The clouds have parted. The house is alive with the sound of electric 12-string!
Yes Roger McGuinn's new album has arrived! It's playing here for the very first time as I write this!
So in case you haven't picked up on it here is a "first hearing" - as it happens - review...
Roger McGuinn "Limited Edition" (April First Productions AFP 0401)
7 new songs, 5 classic folk / blues plus one George Harrison composition.
Pedro Araujo : Keyboards / Delyn Christian : Harmonica, Background Vocals / John Jorgensen : bass, 6-string guitar, background vocals / Curt Keidser : drums / Kammy Kolorado : Background Vocals / Bill Lee : Background Vocals / Stan Lynch : Drums / Roger McGuinn : 12-string electric guita, 12-string acoustic guitar, 6-string electric guitar, vocals, 5-string vocals.
Original Compositions : Roger & Camilla
Produced & Mixed by Roger & Camilla
Engineered & Mastered by Roger
What to say. It's more a follow up to "Back From Rio" than "Live From Mars" or "Favourites From The Rock Den". That's truest on the new songs.
Roger is on top form vocally - better even than on "Back From Rio" there is a truly beautiful sweetness to his voice at times. His ability to "story tell" in song is as strong as ever.
The sound is driven by great swirls of 12-string guitar while the band - and they do sound like a "band" - are just white hot. They've got that magic sound of guys who know they are hitting perfection - that apparently effortless swagger that is one of the true characteristics of the very best American rock. And by the way Roger hasn't "rocked" like this in years if ever at all. And does it "jingle jangle? My God it does!
I don't think I've ever heard Roger sound so committed and enthusiastic. He really goes for this at full throttle but at the same time as it is passionate and committed it is also intensely delicate and moving.
On first hearing it has the same magnificent characteristic that made "Back From Rio" so special. Every song is different and distinctive and yet each one 'belongs' in the set and everything is tied together by that McGuinn voice and that McGuinn guitar.
What is really amazing is how the old folk / blues numbers are reborn within the context of an electric album.
If I Needed Someone /
Heartbreakingly moving interpretation. At last The Byrds play The Beatles and it does sound like how The Byrds could have covered The Beatles in 1965!
Parade Of Lost Dreams /
Sounds like a missing track from "Back From Rio" - totally in the idiom of that album. It is perhaps a distant cousin to "Car Phone" which isn't exactly a bad thing.
Shady Grove /
Rarely has a "traditional" item been so completely taken over by an interpreter. It now belongs to Roger McGuinn.
James Alley Blues /
This one rocks. If McGuinn wanted to prove he can still rock when the mood takes him then he's done it just fine!
On And On /
Another "Back From Rio" classic distantly related to "Your Love Is A Gold Mine".
Southbound 95 /
We've been waiting for this for ages - this lurked around in various forms for years and now it's grown up and found its final form. A nice easy rolling McGuinn storytelling classic. Never has he been so completely in control.
Castanet Dance /
Another gentle "Back From Rio" number. A light love song embellished with some beutiful instrumentation and graced by that McGuinn voice.
Shenandoah /
With "Shenandoah" Roger achieves what the Byrds were trying to do with "Wild Mountain Thyme" and "John Riley" all those years ago. Then it sounded a little forced. Now it just sounds so right - as if it was always bound to happen.
When The Saints Go Marching In /
At first I didn't get this - probably because I've somehow never appreciated the song anyway - but somehow (we are talking update - twentieth hearing later in the day) I got there. This one is a missing piece of the "Easy Rider" soundtrack. I have no idea of whether Roger McGuinn thought of it like that or if it just came up from the depths or, indeed, if it is just coincidence but that, sure as Hell, is what it is. When you get that it all becomes clear and it suddenly fits.
Saint James Infirmary /
The blues meet The Byrds. The outcome is deeply gentle with McGuinn's strorytelling magic encompassing a classic redefining it on his own terms.
May The Road Rise To Meet You /
On the cover it notes "back by popular request". This rendition is both gentler and more emotional than earlier attempts. Less intrusive guitar it is held together by the beauty of the lyrics and the vocal delivery. If he had to keep re-doing it until he got it perfect then he can sleep easy. It's a gentle spine tingling classic. It also is truly a musical prayer.
Echoes Live /
This is "Eight Miles High" revisited live as a classically influenced instrumental. I've heard him do this on stage. It is mind blowing! This is undoubtedly Roger's finest instrumental moment since the original "Eight Miles High". It is quite literally a "masterpiece" in the true sense of the word. Stunning.
Made In China /
We go out with the guy proving he can still rock with the very best. Pounding, driven classic American rock to finish. I want the lyrics for this one.
Regards,
Mike