The scene was set late on the evening of November 2, 2004, as the state-by-state results were tallied and it was evident that George W. Bush was going to be re-elected as President of the United State of America. Based on this outcome, the No Neck Blues Band arranged a performance for the next night at the Greene Naftali Gallery in New York as a means to vent their own frustrations while providing a forum to bring together a community of other similarly dismayed individuals. From all accounts the show was a spectacle to behold in many ways and is only fitting that The Collective Imaginings of Quantarenius, Cook, & Co., representing the entirely of the band's performance from that evening, is equally enchanting. NNCK found a way on that evening to simultaneously express intense feelings of frustration and outrage while never losing touch that hope and collective change could be right around the corner. It is this complexity that allows The Collective Imaginings of Quantarenius, Cook, & Co. to stand alongside some of the band's most accomplished works.
Prior to the election, the No Neck Blues Band had not done anything like formally endorse one major party candidate over the other or issue a formal declaration of their stances on policies. Such public sentiments were not that unusual within all walks of the music world in 2004, but just not from the Hint House. That said, those in tune with the band members themselves and with comments that they would make during live performances over the course of the election year were quite clear that a second Bush terms would not be met with applause. During a set in Washington, D.C., in April of 2004 Keith Connelly implored the audience to do all they could do to make an electoral difference and change come November. The intensity of the November 3, 2004, performance should come as no real surprise given the sincerity of the band's aspirations for change within the nation.
After opening with the litling lament of the idealistic "On the Planet Mars" (perhaps where the band would rather be than in the United States on the day after the election), the band quickly changes up the show's tone with frantic urgency, ringing guitars and intensely pounded drums of "A Spiritual Knifewound." The aggressively unhappy yet not bombastic tone is not unlike the semi-distant beat of a war drum. Having been called to arms, the band unleashes the swirling paranoia of "The Hungrier I Get." The ringing clattering of metal and pulses of claustrophic bass take their time as they form a densely layered and rewarding din. These rewarding moments continue to build and take on a different form in the album/show's centerpiece, "The Quicker the Police Show Up." This long and slow-burning twenty-one minute jam sees the collective demonstrate exactly how connected and tuned in to one another they are as improvisational performers. Every instrument lends assistance to every other sound and they are able to deftly follow every move that the jam takes. The disc draws to a close by borrowing some of the commanding drum beats that were present near the outset. It should be noted that at no point during this performance did any of the band members come forward and use human vocals to supplement the sound. This is one particular time when the band was quite content to let their improvised musicianship do all of the speaking.
