Recent Reviews and Features

Fuzz 
The Sound That Revolutionized the World
(Brink) - DVD

A little metal box opened the doors to otherworldly sounds, replete with controlled distortions, howls of feedback and sustained riffs that helped usher aural possibilities in the rock ‘n’ roll universe. The fuzz box, a metal container half the size of a shoebox and laden with circuitry and a kick-button, connecting the electric guitar with the amplifier, helped musicians create sounds that didn’t quite revolutionize the world, but did wonders for musical expression. On this 90-minute documentary a slew of musicians, producers, electronic junkies and geeks are gathered to talk about the little devices that can take a guitar note or strum and mushroom it into unholy noises and sounds. Fuzz features several fuzzbox loving guitarists including Billy Gibbons, Jon Spencer, J. Mascis, and Chris Ross. Producer and director Clif Taylor explores this industry of noise-making with like-minded creative types chatting about hard to find vintage fuzz boxes along with what’s new in the field. Guitar god Jimi Hendrix shook the rock world with his guitar and fuzz gizmos in the late 60s, helping to further popularize the devices. Other features on the DVD include Angela Bowie commenting on the late great guitarist Mick Ronson. 

Al Di Meola
Diabolic Inventions - Volume 1 Music of Astor Piazzolla
(inakustik) - CD

Master jazz guitarist Al Di Meola reinterprets some choice works of great Argentinean Tango composer Astor Piazzolla on Diabolic Inventions. It’s Di Meola’s first all-acoustic solo guitar disc. The two worked together years ago and the mutual admiration led Di Meola to reconstruct Piazzolla’s works and record these renditions. Piazzolla’s bandoneon and compositions turned the traditional tango world upside down. Now Di Meola inserts his impressions, via an acoustic guitar, into those wondrous arrangements. Tracks on this collection include, “Campero,” “Poemo Valseado,” and “Tangata del Alba.” 

Bob Marley and the Wailers
Another Dance – Rarities from Studio One
(Heartbeat) - CD

All songs on Another Dance were recorded between 1964 and 1966 when Marley and his cohorts Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were more interested in American soul, do wop and R&B. All 18 tracks are intertwined with the unmistakable Jamaican vibe of early ska and rock steady. It was several years later that Marley adopted Rastafarianism and began making soul-stirring reggae music for which he is better known. All the gems on Another Dance were recorded at the late Jamaican producer Clement Dodd’s Studio One recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Friends
Solos, Sessions & Encores
(Epic) - CD

The late great blues-rock guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan left behind myriad recordings and works before his death in 1990 at the age of 35. Solos, Sessions & Encores compiles some of the tracks, live and in the studio, he recorded with other musicians including Jeff Beck, Johnny Copeland, Lou Ann Barton, Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt, and Marcia Ball. Most of these recordings are previously unreleased and range from Vaughan originals to other classics and standards. The rollicking “Pipeline” with surf guitarist Dick Dale rocks the joint as does “Change It,” a duet with his brother Jimmie Vaughan. The disc is bookended by the live opener “Sky is Crying” featuring B.B. King, Albert King and Paul Butterfield with David Bowie’s monster hit “Let’s Dance,” on which Vaughan played guitar, closing the disc. 

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Resurrecting the Renaissance
Blackmore's Night takes rock legend back in time

BY Samir Shukla
Published 10.24.07 in Creative Loafing, Charlotte

It's one of the most recognizable rock 'n' roll riffs ever. Even if you don't know the rest of the song, you know the opening riff. All you need to hear are the first three chords to start humming the hard rock nugget "Smoke on the Water."

Ritchie Blackmore's signature guitar will live on in that one song even if nothing else he did matters. But it does. Blackmore's stints in Deep Purple and Rainbow are forever etched in the eardrum-battered alleyways of rock.

But for the last decade Blackmore's music has traveled to the past going back centuries, way back to the Renaissance. Blackmore and vocalist/lyricist Candice Night have been bringing back the romanticism and aura of that epoch with their Renaissance-inspired band, Blackmore's Night, since the late '90s.

"Ritchie was always inspired by the Renaissance," Night says. "Whenever he would get off the stage he would listen to traditional music, even though he's been playing rock music for 40 years. He's always kind of reveled in that; he has a passion for this music. He's challenged by the musical instruments as well such as hurdy-gurdy or the nickel harp.

"Even in Rainbow, when you listen to 'Temple of the King' Ritchie was incorporating sixteenth century melodies. So for him, it's nothing new, but with a softer, female vocalist. Adding some newer arrangements, keeps it interesting," she adds.

Blackmore and Night met in 1989 when Deep Purple played a soccer match against employees of a Long Island radio station where she worked. The duo discovered their shared love of Renaissance culture and, shortly after, became a couple.

Night wrote some songs for Rainbow and sang back-up in the early '90s. In 1997, Blackmore began playing and recording Renaissance-inspired music. He would play the acoustic music at home and Night would casually start singing along. This informal jamming blossomed into Blackmore's Night and the band's debut album, Shadow of the Moon, was released in 1998.

This fantasy music could have come off as kitschy new age, but the couple instills a moody, ethereal feel to it all. And they evoke bygone eras with touches of Celtic and world folk rhythms.

In this band, Blackmore largely plays acoustic guitar where Night's voice adds a haunting and seductive layering. Her lyrics dabble in romanticism and although some sappiness seeps in, she writes from the heart and her words slow-dance with the music. This is contemporary music, though, not an academic study in dated Renaissance music.

Long-running fans can rest assured; Blackmore hasn't given up his Fender Stratocaster. The band polishes off old hard-rock classics, replete with a Renaissance touch, during their live performances.

Blackmore recruited other musicians from around the globe to combine bits of world music, new age, rock and folk for his current band's musical backdrop. It all revolves around Night's voice and Blackmore's acoustic guitar along with mandolins, keyboards, pennywhistles, violins, tambourines, military drums and hurdy-gurdies.

This band of 21st century wandering minstrels and troubadours revel in the Renaissance and, over the past decade, Blackmore's Night has toured and played in castles and historic locales in several European countries. The six-piece band performs material inspired by sounds dating back to the 1700s, 1600s and 1500s.

They also incorporate visuals from the era into their performances to create an "escape from the daily lives," as Night likes to describe it. Many fans, young and old, attend their shows in traditional clothing. The band has created its own sub-genre of folk-rock that is mystical and unique. It's a journey to a simpler time where art, music and romance flourished.

Candice Night weaves her vocals into her lyrical myths and fairy tales. She writes the words after Blackmore plays her a tune, opposite of what a lot of bands do when they compose music around a written song. "He is the man in the music and I'm the woman in the words," she says describing their creative partnership.

The band released the CD The Village Lanterne last year and there's a new DVD set to be released in November called Paris Moon.

All Reviews and features by Samir Shukla

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