Search - Danny Kirwan :: Second Chapter (W/Book) (Dig)

Don't Open This Book!

PHILIP S WOLF | SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA | 11/24/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Danny Kirwan, was lifted into Fleetwood Mac by Peter Green in 1968, and was a member of one of Britian's most popular bands for the next four years. Danny, played lead guitar, wrote and sang haunting beautiful songs, and never wanted the lead role of the frontsman of Fleetwood Mac. To define the emotional nature of Danny Kirwan, find a photograph of him during his stay in Fleetwood Mac, he won't be smiling in one of those pictures!



Three years after Danny was fired from Fleetwood Mac, he created his first solo recording entitled: "Second Chapter". Gone are the lonely and haunting guitars and dreamlike vocals that emerge from the mists...that Danny, has been replaced. The results of Danny's transformation are crawling all over this record from 1975.



The new Danny Kirwan, is now happy and cannot decide on a musicial style to fit his needs. Does Danny, want to sound like a forth-rate Fairport Convention: {Ram Jam City}, Chad & Jeremy: {Silver Streams} Herman's Hermits: {Best Girl In The World} or the Hollies: {Mary Jane} ???



These arrangements wouldn't have gotten over in 1966, so why are they being thrust upon the world in 1975? Danny, has penned some great songs in his past; "Woman Of A Thousand Years" & "Sands Of Time", greatness hasn't found a home on; "Second Chapter". After thirty minutes of this music, Paul Williams, is going to sound like Beethoven!



Danny, always had problems with being in the spotlight, and he wasn't fond of being under the stage lights. He would not tour with a proper band, ever again, and that is our loss because he could have been a wonderful performer if was a part of a decent group such as Wings or Frampton's Camel.



Not all of these songs will stink up your parlor, some are pretty good. If Bob Welch, could have helped Danny in composing: "Second Chapter" it would have been presented in a much better fashion. "Silver Streams" comes close to what Danny is really about, this arrangement fails the song so much, it's still all too upbeat...that is not the mood of Danny Kirwan. "Cascades" the album's closing number, is another one that could have been, this sad song is trying it's hardest into being happy...not my Danny...NO!!!



Look, I went into this listening experience with an open mind. I wanted to hear the music that I knew Danny could produce, the kind of music that defines him as a musician and as a person. "Second Chapter" indeed...it's like the guy's that brought you: "The Monkees" are at it again!



I'm going to be kind here...

1.5 Stars."

A Lost gem

Roger G. Williams | VA | 09/18/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're here, you know why. I won't go on about the Mac, Danny's alcoholism, etc. Danny's talent was in writing such melodic, beautiful, often melancholy music centered around fluid playing. "Earl Grey" (Kiln House), most of Future Games and Bare Trees provided my first taste of mood or 'chill' type of music in the 70s.

True, there are some duffs on here, but "Second Chapter" "Cascades" "Silver Streams" are just gorgeous and make me think of a solo artist composing away in his cottage on a rural English river bank. I've always mixed this music with Nick Drake, early Durutti Column, Grant McLennan's Go Betweens work, etc.

It perfectly accommodates. Wish he had continued to create. A truly remarkable mood maker."

A Beautiful Musician

T. A. Smith | iowa city | 04/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I bought "Second Chapter", I was looking for more of the same: "Sometimes", "Child of Mine". Well, Danny was such a great musician that he played a style of guitar that fit in with Mick Fleetwood's and John McVie's rhythm section. It all fits, perfectly. This man has been one of my all-time favorite guitarists since I first heard him on the "Future Games" (Fleetwood Mac) album. And that was...back in 1973, I believe. Now, once you've heard songs like "Jewel-Eyed Judy" and "Dust" you're going to think this kid is the missing link between Clapton Beck and Page. But here, on "Second Chapter", Danny has opened up from the somewhat dark feel of the Mac to spread his wings and fly. Quite joyously, if you listen to "Ram Jam City". As you partake more deeply of the album, you'll hear music reminiscent of Paul McCartney and Wings, in the "Helen Wheels" and "Band on the Run" era. But this power-pop is also supported further with the addition of strings, sax, and piano. Musically excellent, I will reiterate. Not only McCartney's music hall struts and promenades, but a solid dose of "Pet Sounds" structured so beautifully as to out-Wilson Brian Wilson. Just listen! There is some sentimentality, but what is better than a hot summer day in June? All of us are bound to get sentimental about the perfect day, and the perfect girl, and you will find that this music captures that, in crystalline clarity, down thru the years. So sweet, so exact, so silly. And the music, as in "Skip A Dee Doo" keeps rolling smartly along, like the river imagery that seems to flow thru the entire album. I sometimes feel as if I'm listening to lost tapes from the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour phase, demos that George or Paul might get up by themselves. There is a very wonderful Phil Spectoresque quality to the production, a wall of sound you can lean against and not fall down. Once again, there is a lot of Brian Wilson in this, the same sensibilities when it comes to rhythm and harmonic structure. "Lovely Days" may be one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard anywhere. And then you get "Cascades", which may be even better. It's all too much! All these beautiful gems of sound! This album is fantastic, in the same way that Abbey Road is. And one man put it all together, at the age of twenty-four. Man, do I wish this guy would come back to us! This guy's music was the personification of truth and beauty, if I'm not mistaken."