Subtle, evocative ambient work
Robert H. Nunnally Jr. | Allen, TX United States | 12/16/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jeff Pearce's "guitar only" brand of ambient music is always a delight to hear. One might expect that an artist whose forte is using various treatments of guitar to achieve an ambient sound would be inclined to showy "look what my guitar can do" displays, Gentle Giant-ish signature changes, and the other hallmarks of the guitarist-as-artiste. Pearce takes an altogether different tack. To the Shores of Heaven is an intelligent and very subtle collection of slowly unfolding melodic sound played in ambient format, never cloying, always interesting. There's no gimmickry here, just solid ambient sound. At British Columbia's Butchart Gardens, the flowers are not labeled by variety, because the planners wish one to experience the garden as a *garden*, and not as a collection of ideas. To the Shores of Heaven is similar--Pearce never makes you feel that you're listening to an ambient devotee's intellectual exchange on the state of ambient made with guitars; this is instead an integrated and altogether musical album, well worth owning. If you've always wanted to move your ambient taste past Music for Airports and the Budd/Eno collections, but never known where to begin, here's your answer. Begin here."
That Jeff Guy
Gordon Danis | Eastchester, New York United States | 11/25/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's nice to see the confluence of praise for one of the finest musicians and nicest people in the music business coming from reviewers like Bill Beck and an Angel Of Venice, Carol Tatum. Jeff can bring together a crowd like no one else.The music....Jeff has taken the concept behind Robert Fripp and Brian Eno's work on "No Pussyfooting" and "Evening Star" and extended and recrafted it, to the point where Jeff's sound is as distinctly recognizable as Coltrane's tenor or Joao Gilberto's soothing voice. Don't even bother trying to figure out how Jeff gets his "sound," since veteran guitarists are at a loss themselves.Simply recline and enjoy Jeff's masterpiece. You may have heard excerpts on "Music From The Hearts Of Space" or "ECHOES," but I guarantee you will remember the first time you listened to "Shores" in its entirety.With a musician of this caliber, the only logical question is: "What is that Jeff guy up to now?" Treasure this one."