American Kid--An Album Review

      I have been a Patty Griffin fan now for a little over a decade and am so glad that she continues to put out music that doesn't stray far from the items that drew me to her in the first place. This doesn't mean that she hasn't or doesn't try new things or that all the albums are merely copies of each other with only new words about the same themes, but rather it seems she has stayed true to the elements that make a song what I like to think of as a "Patty Griffin" song. I won't take credit for finding my own way to her, but will give credit to a conversation I had with Sandra McCraken that I'm sure verged on half creepy and half awkward/stalker, but she was kind to me and suggested that I check out Patty Griffin and then I made some very bad joke about Andy Griffith which went over like a lead cloud and then her husband came up and then they went away. If I could see them again, I would thank them for the suggestion and apologize for being me. I would like to say I've changed, but I have only toned down the odd awkwardness during business hours and I'm sure my students would heartily disagree.

   I was excited when I read that this album was coming out because it is her first regular album since 2007. She released a pseudo-Gospel album in 2010 (Downtown Church), which was good, but Gospel is not her normal genre and the album was lacking in the things I normally go to Patty Griffin for. For me and this will only further show my lack of musical knowledge, but when I listen to Patty, her songs are like getting to listen to a musical written by Sherwood Anderson and he's one of my favorites. Each of her songs takes you to these moments that seem so real that it is almost as if they happened in your own life. Her songs have been called a "roadmap of Americana" and I'd agree with that. And American Kid doesn't let you down if this is what you listen to Patty for.

  There are 12 tracks on the record and each one is strong and each one seems to stand out, but also it seems to fit with the others. Or at least, that is how it feels to me. However, my favorite part of the album are not the songs, but rather the short eight or so minute video that has Patty Griffin talking about the album. I am so interested in how others write and the way she speaks about the songwriting process is worth the $12 that I paid for the album. I don't want to ruin the experience of listening to the video, but in it she talks about how the majority of music that is coming out now is too perfect and it is hard to listen to it and imagine that real life humans are behind the instruments and the voices. I had never thought about that before, but it made me think about where that train of thought goes and it bleeds into seemingly all things. We do live in a world where everything looks so polished and perfect and all the while everyone is walking around very unhappy and wondering where all the perfection is in their own lives when in reality, it doesn't exist anywhere, but rather the world is covered with people and events broken by our humanness. She goes on to say that she desired to make a record where everything wasn't perfect and where they just sat down and sang and played like real people and where the voices cracked sometimes and the instruments went out of tune. She said the old records sound like that and there is this great beauty in the brokenness of the songs, the words, the instruments, and in the voice of the performer.

   The other item that stands out in the video is in her discussion of where the imagery for the album came from. During the time she was making this record, her father was dying and she spends some time talking about that and how the album is not necessarily about his passing away, but the album was written from this place and the songs are what she did to deal with his passing and in listening to the album, you can hear that. There are a few songs that seem to be about her dad, but mostly the album seems to be about the America that surrounds each of us. No, not what is going on in the news or the latest manufactured crisis of Washington, but what is actually happening on the street you live on, with the people you move through the day with, with the people you share dinner with, with the people who were once apart of your life, but now live some life away from you and you away from them. And I guess, this is what each Patty Griffin album is about. It is about people and that's why it is so good, so real, and so relevant because people never change, only the times change, but humanity is linked throughout time and the things that are important in 2013 were important in 1513. They looked different, but they were rooted in the sameness of the human experience.

   Buy the album. Listen to each song slowly and more than a dozen times. Listen to the video. Roll your windows down and feel the words and let the music flow through your hair. And turn up these tracks: "Go Wherever You Wanna Go", "Don't Let Me Die in Florida", and "That Kind of Lonely". The second suggested song made me really think about my granddad and how he so desperately wanted to die in Oklahoma, but rather passed in North Florida. I did not understand that then, but I am beginning to understand this connection with the land and place that is apart me and starting to make me wonder about so many things. I do wish so badly that he could have died in those barren hills and been laid to rest in that dry, red dirt. His cemetery would not have been as nice and his funeral as nice, but I think there is something about Adam being made from the dirt and then us going back into it and the need for dead, organic matter in the growing of new things. But I do wish you could be buried in places where you loved. I wish that my granny could have been buried in that place where the salt water laps the sand and where she so love to just sit, but she is buried inland, so very far from the beach. I know this is not realistic, but so much of what we've made to be"real" life is manufactured and we've limited the freedom of this life with rules and laws and made ourselves live by them as if they were real. We made up the 40 hour week. We made up the 5 day work week. We made up the need to go to college. We made this distinction between respectable, honored jobs and those that aren't when all honest work is to be respected. We made up the days of the week and the way we feel about them. We made up daylight savings and the IRS.  We created ways to kill off the living. We have made all natural things to be awkward and strange when they are real and beautiful in their own ways. I will stop here. Sorry.

