Happy Birthday ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
willow_aileen!
Jul. 12th, 2006 09:00 amMany happy returns of the day!
Jul. 12th, 2006
Happy Birthday
Jul. 12th, 2006 09:00 amTo my shame, this is the first Larry Carlton disc in my collection. Not the first I've heard - that honor goes to one long forgotten that I borrowed from rotation in Fishman Transducers' phone music. If I recall correctly, that earlier disc had a fairly country music vibe - all instrumental, but definitely blues-tinged country. Unless, of course, I'm confusing Larrys - Carlton and Coryell. Both talented, heard them both before, and still don't have any Larry Coryell in my collection.
This recording has a more electric edge. This is bluesy, rock guitar. With horns, in places. And heaviness in others. Big Trouble? It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. Kind of like some of the rock kids listen to these days, except better. It's almost a shock when it comes in, all muddy and crunchy.
Overall, a very impressive album. Highly recommended for any guitar player or blues buff. Since I could never pick a single "Best Of" winner, I'd certainly consider this one of the best rock instrumentals, blues discs, and R&B discs.
This is how it's done. Right.
This recording has a more electric edge. This is bluesy, rock guitar. With horns, in places. And heaviness in others. Big Trouble? It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. Kind of like some of the rock kids listen to these days, except better. It's almost a shock when it comes in, all muddy and crunchy.
Overall, a very impressive album. Highly recommended for any guitar player or blues buff. Since I could never pick a single "Best Of" winner, I'd certainly consider this one of the best rock instrumentals, blues discs, and R&B discs.
This is how it's done. Right.
Warning: contains music
Wait, let me try that one more time, with feeling.
Warning: contains flamenco music, which includes - but is not limited to - some of the most incredible guitar playing known to mankind, along with various rhythmic patterns of handclapping and other assorted percussion (which may or may not include the shoes of flamenco dancers,) accompanied by the soul-wrenching vocals that can only come from ripping the heart out of the singer during their performance.
I provide this warning because when I went over to Amazon to add this to my wish list, I had noticed that the reviewers were either amazed or appalled - the latter limited to those who just wanted to hear a solo Mr. de Lucia and not all of the rest that actually makes it flamenco. Remember, folks, if you hear something allegedly flamenco, with a Spanish or Mexican sounding guitar, and no one is shouting "Ole!" or pouring out their emotions or clapping at Shakira-hips-speed, then it is most likely "neuvo flamenco" and not real, actual, honest-to-goodness "flamenco."
You want Paco for guitar players only? Check out the stuff he did with two other amazing guitarists - Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin. Three guitars, nothing else (at least on the albums I've heard.) But if you really want to appreciate his playing, you *must* listen to his flamenco works.
When I saw Paco, I had a similar attitude, so I understand it. When I first heard Paco - and yes, for the first few minutes of that concert he was performing solo - all of those feelings about flamenco that wasn't unnaturally stripped to solo guitar just washed away. The setting was Berklee Performance Center, and one of the reasons I went was that it was free. One of Deb's former boyfriends had three tickets and found that he was the only one able to go, so he called us up. I wasn't expecting to like all the trappings, even though I knew Paco himself would be great.
First off, basic audience demographics: 50% Berklee students/guitar players; 50% Latin music fans. The latter shouted "Ole!" and danced in the aisles. The former sat there with their with chins dropping to the floor like cartoon characters, with tears in their eyes, hoping they continued breathing long enough to finish out the concert. Conflicted between grabbing a guitar and playing better than they ever had or just giving up because they had heard excellence and weren't it. The Latin crowd took a while to get up to speed. The guitar players just sat there in shock somewhere from the first 3 to 3,000 notes (which happened in a fairly simultaneous moment as soon as Paco walked out and started playing. Fast.)
This album - despite the complaints from wanna-be guitarists who want Amazon to issue a warning that it includes vocals - has tracks without vocals, and it even ends on a jazzy piece with some horns. Most of the tracks, however, have all the components that make for flamenco, and it is an exceptional flavor of flamenco.
Wait, let me try that one more time, with feeling.
Warning: contains flamenco music, which includes - but is not limited to - some of the most incredible guitar playing known to mankind, along with various rhythmic patterns of handclapping and other assorted percussion (which may or may not include the shoes of flamenco dancers,) accompanied by the soul-wrenching vocals that can only come from ripping the heart out of the singer during their performance.
I provide this warning because when I went over to Amazon to add this to my wish list, I had noticed that the reviewers were either amazed or appalled - the latter limited to those who just wanted to hear a solo Mr. de Lucia and not all of the rest that actually makes it flamenco. Remember, folks, if you hear something allegedly flamenco, with a Spanish or Mexican sounding guitar, and no one is shouting "Ole!" or pouring out their emotions or clapping at Shakira-hips-speed, then it is most likely "neuvo flamenco" and not real, actual, honest-to-goodness "flamenco."
You want Paco for guitar players only? Check out the stuff he did with two other amazing guitarists - Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin. Three guitars, nothing else (at least on the albums I've heard.) But if you really want to appreciate his playing, you *must* listen to his flamenco works.
When I saw Paco, I had a similar attitude, so I understand it. When I first heard Paco - and yes, for the first few minutes of that concert he was performing solo - all of those feelings about flamenco that wasn't unnaturally stripped to solo guitar just washed away. The setting was Berklee Performance Center, and one of the reasons I went was that it was free. One of Deb's former boyfriends had three tickets and found that he was the only one able to go, so he called us up. I wasn't expecting to like all the trappings, even though I knew Paco himself would be great.
First off, basic audience demographics: 50% Berklee students/guitar players; 50% Latin music fans. The latter shouted "Ole!" and danced in the aisles. The former sat there with their with chins dropping to the floor like cartoon characters, with tears in their eyes, hoping they continued breathing long enough to finish out the concert. Conflicted between grabbing a guitar and playing better than they ever had or just giving up because they had heard excellence and weren't it. The Latin crowd took a while to get up to speed. The guitar players just sat there in shock somewhere from the first 3 to 3,000 notes (which happened in a fairly simultaneous moment as soon as Paco walked out and started playing. Fast.)
This album - despite the complaints from wanna-be guitarists who want Amazon to issue a warning that it includes vocals - has tracks without vocals, and it even ends on a jazzy piece with some horns. Most of the tracks, however, have all the components that make for flamenco, and it is an exceptional flavor of flamenco.