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*** Eyesinweasel

LIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

(Luna)

The first-ever live disc from ex-GBV second-in-command Tobin Sprout and Eyesinweasel, his new outfit of old friends (drummer John Peterson and bassist Dan Toohey played in Sprout’s pre-GBV band, Fig. 4), is both a fun listen and an accurate warts-and-all document of a triumphant night last October upstairs at the Middle East. Live provides an action-packed overview of Sprout’s proli c pre- and post-GBV career, as well as a smattering of well-chosen Bee Thousand…era GBV highlights, like “Awful Bliss,” “Mincer Ray,” and the sublime and tender “Ester’s Day.” Old GBV habits apparently die hard: Live sports no fewer than 27 songs. (At the outset, Sprout announces his intent to tear through 45 songs “before one o’clock,” but he gets slowed down when he starts taking boozed-up audience requests midway through the set.) At least the ratio of quality to quantity is high. The opening “Get Out of My Throat” is a stealthy, muscular rocker that shows off Sprout’s tough-guy side — pay no mind to that pixyish voice — and his ragged-but-right new band. At their best, Eyesinweasel almost make you forget Sprout’s old group. But not quite.

— Jonathan Perry