photo courtesy of Rock Rose Music

by Eric Harabadian, Contributing Blogger

Album Review of Carl Wiengarten: Stop Me Try (Multiphase Records)

Carl Weingarten is a guitarist/composer who works in a lot of different artistic mediums. He is a master on slide guitar and Dobro but also is very facile in terms of programming and sound design. His background as a photographer and filmmaker seems to permeate most of his work in the jazz, blues, and ambient music fields. In particular, this album features five slices of electronica and chill-oriented pieces that are rife with dreamy imagery and surreal landscapes.

image courtesy of Rock Rose Music

This extended five track album features Weingarten playing the lion’s share of guitars, keyboards, and devices. Frequent partner – and an artist in his own right – Michael Manring blends subtle coloration with bold aural brush strokes on fretless bass. The result, to this reviewer’s ears, harkens back to some of the groundbreaking efforts by Ralph Towner, Terje Rypdal, and Eberhard Weber on the European ECM record label.

“A Fistful of Dust” is an example of this otherworldly sound utilizing various clever production ideas and melodic guitar figures. Strings and orchestral filigree mix with dense percussion for a Mediterranean/Near and Middle East cultural mash-up. “Ideas of May” is kind of moody, with a hint of jazzy samba beats. The droning and spacey guitars suggest some of David Gilmour and Robert Fripp’s finest work. “Night Life Again” focuses on the groove and interwoven themes and percolating rhythms. Various converging guitar sounds rally around a modal harmonic approach. “For Rosa” is kind of a modal blues, with an oscillating and bubbly beat. It’s also somewhat celestial and swings, ever so slightly. The title track, “Stop Me Try,” typifies the entire nature of this disc – dreamy, atmospheric and spiritually techno. The music gradually builds as it breathes and gets a funky undertone from Manring. The result sounds like something, not unlike the mid-’70s period for bassist Rosko Gee as a member of Krautrock experimentalists Can.

by James Morris, Contributing Blogger

EP Review of Cain Rising: Jimmy and the Angels

The world was a very different place when I last sat down to review new music from Cain Rising. It was back in 2017 when the band released their EP Rear View Mirror, which had followed the great 2015 self titled album Cain Rising.

Like most of the rest of the world, COVID-19 and the lockdown took their toll on the band. Without an outlet for their high energy live shows, the band decided to take a hiatus. Frontman and songwriter Jim Price, aka Southside Jimmy, carried on Cain Rising as a writing/studio project, and this has resulted in this latest EP, entitled Jimmy and the Angels. The title is an acknowledgment of the collaboration and support of band members old and new that brought these tracks to fruition during the lockdown.

image courtesy of Cain Rising

The Angels of the title are Jez Parry (bass guitar), Kev Hickman and Mark Edwards (drums), Greg Coulson (piano and Hammond organ), Kevin Blake and Ian Hopper (lead guitars), and Southside Jimmy (vocals and various other instruments).

So many of us had to adapt what we were doing when we were all plunged into lockdown during the pandemic. A lot of musicians got very creative during that time, and so it’s good to hear the result of those efforts with regard to Jimmy and the band.

What seems to have influenced the songwriting is not so much the lockdown itself but the fallout and political upheaval in the UK since the pandemic eased. 

The opening track, “Welcome To My World,” captures the anger Jimmy feels, with his perception of an increasingly dysfunctional government in the UK, its descent into cronyism, as he sees it, and the deceit and disastrous effect it has had on the lives of ordinary citizens.

To lift the spirits somewhat, “Stand By Me” introduces gospel overtones and lyrics encouraging the best to rise to the surface in all of us. As Jimmy says, “especially important in these difficult times where people are being pushed to the wall by a seemingly uncaring, if not predatory, establishment.” With regard to the lyric, he speaks of condemning the “demons” that drag us down, but, as he notes, “demons” is probably not the word that will be used in live shows. Something a little more direct and profane, I suspect, to sum up his feelings towards the Government.

Track three, “Honeysuckle Rose,” could be interpreted as the third part of this trilogy of anger towards establishment, a very country story of the struggle to break even and its almost inevitable culmination of the protagonist falling into the grips of the darker side of society, the predators that feed off the failure of the state. However, if that is getting a bit heavy, then you can take a lighter view and just enjoy it in the spirit in which it was written as an homage to the storytelling inherent in country music.

