Month: June 2011

A new wrinkle on the proverbial “overnight sensation after 20 years on the road,” Les Copeland’s “debut” comes after eight albums released on his own and sold-out bandstands over the course of 16 years. But even the clout of an indie blues label will help introduce this British Columbian to an international audience. And bravo to that.

The opening original, “That Needing Time,” is reminiscent of Blind Willie Johnson, with two tracks of overdubbed guitar – one shadowing Copeland’s passionate vocal. The catchy, melodic instrumental that follows is titled “Ry Cooder” and played, naturally, on slide.

The 51-year-old is far from a purist in terms of inf luences or equipment. He shifts gears to the swing instrumental “Ginseng Girl” and shows his folk side on the eerie “Silently” – the former played on an Aria Pro 2 Herb Ellis Model, the latter on a small-bodied Godin through a ’70s Twin Reverb.

It’s refreshing to find a “blues” artist who lists his half-dozen chief inf luences (chronological ly) as Johnny Winter, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Django Reinhardt, Carlos Montoya, Mississippi John Hurt, Joe Pass, and Honeyboy Edwards (yes, that’s seven, but who’s counting?). The 95-year-old Edwards, whom he credits as “the greatest inf luence on my playing, even though he and I did not meet until I was 36,” duets on two tunes, and although they’re considerably “looser” than Copeland’s solo tracks, they add plenty of charm.

Label head Michael Frank, who blows some fine acoustic harmonica on the haunting title cut, is to be commended for exposing a worldclass singer, songwriter, and guitarist to those of us who haven’t been fortunate enough to previously cross paths with him.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Dec. ’10 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Brian Setzer has, more than once, found a musical niche that allows him to play great guitar, use his vocal talents to their fullest, and lets him make a good living. None of that is easy in today’s music industry.

This new live record is the perfect way for Setzer to show off his sizable talents. A doubledisc set, it features him with his big-band group and in a trio. Recorded during his tour of Japan in 2009, it includes music that spans his career.

A few cuts remind us that, on guitar, Setzer is as good as it gets. “Good Rockin’ Daddy” is a straight boogie where he moves through jazzy changes while mixing blues, rock, country, and everything in-between. “Honey Man” is based on “Flight of the Bumblebee,” and he takes time to play solo, displaying mind-blowing chops. “Fishnet Stockings” has a rockabilly opening with altered chords that make it very jazzy – sort of Carl Perkins on steroids; by the time he’s done soloing, he has covered the history of guitar, winding it up with the solo from “Rock Around the Clock.”

Historically speaking, Setzer uses the live set to deliver Stray Cat classics like “Rock this Town,” “Stray Cat Strut” (injected with a bit of “The Pink Panther Theme”), “Runaway Boys,” and “Rumble In Brighton.” His big band days are represented in numerous cuts, and some are hybrids of the styles, like the swinging “Dirty Boogie.” Arrangements are clever and always seem to have a surprise element. Setzer’s guitar cuts through the horns beautifully, and his underrated voice soars.

While the entire set highlights his talents, his cover of “Sleepwalk” is a tour de force, with a unique perspective on the melody, volume swells emulating pedal-steel licks, and his out-of-this world chops.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Dec. ’10 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Released in the fall of 1970, Black Sabbath’s Paranoid was the shot heard ’round the world. As Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler ref lects, it’s been 40 years since the LP’s release, and metal is still an enormously popular rock genre, partially thanks to this epic album.

Every member of the original Sabbath is interviewed in this video, along with engineer Tom Allom (Sabbath, Judas Priest), alt-rocker Henry Rollins, and a variety of journalists. Once the interviewees start dissecting the album, it’s hard to resist the charisma and power of Paranoid. From Tony Iommi’s skull-crushing guitar riffs on “War Pigs,” “Iron Man,” and the title cut, to Geezer’s dark lyrics about the Vietnam war, depression, and creepy sci-fi monsters, the picture of metal mastery depicted here is simply staggering. In a few sections, the album’s heavier tracks are laid against grim combat footage from Vietnam, which is devastatingly effective. Then, in a heartbeat, we switch to the brooding ballad “Planet Caravan,” featuring melodic, jazz-tinged guitar solos inspired by, surprisingly enough, Django Reinhardt. Indeed, there’s more to Black Sabbath than meets the eye.

Perks include ’70s footage of Sabbath in concert, as well as newer scenes of engineer Allom pulling up individual tracks from the album on a studio mixer, allowing us to hear each instrument or vocal just as they were recorded four decades ago. Even more riveting is the fact that this metal masterpiece was recorded in just five days. And you have to appreciate the fact that the four members of Sabbath – Iommi, Butler, frontman Ozzy Osbourne and drummer Bill Ward – are all very respectful of each other and speak in a very honest, heartfelt manner about this famed album. While the argument about who invented metal won’t get solved in this DVD – was it Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, or Sabbath? – the 97-minute documentary makes a good case for Paranoid at least being the greatest heavy metal album of all time.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Nov. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Part documentary, part performance (then-current and archival), this reissue of the 1999 portrait of the singer/songwriter reveals his sense of humor, commitment to social causes, and, most of all, talent.