Happy listening and thanks for reading,

  DAVID

Everything's Right, It's Summertime--A Song.

*It was my intention to post this a full month ago, but it just didn't happen. It was a logistical thing. It is a life thing.  Hope you enjoy. JDD

Taken by Melissa Dark in Ormond Beach, Florida

Everything's Right, It's Summertime

The sun is up, not a cloud in the sky,

I've got my favorite people right here by my side,

And everything's right, everything's right.

Our bellies are full and the car is in drive,

Not a place to go besides a joy ride,

And everything's right, everything's right.

Ooooh', its summertime,

Ooooh', and everything's right,

Ooooh', its summertime,

Ooooh', the days are long and we're feeling fine.

Taken by Melissa Dark on Hines Terrace

The Fridge is overflowing and the bills are paid,

And we've still got some cold, loose change,

And everything's right, everything's right.

The air is heavy and the temp is high,

But its ok we've found a place in the shade,

And everything's right, everything's right.

Ooooh', its summertime,

Ooooh', and everything's right,

Ooooh', its summertime,

Ooooh', and the days are long and we're feeling fine. 

Taken by me on our front porch with FH and some sparklers.

Happy Summertime and hope you enjoyed it,

David

Alabama Shakes--An Album Review with Some Thoughts About Music

   A couple weeks ago, I was driving FH around in our new ride and came to two full realizations that I wasn't really looking for. We were actually looking for somewhere to blow about a half hour besides the insides of the Envoy and we realized that the vehicle has no option to plug in my trusty iPod and we had run through all of the cd's that we had available and we were at the not so benevolent hands of the radio tuner and although we begged for mercy, it showed us none. The two realizations were that 1) the Envoy NEEDS a plug in option for some outside source for acquiring music and 2) all radio, minus AM and maybe public radio, is so, so, so very terrible. And I don't mean that Top 40 radio stinks in that hipster nonsense way in that I'm actually too good for it, but in that please play more than the same 10-15 songs and please, dear Mr. DJ, please quit playing those loud screaming commercials where the speaker is promising me a golden goose if I would just come in and test drive a 2014 KIA kind of way. 

    And this got me to thinking about how much music has digressed over the last 70 or so years. I am really talking about feeling. And by this, I mean that while the song is playing, what am I feeling and how the artist relays what they are feeling through the music or through their voice. If you don't understand exactly what I'm getting at, I ask you to go find an older song, say Ella Fitzgerald's, "At Last, My Love Has Come Along ", and then compare it to even a great voice of today like Adele and compare the feeling of the voice and the feeling of the music. Or say listen to Bill Withers sing, "Ain't No Sunshine", and compare it to John Mayer sing, "Half of My Heart". Can you hear a difference? Can you feel a difference? Or say go listen to BB King sing, "The Thrill is Gone", and compare that to Pitbull singing, "Give Me Everything". And lastly, say go listen to Hank Williams or even Waylon Jennings sing, "Your Cheatin' Heart" or "Casey's Last Ride" and compare that to Darius Rucker singing, "Come Back Song". Hopefully you can get what I am trying to get at. 

      I say all of this because as I was driving along and FH and I got to thinking and wishing that music could sound like it used to. I know, I know. We're nostalgic and sentimental, and maybe we are hoarders of past emotions a little as well. But what happened? No, I don't want musicians to not be there own, but I would like them to make me feel as if the lyrics to the songs they are singing mean something to them so much so that they make them feel real to me. And yes, there are musicians and singers who are putting heartfelt music out there, but it seems like it is becoming more and more of a rare thing. But what I was really wondering about was about if there were any bands/musicians/artists around making music that sounded and felt like music did 50 years ago and then we got to where FH and I were suppose to be and then the thought died. If you are a parent of a little child, you get this. 

