Disturbingly Disturbed...
Jason Cooper | Saline, MI United States | 08/02/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Never ever miss a Greg Brown show. This folk singer from Iowa writes songs and plays songs unparalled, almost.
February 2001, Ann Arbor, MI. I got the last ticket to see GBs first of two sets at the Ark. The opening act, Jeff Lang.
When the guy in the red t-shirt walked out, I expected he was going to introduce the opener. Surprise of surprises, he sits down, picks up an acoustic lap steel (turns out one of Australian manufacture) and proceeds to amaze the audience with a 45 minute set of music so overwhelmingly intense as to boggle the mind.
His style of play is somewhere between Chet Atkins, Junior Brown and Johnny Ramone. Where the chainsaw meets the six string, his intensity playing rivaled only by the dark and desperate tone of his vocals, contrasted with a quiet and self-deprecating intrasong banter providing a sensory juxtaposition difficult to describe. At the end of the set, only two thoughts; WOW! and Can I get a CD???
Fortunately, there are several. This one "Disturbed Folk Vol. 2" being a live recording with "no overdubbing" ended up in my pocket as I made my way home.
EVERY TRACK is astonishing. At times, the thought of it being "a solo live recording" is too much to fathom. Had I not seen it, I would not believe it. Many of the cuts are Lang originals, though there are a few covers.
Track One, "We Don't Ask". Dualing banjos, except that one banjo is the Churchill Acoustic Lap Steel, the other is Lang's vocal. The lyric makes the phrase "Question Authority" a battle cry.
Track Two, "Scream". Another ballet mosh on the Churchill. The last five minutes are a Hendrix-esque assault on the senses in the form of a solo that must leave the artist exhausted, it certainly does the user.
Track Three, "London". A love song to still the heart. A guitar hook to kick start it up again.
Track Four, Tom Waits "Going Out West". A personal favorite. A fitting tribute to the writer of "...I got hair on my chest, I look good without a shirt..." One of three covers... NOT the Lap Steel, a small body 6 string is responsible for the blistering solo.
Track Five, a title cut from one of the studio CDs, "Cedar Grove". Bluesy, groovy, woodsy... Played on a National Steel
Track Six, "Is She Slipping". "...love is messy, love is cruel, stains your skin when your undressing..." A man bruised by a woman, with more bruises to come.
Track Seven, "Prepare Me Well". A personal favorite. "Hell is just a state of mind, I'm not there yet but you ain't done trying." A dark tribute to the insanity of love.
Track Eight, Rickie Lee Jones' "We Belong Together". True to the writer, a rambling dissertation of love. Emotional and intense.
Track Nine, "Elvis is Still Dead" Variations on a theme from a simple single string riff on a single Churchill Lap Steel waxing and waning before crescendoing into a paper shredder like assault that should require two guitars. In the end it is still one voice, one amplified guitar and rhythm producing foot stomp. Words simply do not do this track justice, especially, the solo around six minutes in...
Track Ten, Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightening". A love song? Hard for anyone to try to do Thompson, vocally or musically. Lang does so on this small body tour de force.
"Disturbed Folk Vol. 2" is so much a part of my heavy rotation that I want to see not only Vol. 1 but Vol. 3, 4 and more.
Jeff Lang is THE epitome of virtuosity. BUY THIS CD!!!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1