Col. Bruce Hampton Fixin' To Die (Live)

Equal parts psychedelicized Allman Brothers and boogiefied Grateful Dead (with a dash of Commander Cody thrown in), Col. Bruce Hampton and his various groups, particularly the Aquarium Rescue Unit, played a key role in the jam band scene that began sweeping through America beginning in the early '90s.

The Atlanta-born Hampton had been an eccentric figure on the Southern music circuit beginning in the early '60s; as the Hampton Grease Band, he released Music to Eat on Columbia Records in 1969. After the Grease Band folded, Hampton released a solo effort (One Ruined Life of a Bronze Tourist in 1978) and then founded New Ice Age, which soon evolved into the Late Bronze Age.

The Late Bronze Age released two albums, Outside Looking Out (1980) and Isles of Langerhan (1982). The Colonel recorded a second solo album, Arkansas, in 1984 and by 1987 the group had broken up.

Hampton then formed the Aquarium Rescue Unit, an eclectic congregation adept at everything from country-swing jazz to meltdown Southern boogie and over-amped gospel bluegrass.


By the time of 1992's Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit, the band featured Oteil Burbridge on bass and vocals, guitarist Jimmy Herring, Matt Mundy on electric mandolin and vocals, and drummer Apt. Q258; the record documented a live date from the previous September.

The band's first studio album, Mirrors of Embarrassment, was released in mid-1993, concurrent with an appearance on the H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) tour. Shortly after the release of Mirrors of Embarrassment, Hampton left the group, but the Aquarium Rescue Unit continued touring and recording without him, releasing In a Perfect World in 1996.