       And then a small moment of inspiration occurred. A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work once again at Alpine Camp for Boys in Mentone, Alabama. On one of the days we were there, the other guy I was working with and the boys who were in our stead headed north to have a grand day in Chattanooga. One of the places we went to was McKay's Used Book Store (One of my favorite places in the whole world to go to!). The other guy, Doug H., bought a cd and then popped it in the car radio on our way to location two of our planned day and what came out of the speakers blew me away. The cd that he had purchased was Alabama Shakes: Boys and Girls. 

    Alabama Shakes was formed in 2009 when a group of high school band members starting getting together after school to write songs in Athens, Alabama. They first played under the name The Shakes, but added the word, Alabama, in 2011. I won't give you their whole history because you can read about it elsewhere, but all I really wanted to do was bring the band to your attention. My youngest sister who is very hip and with it knew about them already, but I hadn't heard about them at all. But I am so glad that I know about them now.

        The sounds, the voice, and the music that came blasting from the Bose speakers in that Suburban that day answered my question in more than one way. Yes, there are a few bands out there making music like it used to sound and one of those bands is Alabama Shakes. From the first song, "Hold On", to the last song, "Heavy Chevy", the band led by lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Brittany Howard, will take you to places that BB King, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, The Temptations, and Muddy Waters once took you. Each of the songs has a very old feel about it and some even sound at times like songs from other bands. An example of that would be the first track, "Hold On", it could very well be a CCR song until Brittany Howard begins singing and you realize that John Fogerty was replaced by a blend of Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald. 

      No, I would in no way say that Alabama Shakes is breaking new ground, but I would say that all 12 songs on the album are great songs and worthy of several listens. To be honest, it took me two full rotations of the cd through the Suburban's speakers before I took a full liking to the way the band sounds. No, the lyrics aren't soul inspiring every single line, but they are and do, like the country songs of old, tell great stories and are full of life's moments. I would say the music to the songs is spot on; especially the percussion portion of the songs. I know very little about drumming, but will say that the drummer, Steve Johnson, is impeccable. And the voice of Brittany Howard is a driving force in each song. She can lay it down thick and dense and she can be light and airy, but nowhere on the album did I feel like she was anything, but heartfelt. 

    Since I first heard Alabama Shakes, I have purchased their album and have given it about 10-12 full listens and with each listen it grows more and more on me. If you have not heard it, give it a try. You won't be disappointed unless you are looking for more auto-tuned voices and songs featuring ten performers who have parts like saying, "Yeah, Yeah, Word" during the chorus. This is a great album and worth the nine dollars you will throw down for it, unless you buy it somewhere for less. I look forward to a night I can go home from work, start the grill, help Mel and FH cook dinner, turn on our little deck lights, pour myself a tall limeade, and let Alabama Shakes sing me into the weekend. 

Happy reading and happy listening,

   David 

     

    

For the Love of Music--4

   It is not often that I begin listening to a record and instantly feel as if someone took the mood from a great piece of writing and put music to it. I can actually only say this has happened a handful of times in my whole life. The first time this happened to me was during the summer of 2005 and I was sitting in a screen porch named Belvedre, eating a rushed lunch, watching it rain, and a friend leaned back in his chair and pressed play on an old cd player. I saw the cd cover and read the name and instantly thought the worst, but then the first note of the first song began to play and my opinions were instantly changed. The sounds that were coming out of the two, small speakers were something I had been wanting to hear for a long, long time. It was music that was both haunting and wonderful. It was both eclectic and perfect. The artist was Sufjan (SUE-fee-on) Stevens and the record was, Greetings from Michigan-The Great Lake State. It contains music that I hadn't heard from anyone in my then 25 years of life.

  Sufjan Stevens and his music are hard to define and that is maybe part of his draw. His music is an odd blend of folk, bluegrass, rock, big band, and Broadway. The songs are these grand canvases that may include all the musical styles at one point of the song. Many of the songs have no clear ending or may begin rapidly and lead to an almost whispering end. And the content of the songs reads more like an early twentieth-century novel than a musical record as the lyrics touch upon topics like faith, sin, redemption, a love for place, and a hope for something better.

     And all of this reflects the artist who is making this music and it is often odd because he is not exactly definable either. Sufjan is from an inter-faith family, but is a Christian. His first name was given to him by an Islamic cleric and much of his earlier music has a very Middle-Eastern feel. He got involved with RUF while at Hope College and a close listen to his music will reveal that link. However, the record, Michigan, is part of what Sufjan labeled as his 50 State Project and is about the state of Michigan. It was his idea to go to every state and write a record based solely on the information about every state. Since the release of Michigan, Stevens has released another full album and an album of "outtakes" based on the state of Illinois and there is much web-based speculation on which state might be next and many doubters say Stevens never meant to write a record based on every state. 

