The Album Review Club - Week #141 - (page 1860) - JPEG Raw - Gary Clark Jr.

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

Yes indeed, thanks to @Black&White&BlueMoon Town for highlighting it. It's absolutely brilliant, chock full of interesting and entertaining stuff.

Yeah, my wife and I were watching it and thoroughly entertained, and I started to wonder what this crew would think of it too. I think I actually need to see it again!

From Kenny Loggins totally guileless admission that he'd barely heard of Africa but that if Jackson was doing it then it would be a hit so why not;

Yeah, he was brutally honest in every current interview he gave for this, really appreciated that.

through to Dylan's vulnerability and Stevie Wonders brilliant approach to helping him work out how to sing his part.;

Yeah, that totally cracked me up in how they got Bob to finally relax for his overdub chorus parts. Those close up shots of him with the ensemble earlier on, NOT EVEN SINGING, I was thinking, wow, is he not just a fish out of water or what????

through to Waylon Jennings being..well Waylon Jennings.

Yeah, that was classic. Although I do like the point about Ethopians not speaking Swahili too to get things back on track.

My personal favourite bit were Springsteen's contributions, when smooth Lionel bigged it up as one of the greatest songs ever written they cut to Springsteen offering his brilliantly diplomatic but entirely transparent view of the song!

Classic Bruce indeed!

Won't spoil it further for people who are going to watch but as far as documentaries of it's type go it was definitely in the all killer no filler category for me.

Yeah, I must confess I hadn't stopped thinking about how downright candid it was.

"Hey, here's my invoice for taking video all the night..."

And just keep the wine away from Al. ;-) Bob G does not appear to be amused at 0:37 in...

 

[Coatigan]

This album kind of proves two things.

'Overproduction' is not all it's made out to be, as this unwanted song ruining negative thing. 90% of what makes this album is it's production, and without it it might really suffer. It does it really well, and I enjoyed the richness to sometimes mish-mash (in a good, jazzy type of way) of the instruments and themes. You can hear each instrument clearly, pick out the strengths and enjoy them, as they lead on to the next.

The other thing it proves is that less really is sometimes more. Not in the individual songs themselves, which would negate the point above, they are very much more is more. But the album as a whole, and it's length. Which unfortunately turned what was an otherwise enjoyable say 45 minutes of rich fun music, into a struggle that eventually just became tedious and skippable. Started to feel a bit 'a lot of everything not much of anything' which is a shame for it.

Beyond that, his voice and singing is mostly unoffensive, but does nothing for me, or imo the songs. Would happily have listened to them without his singing. But at the same time, it is not unpleasant or distracting, and only occasionally veers into 'country' territory. The bass is excellent, as is the piano.

Favourite songs were Song C and Song D. I liked the idea of recurring themes, songs of two parts, using parts of songs in others (e.g swan and D).

A fun pop-rocky jazzy roots-reachy pick-a-mix album with some really good musicianship. Unfortunate about the length, whithout which I think I would have beem scoring it a lot higher. With it a 6. More for the experience than the quality, which obviously deserves more.

 

[RobMCFC]

This album kind of proves two things.

'Overproduction' is not all it's made out to be, as this unwanted song ruining negative thing. 90% of what makes this album is it's production, and without it it might really suffer. It does it really well, and I enjoyed the richness to sometimes mish-mash (in a good, jazzy type of way) of the instruments and themes. You can hear each instrument clearly, pick out the strengths and enjoy them, as they lead on to the next.

The other thing it proves is that less really is sometimes more. Not in the individual songs themselves, which would negate the point above, they are very much more is more. But the album as a whole, and it's length. Which unfortunately turned what was an otherwise enjoyable say 45 minutes of rich fun music, into a struggle that eventually just became tedious and skippable. Started to feel a bit 'a lot of everything not much of anything' which is a shame for it.

Beyond that, his voice and singing is mostly unoffensive, but does nothing for me, or imo the songs. Would happily have listened to them without his singing. But at the same time, it is not unpleasant or distracting, and only occasionally veers into 'country' territory. The bass is excellent, as is the piano.

Favourite songs were Song C and Song D. I liked the idea of recurring themes, songs of two parts, using parts of songs in others (e.g swan and D).

A fun pop-rocky jazzy roots-reachy pick-a-mix album with some really good musicianship. Unfortunate about the length, whithout which I think I would have beem scoring it a lot higher. With it a 6. More for the experience than the quality, which obviously deserves more.

Fair points. I did think twice about selecting this because of the length, which is why I gave people the 45-minute option. But ultimately, it's his best album, or certainly the album that showcases his talent in the best way.

I agree about the production as well, which is excellent on this album. None of it sounds tinny and the overall sound is rich and deep.

 

[threespires]

Were I to narrate my thoughts on this album in the style of a Bob Mortimer novel it would go some thing like this..

I would be speaking to a recently delivered bearded dragon called Gary and I would be telling Gary that whilst he was a nice bearded-dragon, what I really wanted was a marine iguana. Gary would respond by saying:

“Well Spires, as it happens, I pride myself on being adaptable so if you really want I can impersonate a marine iguana; but ask yourself will it really achieve what you're looking for? We’ll both still know that’s not what I am, you’ll still probably be disappointed, and I won’t be being true to myself. Do you not think we’d be better off with me being an excellent bearded-dragon rather than a second rate marine iguana? After all you’re a fan of reptiles of many types. I realise that might mean you appreciate me rather than love me the way you’d love a marine iguana but life is full of compromises isn’t it mate?”

