Live at the Maintenance Shop chronicles a gig that The Elektric Band played at Iowa State University in 1986. The DVD is likely to be a disappointment for fans, since it is a very rough production without any special features, unless you count static biographies and previews as "special." The recording quality is just okay, and there's no widescreen. If you had to pony up a big bundle of cash for your widescreen tellie as I did, the last thing you want to see are those black bars... Put yourself into the wayback machine and get past the '80s hair and '80s clothing, and try to appreciate the music. Five songs are featured, each a decent length with room for extended solos. Corea stretches out on the first tune, "Sidewalk," but doesn't do as much soloing as you might expect. Weckl and Patitucci both get in some great solos on "Rumble," with Weckl especially demonstrating why he is celebrated as one of the greatest drummers in the world. Patitucci always feels like a poor-man's Jaco Pastorius to me, which is kind of like saying that Mozart feels like a poor man's Bach... Stupid notions aside, Patitucci plays his ass off during this set, showing some real melodic soloing in addition to his usual percussive and note intensive style. The compositions are cool, with "King Cockroach" and "India Town" really standing out as original. The final tune, "Malaguena," showcases Chick's talent for blending rock and jazz with tinges of Latin style, and that he never lost his Latin roots.
Apart from a less-than-stellar format, The Chick Corea Elektric Band: Live at the Maintenance Shop release suffers from being a cultural artifact. Even jazz die-hards will cringe listening to the old synthesizer sounds and laugh when Chick breaks out the keyboard-as-guitar Yamaha that included the one-finger pitch-slider. The songs and musicianship are great, but the '80s weren't known as a jazz renaissance for a reason. Patitucci's bass runs a little too close to slapping and popping at times, and some of those synth sounds were just awful... Only Dave Weckl escapes the time machine unscathed, proving apparently that good drumming is timeless. At least there aren't any disco beats in here. If you really love fusion or really love The Chick Corea Elektric Band, or were actually present at The Maintenance Shop for this show, grab the DVD. If you want to hear Chick and the band playing the best music of their lives, there are better examples out there on CD and DVD, especially from more recent shows that include better sound engineering.