   Michigan, contains 22 songs and snippets of songs about the Great Lakes State. Stevens spent much of his life in the state and one can feel a very personal vibe for many of the songs. It is odd to listen to a record about a place. It really makes the state feel more alive than one would think that a place can feel. It also makes someone who has never been to Michigan feel as if they had and that to me may be the most powerful part about this record. It is not often that a song or even a record makes one feel as if they know a place they've never been. Stevens does this in both of his albums about states.

  I would recommend a listen to Sufjan Stevens. you may not like him the first time around, but I can probably guarantee that he'll grow on you. and if he doesn't you will at least respect him for the type of music he is making, his ability to play so many different instruments well, and the effort he puts forth both in the writing and playing of his songs.

Happy Listening,

  David

For the Love of Music--4

   Phil Collins. I know. I can hear the ridicule now. Some of it even coming from myself. Some of it coming from the staff here at Hines Terrace Herald. Believe me, I know. However, this album is on my iPod and when I am riding in my car alone, I turn up the music. Loud. It is always a great shot of nostalgia.

   The reason that this album makes this list is this: when I was just 14, I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Madagascar. From the time we took off from Orlando en route to the east coast of Africa, I was mesmerized with every part of the trip. Every moment was like living inside a dream. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of that trip, even 18 years later. And this album was a big part of that trip.

    My team arrived in the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, loaded our luggage and supplies, and boarded several open air buses and headed north for our 10 hour bus ride to where we would be spending the rest of our summer. The whole bus ride was like opening up a National Geographic magazine and getting to walk into the pictures; all the smells, lights, people, accents, emotions, food, etc became real and I was amongst all of it. Before we loaded the bus, a leader of mine purchased two cassettes: U2:Zooropa and Phil Collins: Both Sides of the Story; neither of which had been released in the USA yet. Ah', the beauty of the black market. We listened to U2 first and everyone felt a little weird about it. I pretended to know the U2 sound, but really only knew them from the Joshua Tree tape and not so well. This was way before I knew it was cool to listen to U2. I knew my older brother was much cooler than me and that he listened to U2. I just hoped that second hand listening counted in some one's book. We listened to the Zooropa tape multiple times and then night set in and most people went to sleep. We had been traveling for three days and through three continents. Everyone was exhausted. I was very, very tired, but couldn't sleep. I hadn't really slept since we left Orlando. It was all too much to take in. How could you sleep when you were sitting in Ireland, Paris, Cyprus, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Djibouti, Somalia? When would I ever see those places again? I just couldn't get enough of everything.
  
   The bus got very quiet as we continued to travel north past so many things that I had never seen before. Through mountains and past little villages further away from anything that had been normal to me. Fires burned in the distance and fewer traces of the 20th century could be seen. I climbed from my seat and into the window, so that the wind could blow through my hair and I could see better. It was a full moon and it felt like the whole sky was on display just for me. I hadn't ever seen the sky without refracted light. It seemed so clear that it seemed fake. It was just me and the sky. It was as if I were floating and the sky was encompassing me in all directions. And through all of this Phil Collins was playing in the background. It became the soundtrack to this moment. I rode for three or more hours like this; sitting in the window sill of the bus and holding onto the side of the roof and trying to see all that there was to see. I cannot see a full moon and not be drawn back to this moment. We arrived at our home for the summer and unloaded out things. We slept on the porch of the main house because it was four in the morning. I was greatly saddened because my brief moment had ended, but it was really just the beginning of a summer full of those moments. And Phil Collins was always playing in the background.

  The U2 tape became a favorite, but the Phil Collins tape became the tape we all requested. It wasn't that we just loved the songs or felt that the lyrics described how we were feeling, but it was the mood of the music itself. It was slow and sad, but also hopeful, but most of all it seemed to let us see what it feels like to be both happy and sad and beautiful all at the same time. It was one of the first times in life that I found out that you could be all of those at once. I hadn't known that. I am so glad that all of those emotions snuck up on me as a young boy riding on the side of a bus and looking out at the night sky. I have never been the same since then.

