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

[Coatigan]

Anyone listened to this weeks offering yet? ;)

Yes

 

[threespires]

Anyone listened to this weeks offering yet? ;)

Yeah quite a bit. This is probably the first pick that I already had on my not very structured "must get round to listening to that soon" list. Not ready to score it yet but overall really like it, which I expected to even though it's not a facsimile of his other albums. There's a couple of tracks that are a bit 'why' and I was particularly irked by To The Ends of The Earth which adds nothing and has been done better many times before. If it's there as a pausa it doesn't work for me. But apart from that one song I can find merit in everything else and as I've already said overall I love the sounds that he makes. There's a contrast to last weeks pick in that even though this has a real mix of styles on it, he has enough of an identity and presence to carry it off. I enjoyed the Fantastic Negrito pick a while back and this has a similar eclectic vibe whilst also being a more in my default wheelhouse. With this album for some reason I found myself imagining he was Buddy Guy's grandson and the family were discussing how he could have gone off the rails so much but Buddy was very chill about it all.

Anyway back on topic can I just say that as a country our levels of social mobility have collapsed in a way other peers haven't. Go and have a look at the collapse in home ownership of the under 40s here and compare it to others. It's not the absolute position people are in that counts, its the degree to which they feel they can control and improve their own destiny. The worst thing we can ever take from our young people is hope.

 

[RobMCFC]

Yeah quite a bit. This is probably the first pick that I already had on my not very structured "must get round to listening to that soon" list. Not ready to score it yet but overall really like it, which I expected to even though it's not a facsimile of his other albums. There's a couple of tracks that are a bit 'why' and I was particularly irked by To The Ends of The Earth which adds nothing and has been done better many times before. If it's there as a pausa it doesn't work for me. But apart from that one song I can find merit in everything else and as I've already said overall I love the sounds that he makes. There's a contrast to last weeks pick in that even though this has a real mix of styles on it, he has enough of an identity and presence to carry it off. I enjoyed the Fantastic Negrito pick a while back and this has a similar eclectic vibe whilst also being a more in my default wheelhouse. With this album for some reason I found myself imagining he was Buddy Guy's grandson and the family were discussing how he could have gone off the rails so much but Buddy was very chill about it all.

Anyway back on topic can I just say that as a country our levels of social mobility have collapsed in a way other peers haven't. Go and have a look at the collapse in home ownership of the under 40s here and compare it to others. It's not the absolute position people are in that counts, its the degree to which they feel they can control and improve their own destiny. The worst thing we can ever take from our young people is hope.

Would it surprise you if I said that “To The Ends of the Earth” is one of my favourites? It’s a lovely, cool, laid-back piece with jazzy chords. It’s a bit short, and I understand what you are saying about it having been done before, but it’s a refreshing break after the earlier bombast.

I’d love to hear other artists who put a twist on the blues. Listening to a guy who just plays a guitar is a bit too straight for me, but some of the tracks on here feel a bit too much. There must be a sweet spot somewhere, but Chris Whitley aside, I’ve never found it.

 

[Mancitydoogle]

I’m enjoying it, not what I was expecting having only heard his more bluesy tracks before. I’m getting a real Sly and the Family Stone vibe from this.

 

[threespires]

Would it surprise you if I said that “To The Ends of the Earth” is one of my favourites? It’s a lovely, cool, laid-back piece with jazzy chords. It’s a bit short, and I understand what you are saying about it having been done before, but it’s a refreshing break after the earlier bombast.

I’d love to hear other artists who put a twist on the blues. Listening to a guy who just plays a guitar is a bit too straight for me, but some of the tracks on here feel a bit too much. There must be a sweet spot somewhere, but Chris Whitley aside, I’ve never found it.

I was about to write if I want to listen to jazz guitar I put a 'proper' jazz guitarist on like Wes Montgomery or Jim Hall or Joe Pass at which point I realised I'd recently written something in this space that ignores Jazz guitar entirely. Doh! :-)

 

[threespires]

I’m enjoying it, not what I was expecting having only heard his more bluesy tracks before. I’m getting a real Sly and the Family Stone vibe from this.

High praise indeed!