Finally, the song “All the Way Round” is perhaps an attempt to lighten the mood a little. A flavour of Jimmy’s early folk influences creeps in here, from Dylan to The Strawbs. It’s a recognition of time passing and the need to grab life in your own hands, to make it count while you can and do it your way. “I came, I saw, I played the game, I changed the rules around!”

As with their previous releases, this is grown up country-tinged rock music, and the reference on style is very much Bruce Springsteen. Jim has a melodic but rocking style of singing, and the band lay down a really solid backing to present you with an accomplished and well-produced record.

Editor’s Note

It has been nearly five years since James Morris reviewed Cain Rising’s Rear View Mirror EP here at the Blog. Before the EP’s release, we reviewed three of the band’s singles. In the spring, James Morris reviewed “Rear View Mirror” and “Glasgow City Spires.” Over the summer, I wrote about “Social Man.” And then, of course, in the fall, James reviewed the EP. And today, we hope you’ve enjoyed reading James’ review of Cain Rising’s brand new release, Jimmy and the Angels. Be sure to check out those reviews, too, and give a listen the band’s rockin’ new 4-song recording. – GW

photo by Janin Vezonik via Samo Salamon (press kit)

by Eric Harabadian, Contributing Blogger

Album Review of Samo Salamon: Dolphyology: Complete Eric Dolphy for Solo Guitar

Eric Dolphy was a jazz saxophonist, bass clarinetist and flautist who emerged in the ‘50s and ‘60s and recorded for prominent jazz labels like Prestige and Blue Note. Although he left us way too young at 36 years old, he crafted a legacy of genre-defining work that changed the face of modern bebop. Dolphy stealthily walked that line between melodic convention and out-of-bounds freedom like few others. Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, John Lewis, Chico Hamilton and Ornette Coleman were just some of the bandleaders who were graced by Dolphy’s harmonic genius.

image courtesy of Samo Salamon

Samo Salamon is a world renowned musician who was selected by Guitar Player magazine as “one of the hottest 10 new guitarists in the world.” And Salamon is, indeed, globally recognized for his collaborations with everyone from Howard Levy, Paul McCandless, and Donny McCaslin, to Fareed Haque, Tim Berne, and countless others. The intrepid guitarist came to this current project out of the experience of pandemic lockdown. With a lot of time on his hands, he put it to good use revisiting and exploring the intricate music of Eric Dolphy. This music had never really ever been interpreted for guitar before. As Salamon puts it: “I tried to approach Dolphy, but in my own way. First, I transcribed all the compositions by Dolphy and arranged them for solo guitar. I improvised on tunes—sometimes in free improvisation, and in other cases, following the harmonic structure. I have played Dolphy’s tunes throughout my career, improvising on them, but rarely in a solo setting; probably because of fear or respect.” Well, now Salamon takes on the songs of a master head on and bravely documents them in posterity for all to hear.

photo by Ksenija Mikor via Samo Salamon (press kit)

This is a full-length two-disc set of Dolphy deep cuts and classics recorded by Salamon in his living room with one microphone and the natural acoustics of his home. According to the liner notes, all tracks were recorded in one take and often include sonic “enhancements” like the meows of his cat in the background. On this release you get nearly 30 tracks total, with 14 cuts per side. First off, many of the tunes were originally performed in an ensemble setting and on some type of woodwind, no less. Salamon’s innate ability to re-arrange these compositions for guitar give them a unique character right out of the gate. His use of string bends and ringing harmonics really stand out and are a nice touch. Some of Dolphy’s more well known compositions like “Out to Lunch” and “Iron Man” really stay true to the heart of the music’s original intent, shining the spotlight on avant garde passages and angular intervallic runs. “245,” “G.W.” and “Straight Up and Down” run the gamut from fearlessly technical and unorthodox to jaunty and seemingly disjointed.

Many of the tunes are performed on six-string acoustic guitar, but Salamon also integrates 12-string guitar and mandolin into the mix as well. Cuts like “The Baron” and “Burning Spear” benefit from the thicker depth of the 12-string. He also employs some really slick quick note phrasing and flamenco-like flourishes as well. “Lady E” and “17 West” seem to stand out for their more traditional blend of balladry, modern bop and blues.

Perhaps it is human for a musician to be in awe of one’s heroes, feeling they may not be up for the challenge. But, suffice to say, that is not the case here. Salamon is a consummate artist that seems to have embodied the heart and soul of Dolphy. And considering the oft non-linear nature of these tunes, that is no mean feat.