   I arrived back home two months later and about a month after the trip my family went to see Phil Collins in concert. I hadn't told them much about my experiences and how the tape had been playing in the background. Phil Collins is actually one of my dad's favorites. He partly likes him because he is short and bald and can still rock. I thought it was funny then and I still do. It is weird to see parts of your parents that you don't normally think about. You forget that they too were young once and they too had favorite songs and musicians. They too turned up the music loud and jammed out. The older I get the more I wished I had asked them about music. I could have learned a lot more. The concert was awesome. I don't mind saying that. Phil Collins played every instrument during the concert. It was truly incredible.

  However, this album will always be about a wide-eyed young boy sitting in the window and watching the world go by and living inside a dream.

David

For the Love of Music--3

         First of all, I know that I am dating myself severely by the albums I am choosing, but what can I do? The 80's and 90's were my time. I had no choice in the matter. And I also know this may seem an odd post to come after my last post, but if you know me, it may not be. All I can say is that I am forgiven, but not perfect or holy.

        The album that is pictured is, "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?", by the British band Oasis. This album came out in 1996 and in the moments when I was pretending to be in the Jars of Clay, I pretended I was in Oasis. I thought and still think this record is one of the best ever made. I thought and still think that Noel Gallagher, the main guitarist of Oasis, is one of the coolest guys in music:

   Much of the music that came out in the 90's was not so good, or at least I thought so. I wasn't a big fan of the Grunge movement, I was never that angry and the Spice Girls were exactly what I wanted to be ever caught listening to. Oasis was not any of that. They were supposed to be the, "saving sound of Rock and Roll"--Rolling Stone 95'. I was naive and believed they would. They didn't. But they were the biggest rock band for most of the 90's and the early 2000's. Their song, Wonderwall, is still a mega-hit.

  I got this tape and listened to it till it broke. I then bought another until it broke and then I bought the cd. I still listen to this album courtesy of my iPod (circa 2004). The songs are still great. The sound is big. The lyrics are nonsensical. The guitar solos are loud, long, and tight. They took the music of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones and turned up the volume and got better guitarists (Sorry, Paul, John, George, and Keith). It is an incredible album. I have listened to it probably a thousand times and will continue to do so. (I should probably apologize to my mom, sisters, and wife for the amount of times you have had to listen to this! I'm deeply sorry.)

  I learned to play most of the songs. I bought a hollow-body guitar because of Noel. I hated that the Gallagher brothers fought so much that they ended the band. I downloaded every possible song of the band off of Napster (I miss you so badly)! I took my youngest sister to see them play at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando and was mesmerized for several weeks afterwards. (If Sarah is warped in some bad way, I am probably to blame. Sorry!)

  Give this album a listen. You will either hate it or love it. And you can listen to it knowing that if the year were 1996, you would be oh' so cool for listening to it. And you can also know that Noel is one of only a few guitarists that can use the feedback generated by an amplifier to his advantage!

Don't Look Back With Anger,

  David

For the Love of Music--2

  The sensors here at Hines Terrace Herald felt like my idea for the title of these posts was a little audacious for this place, so I have decided to keep the title the same because I do love music. I understand their concern, I think. We don't want to scare anyone off. Alread kind of doing that sometimes. Sorry.

  The above picture is the album cover for the Jars of Clay's debut album titled as most debut albums these days: Jars of Clay--Jars of Clay. It contained 10 regular songs and one secret track that was only on the cd. I didn't know about it for a long time because yours truly was a tape guy. Still am. Have a box of cassettes I keep in my car and still listen to. Not trying to bring it back or under the delusion that they are better. Just not ready to get rid of them. (Pray harder for sweet Melissa.)

  The first Jars of Clay album came out, or as they say in the music biz, dropped, in 1995. I am 100% biased, but the album contains not a single weak song. Each song is good and the album became an almost overnight sensation due to the songs, Flood, Love Song for a Savior, and Worlds Apart. The song, Flood, is still a hit for them and has been since 1995, both on Christian and Secular music charts. And this is where I want to park.

  This song provided me with one of my most vivid memories concerning music. I was a fifteen year old guy and my family was traveling back home after a very awkward (meaning awkward like it was meant to represent) weekend spent in Myrtle Beach, SC with my Uncle Bobby. We were driving through Atlanta and listening to the radio on scan; something I still do and this drives my poor wife insane. Then out of nowhere we get to a song that sounded like nothing else and for three minutes and thirty seconds I was captured. I had that feeling of wanting to hear a song a hundred times in a row. The song ended far before I wanted it to and then the station made a brief statement about the new band and a little about the new album coming out. I quickly memorized it. (This is one of the few things I am good at. I can memorize things very well an quickly. This was a young Melissa's greatest downfall. She told me her number and just knew I would forget it. Big mistake!)

