Les Paul 1915-2009

Les Paul
1915-2009

Les Paul was freaky brilliant.

“Wonder how guitar strings would sound stretched over a board with some sort of microphone gizmo under ’em?”

Thus The Log. And with it, a huge chunk of modern music and culture.

A log.

For that alone, he deserves canonization.

“If I just had two more hands, I could play what’s in my head… ”

We call it multi-track recording now, and it really is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

With this, Les Paul freed music from reality. Prior to his laborious work with acetates, the sound you listened to on the radio had occurred in generally the same fashion that you heard it. After “Lover (When You’re Near Me),” what you heard was a complex combination of moments atop, aside, and under another, creating something that was far more than its component parts.

It’s near enough to magic to claim the word.

Well, that’s certainly enough for one man, one life.

Not Les Paul, who was until almost his last breath an amazing guitarist, nimble and agile of mind and finger, able in his 60s to record albums with über-guitarist Chet Atkins that would humble the most dedicated phenom. And they were both laughing through it all, just two guys pickin’.

Uh huh.

Or perhaps lending his name and design ideas to the iconic instrument of musical slayage, the Gibson Les Paul? Skip that part of the legend and all that’s holy in Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton with Mayall, Peter Green and legions more is gone. Poof.

No Pearly Gates. Shudder.

No Live At The Fillmore.

Ok, I’m scarin’ myself.

So go buy a CD. Or a guitar. But pay homage to a man who defined American Genius.

Originally published Ink 19, 2009

Remembering John Lee Hooker

Remembering John Lee Hooker
Blue Storm

John Lee Hooker passed away in June of 2001, and when he left, he took the boogie with him. A lifetime playing the blues left us with a legacy of deceptively simple sounding music, seemingly high on feeling and groove, but sounding almost basic in its playing. Ha. Watching Hooker play was an exercise in Zen blues. He barely moved his hands, his left hand shaping chords almost entirely below the third fret of the guitar, his right hand idly flicking the strings. What that created, however, was a engulfing river of mojo that many have tried to copy, but few have come close. On this tribute to the great man, some of the greatest musicians around pay homage to the man with the sound, and while the record works great as a collection of good players making good music, it fails completely as a “remembrance” of John Lee Hooker. Largely performing works either written by or associated with Hooker, pickers such as Jeff Beck, Peter Green, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore and others capture some nice moments, but never come close to sounding for an instant like Hooker.

Fleetwood Mac

Shrine ’69
Fleetwood Mac
Rykodisc

This live album, by the version known as “Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac” (don’t confuse with the knob-twiddling airheads of the later years) has recently seen the light after laying around in the vaults for a few decades. Peter Green commanded attention as one of Britain’s premier blues guitarists before drug use and schizophrenia caused his retirement in the early ’70s, and is still revered for his fretwork today. A strong songwriter, he penned classics such as “Black Magic Woman,” “Oh Well,” “Rattlesnake Shake,” and “Green Manalishi.” Alas, this record occurred before all that. Shrine ’69 is pretty much 6 examples of white boy blues, one number called “Tune Up” — which is five people tuning guitars, and two tepid versions of rock and roll standards. The version of “Blue Suede Shoes” is interesting in that it seems to pre-date the current rap fad by having as its main lyrics “Come on baby, suck my knob” repeated over and over. Really bad stuff. Guitarist Jeremy Spencer chimes in with his “My Baby Sweet,” featuring wonderful slide guitar, but it’s really not enough to redeem this disc. Check out the original Fleetwood Mac albums instead.

Originally published Ink 19, 1999

The Mayflies U.S.A

Summertown
The Mayflies U.S.A
Yep Roc

When “You and I” opens this album with a wail of savage feedback and distortion, then moves smartly into Teenage Fanclub-style pop, you get the feeling it’s gonna be a fun night. And right you would be, because the Mayflies U.S.A are one of those noisy, pretty, and harmonious pop groups that just happens to play rock music. Great songwriting, nifty guitars and layered vocals that I think they stole from a spare tape in Brian Wilson’s bedroom make for a listening experience akin to taking a long car trip with the radio fading from station to station, and you hearing all those songs you used to love. Snippets of Big Star bump up against Costello, who is playing guitar for the Who on a Hollies track. Hey, anybody who name-checks semi-obscure British guitarists who leave civilization to join a cult are coolio with me. (“Down With Peter Green”). Confused? Don’t be. Spin the disc. All will become clear. Produced by Chris Stamey, as so many great things are.

Originally published Ink 19, 1999