I would probably agree with him and then Gary would say:

“Think about it like that Bruce Hornsby song we’ve just been listening to, Sneaking Up On Boo Radley or whatever it was called, you said it needed a little bit of crunch somewhere in the mix to be a really good song but then when I asked you where exactly would you put it you struggled to say because in adding it you knew it would mess up what was already good about the song. We agreed it would take away from and be out of character with the deliberately sparse sound that the nice Mr Hornsby man had created on that song and I think you quite liked that spacious sound.

Leave things be mate, it’ll achieve more for you I think”.

7/10.

 

[RobMCFC]

I know everybody has remembered, but just a gentle reminder that I'll be rounding up and moving onto the next album around 10.00 AM tomorrow.

 

[GornikDaze]

Were I to narrate my thoughts on this album in the style of a Bob Mortimer novel it would go some thing like this..

I would be speaking to a recently delivered bearded dragon called Gary and I would be telling Gary that whilst he was a nice bearded-dragon, what I really wanted was a marine iguana. Gary would respond by saying:

“Well Spires, as it happens, I pride myself on being adaptable so if you really want I can impersonate a marine iguana; but ask yourself will it really achieve what you're looking for? We’ll both still know that’s not what I am, you’ll still probably be disappointed, and I won’t be being true to myself. Do you not think we’d be better off with me being an excellent bearded-dragon rather than a second rate marine iguana? After all you’re a fan of reptiles of many types. I realise that might mean you appreciate me rather than love me the way you’d love a marine iguana but life is full of compromises isn’t it mate?”

I would probably agree with him and then Gary would say:

“Think about it like that Bruce Hornsby song we’ve just been listening to, Sneaking Up On Boo Radley or whatever it was called, you said it needed a little bit of crunch somewhere in the mix to be a really good song but then when I asked you where exactly would you put it you struggled to say because in adding it you knew it would mess up what was already good about the song. We agreed it would take away from and be out of character with the deliberately sparse sound that the nice Mr Hornsby man had created on that song and I think you quite liked that spacious sound.

Leave things be mate, it’ll achieve more for you I think”.

7/10.

Interesting take on a review!! Having read it several times I have absolutely no idea what you’re going on about - just kidding.
I’ve listen to this pick a few more times than normal. I’ve been doing some decorating and it’s been nice to have on. My initial thoughts were that it was simply not my thing and it needed some guitar ooomph. But as you said (I think!) if you put the ooomph on it would ruin it.
Turned out this was a pleasant listen - the piano did get a bit much at times but that’s my problem.
Steady 7/10 for me. Not JJ Cale territory, but maybe some exploring to do

 

[threespires]

Interesting take on a review!! Having read it several times I have absolutely no idea what you’re going on about - just kidding.
I’ve listen to this pick a few more times than normal. I’ve been doing some decorating and it’s been nice to have on. My initial thoughts were that it was simply not my thing and it needed some guitar ooomph. But as you said (I think!) if you put the ooomph on it would ruin it.
Turned out this was a pleasant listen - the piano did get a bit much at times but that’s my problem.
Steady 7/10 for me. Not JJ Cale territory, but maybe some exploring to do

Hopefully it'll make some sense to Rob - but basically yes we're in the same space on it I think.

 

[RobMCFC]

Hopefully it'll make some sense to Rob - but basically yes we're in the same space on it I think.

On it's own, no. But taken in partnership with your original post last week, then yes, I get the gist :)

 

[BimboBob]

Part Jazz, nice, part swing, part groove, part sounding like Sting. But do the parts add up to the sum?

Occasionally.

They certainly do in King of the Hill, Preacher in the Ring Part Two and Fortunate Son. Very nice songs with some beautiful moments. The rest? They all seem to start off well enough and then sort of peter out, meandering towards a finish like in Resting Place. Sometimes his piano work is a little too 'look at me, I can play two hands independently' such as in the Boo Radley song.

Overall it's pleasant enough without actually making me jump around. I liked three songs but that's not enough for me to buy the album. On a side note the production is spot on. You can hear everything clearly. I like that.

6/10

 

[Mancitydoogle]

SPIRIT TRAIL



excellent choice Rob, it’s so long since I’ve listened to any of his work, I’d almost forgotten what a great talent Bruce Hornsby is.
I’ve really enjoyed listening to this album whilst driving and at my desk, it’s been played far more than the requisite three times and more than when I first bought it,my only bug bear is that it’s too long and I think there’s a fair number of filler tracks particularly on side 2.

Having said that some of his best work appears on this album, I love ‘King of the Hill’RestingPlace’’Fortunate Son’ ‘Sneaking Up On Boo Radley’ and ‘The Great Divide’
I don’t get the Sting comparisons thankfully but on I’m getting Pete Townsends ‘Let my love open the Door’ on ‘Shadow Hand’.

Side one 9
Side two 6

But I’ll notch it up to 8/10 as it made me listen to a few of his other albums that I’ve not heard in years.