 When we got back to Florida, I had my mom drive me to the local, Christian bookstore and I bought the tape. I listened to it until it broke and bought another and then when that one broke, I broke down and bought the cd. This album made be start listening to what would become CCM, Contemporary Christian Music. It shaped the way I wanted to learn about how to play my guitar. I learned how to play almost all ten songs. My friend and I started a band while in high school and tried with every bone in our bodies to BE the Jars of Clay. I was obessed. Still kind of am.

  The Jars of Clay are still making music. I am still buying it. I still love to play the songs I learned so long ago and am learning the newer songs. Their newest release, The Shelter, is a great album that I listen to often. It is the album I listened to while warming up and stretching for my only marathon. I am so glad we caught that radio station playing, Flood, sixteen short years ago.  I believe my life would have been different.

If you haven't heard this album, go and do so,

  David

For the Love of Music

  Something that I haven't come entirely out and said on this blog is that I love music. Well, I love certain music. I'm not one of those guys who, "listens to a little bit of everything...", but I do like a variety of music. I can even appreciate a lot of different genres, but the music I like the most contains many of the same elements. So...I have decided to include a portion of this blog to my love of music. I feel like doing a list of sorts and hope we are all fine with that. (If you have to sigh, please do so quietly! I am already currently ruining many of my student's lives and cannot bare to know that I am ruining yours too . If I am by making this little list, I apologize before it starts.)

  So, the audacious title for this list is going to be something like, The Albums That Changed My Life, or something of that sort. Not sure exactly yet. Still have to run it by the crew here at Hines Terrace Herald and they are a tough crowd. Lady hates music of all types. She hates it loud and hates it soft. She especially hates it when you are making it. She has one, real ground rule about and that is that there is never any reason to ever sing and play in her presence.  Jack likes music, but is a Top 40 guy. Words like indie give him the shivers. He also hates hipsters for always giving him a hard time about his play lists and wants me to tell all of you that he didn't start liking Arcade Fire till they got a Grammy! And Mel, well Mel is Mel. She does like a little bit of everything and to my limited knowledge picks up on lyrics faster than anyone in the world. I am sure she could be an astrophysicists if they would only put the math to a tune! And there is me, I have been called a music snob and other things. I can't remember lyrics to save me, but can remember most every song I have ever learned to play. So, Mel and I make a great team that Lady will never be caught listening to!

 The first album on my little list is:




   I began learning to play the guitar when I was a little, twelve year old by. My parents bought my older brother and me guitars for Christmas in 1991. I was sure that I would be famous by Easter, but it was just not that easy. However, about six months into learning to play my guitar teacher let me listen to the above cassette tape. (Yes, I said cassette. I am old. I only have a few good years left in my ears, eyes, hips, and have been looking in to a Jitterbug as of late.)

  I remember hearing the sounds that came through my radio and being completely captured and in awe. It has been 19 years since then and I am still in awe. Mr. Keaggy plays the guitar as Van Gogh painted. You do not hear him moving up or down frets. You do not hear the pick. You do not him do anything that most every other guitarist does. I could not believe that he and I were playing the same instrument. When I played it was rough, scratchy, ill-sounding and when he played it was smooth and perfect. I used to go sleep almost every night listening to this tape, hoping that if I hard it enough I could one day learn to play like him. It hasn't happened yet.

   Well, it has been a long time and I still do not play like him. I have gotten a little better, but do not believe I will ever play like him. He has a gift and plays to return it back to the One to Who he knows gave it to him. If you do not know him yet, please look him up. Some of his songs are a little much, he doesn't have the greatest of singing voices, and is a little obsessed with being the Fifth Beatle, but, but, but, I have listened and seen a lot of people play the guitar and no one does it better nor do they make it look easier. And he does it all with NINE fingers. He lost his tenth in a well while a young man. I saw him a long time ago play in concert and he played all the instruments and parts to all his songs on his one guitar while looping all the sounds he was making. It was and still remains one of the most amazing things I have ever seen a person do. It was truly magnificent.

 All this being said, please give the album a listen to. It is soothing, challenging, and I think it is one of the finest instrumental guitar albums ever made. And if you are like me and try to play the guitar, then you too can use it a a benchmark for your playing.

David