Chris Whitley & Jeff Lang – Dislocation Blues (ABC Records).
This album was recorded seven months before Chris Whitley’s untimely death due to cancer and it is a fitting piece of work to remember him by. Vocal flits between wispy and pronounced power on the opener, Stagger Lee. This is a slow, brooding version of the famous song with acoustic backing, electric slide and a throbbing drum beat from Ashley Davies. Twelve Thousand Miles is a gutsy blues with excellent, equally gutsy guitar. Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece is a wall of sound with Whitley and Lang both on form with this grinder. Rocket House is country blues at the start but runs into a contemporary urban blues. There is some excellent slide guitar from both of them and what a loss Whitley is – hypnotic. The Road Leads Down has, quite simply, superb. They manage to get the ethos of the pre-war Delta and bring it slap bang up to date on the eponymous title track.
Forever In My Life has, as with the rest, a broody undercurrent. The use of Dobro on the album has been a masterstroke, none more so than on Velocity Girl. Unfortunately, the vocal on this is not as good is has been on others but the jagged guitar makes up for that. Ravenswood is airy but the voice goes a couple of times. Underground is completely different from those that have gone before. Electric, grungy guitar with a fuzzed vocal, it is almost demonic. Their voices differ but compliment each other and this is highlighted on the second Dylan cover, Changing Of The Guard. The breathless quality of the vocal is counterbalanced by the snappy guitar. Motion Bride is the last noted track and starts off in a sea shanty style with banjo to the fore. However, there is a short silence and then the guitars take over for a very ethereal rendition of Robert Johnson’s Hellhound On My Trail. This is followed by another, Kick The Stones I believe it to be, and the whole thing lasts over 11 minutes with a live track at the end. Not altogether unnecessary but it would have been good if they could have listed these tracks.
http://www.warnermusic.com.au/
David Blue.
This album was recorded seven months before Chris Whitley’s untimely death due to cancer and it is a fitting piece of work to remember him by. Vocal flits between wispy and pronounced power on the opener, Stagger Lee. This is a slow, brooding version of the famous song with acoustic backing, electric slide and a throbbing drum beat from Ashley Davies. Twelve Thousand Miles is a gutsy blues with excellent, equally gutsy guitar. Bob Dylan’s When I Paint My Masterpiece is a wall of sound with Whitley and Lang both on form with this grinder. Rocket House is country blues at the start but runs into a contemporary urban blues. There is some excellent slide guitar from both of them and what a loss Whitley is – hypnotic. The Road Leads Down has, quite simply, superb. They manage to get the ethos of the pre-war Delta and bring it slap bang up to date on the eponymous title track.
Forever In My Life has, as with the rest, a broody undercurrent. The use of Dobro on the album has been a masterstroke, none more so than on Velocity Girl. Unfortunately, the vocal on this is not as good is has been on others but the jagged guitar makes up for that. Ravenswood is airy but the voice goes a couple of times. Underground is completely different from those that have gone before. Electric, grungy guitar with a fuzzed vocal, it is almost demonic. Their voices differ but compliment each other and this is highlighted on the second Dylan cover, Changing Of The Guard. The breathless quality of the vocal is counterbalanced by the snappy guitar. Motion Bride is the last noted track and starts off in a sea shanty style with banjo to the fore. However, there is a short silence and then the guitars take over for a very ethereal rendition of Robert Johnson’s Hellhound On My Trail. This is followed by another, Kick The Stones I believe it to be, and the whole thing lasts over 11 minutes with a live track at the end. Not altogether unnecessary but it would have been good if they could have listed these tracks.
http://www.warnermusic.com.au/
David Blue.
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