There is no narrator, and no interviewer is ever shown or heard – just Jackson (or such longtime associates as Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, David Crosby, and Graham Nash) speaking into the camera. His ’70 partner, David Lindley, explains to Browne that Salt Lake City is the mother lode of polyester, but also talks about capturing the initial, subconscious inspiration – always better than the conscious, he nods.

Browne’s band at the time included bassist Kevin McCormick, tone master Mark Goldenberg on Tele, and multiinstrumentalist/ producer Scott Thurston, in his pre-Heartbreakers days. Lindley joins them on Weissenborn (“Farther On”), bouzouki (“Lives In The Balance,” with Crosby and Nash providing harmonies), oud (“Too Many Angels”), and fiddle (“Before The Deluge,” with Goldenberg playing an impressive Ebow solo).

In one rehearsal scene, guitarists Rick Vito and Danny Kortchmar, along with bassist Bob Glaub, marvel over Browne’s trio of ugly duckling six-strings (a habit he picked up from Lindley) – an Eko, a Teisco, and an Ovation Breadwinner. In another scene, of Browne wandering through a warehouse of “stuff ” stored during a recent move, a ’30s Gibson Roy Smeck Stage De Luxe leans against the back of an easy chair. It was around this time that Browne commissioned luthier Roy McAlister to build an updated version, dubbed the “Smeck-Alister.”

Three songs from 1979’s No Nukes benefit are included, and some remarkable editing is used on “Doctor My Eyes,” segueing from the current lineup to the Vito-era band to older footage with Lindley (smoking on lap steel) without missing a beat.

Rare insight into a career spanning 30 years – which has added another 10 since.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Nov. ’10 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Played well, guitars and f lutes make an excellent combination. Such is the case in Sandro Albert’s quartet.

Albert is a gifted guitarist whose soloing swings, and his knowledge of the harmonic structure of the guitar is evident as soon as f lutist Rodrigo Ursaia starts to solo. While the two set the stage in every song by stating the melody together before soloing, bassist Michael O’Brien and drummer Richie Barshay propel the tunes, giving the two perfect support.

Albert deftly solos around clever changes on “Some Days,” and his comping behind the flute solo is masterful. His rhythm playing is up-front and you get the full effect of what he’s doing. He also proves proficient at different jazz styles, and there are obvious tips of the cap to Latin feels on “JW’s Baiao” and “Obrigado Villa.” His playing on the ballads “Where I Belong” and the moody “Waiting for Victoria” offers more chances to show his beautiful chord work. He’s not afraid to make things a little hectic, either on the title cut, with its odd pace and timing give him a chance to show off a bit with a series of arpeggios leading to a solo that displays his skills abundantly, and also shows the rapport between he and Ursaia.

Albert’s skill as a player is unquestionable, and on Vertical he shows and obvious ability to mesh styles into a coherent package.

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Nov. ’11 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.

Box sets are too often an excuse to release material that wasn’t deemed good enough in the first place, or they’re a means to repackage an artist’s hits.

On the Rural Route 7609 is neither. Rather, it’s a batch of music assembled to showcase John Mellencamp’s growth as a songwriter and artist. When a familiar song appears, it’s usually in a different form, i.e. a demo, as with “Cherry Bomb” or the three songs that gave rise to “Jack and Diane.” Heavy on songs from the past two albums (where Mellencamp believes he’s done his best stuff), it’s tough to argue when you hear the strength and bravery in songs like “Longest Days” and “The County Fair.” Does he occasionally get preachy? Yes – he’s not afraid to let his political side show. The beauty is seeing the growth in the way the ideas are written. You’ll discover songs you didn’t know or had passed you by but now sound great.

The set spans more than 30 years, and several guitarists. Mellencamp proves a fine accompanist on the latter-day folk tunes that feature just him and his guitar. The early days of his band shows a lean guitar attack from Larry Crane and Mike Wanchic that helped form that band’s trademark garage-rock sound. That sound became more involved and a bit more muscular when David Grissom and Andy York became lead players. This set also offers up a new version of a song Mellencamp wrote for the Blasters, “Colored Lights.” He kept Dave Alvin’s punchy guitar and added his vocal. The rest of the band is always solid, and when Kenny Aronoff played drums, it was a powerhouse.

The set is well-conceived, and includes a nice essay by Anthony DeCurtis and Mellencamp’s reflections on the songs on the four discs. This isn’t the set for you if you’re looking for a greatest hits and best known songs. What you get is a songwriter that, as Tom Petty said about Mellencamp, “Grew up before our eyes.”

This article originally appeared in VG‘s Jul. ’08 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.