPD are pretty awesome, but Nick also sings on it as well, and "Go The Way You Go" is pretty superb. And come to think of it, I think Ted sang OAPD during the 2011 High Voltage show, so this isn't his first recorded and released performance of the tune.
Another odd thing about this live EP is that of the three songs, Nick is drumming live for two of them for the first time! He's technically covering Jimmy's parts on "Hiding Out" and Jimmy played all (or most of?) "On A Perfect Day" when they played it live, so we get to hear Nick do them this time!
Given that the Ted-Era hasn't had a proper live album yet (Live At Sea sort of counts, I guess, though it was a short set on the Progressive Nation At Sea cruise; and there was also the High Voltage show, which was even shorter), I'll take whatever "live" album I can get from this line-up. It's weird how, for 3 album-tours in a row, we got full live shows from Spock's Beard (Gluttons For Punishment, Live, and The X-Tour Live), but we've not had a full live concert released since 2011. Hopefully if the band tours this time around on Noise Floor, we got a proper full live show from them, with whoever they have drumming, though it's a shame we never got a tour concert release with Jimmy in the band.
And yes, I know, I'm not counting Snow Live for a reason - it was a special show and not a typical SB Tour concert, but it's definitely one of my favorite SB live releases!
-Marc.