Marc Ribot - Saints (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Interestingly peculiar solo guitar music

William Merrill | San Antonio, TX United States | 09/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm amused by the thought that someone might pick up this CD as a "solo guitar" release and expect something like the Windham Hill guitar stuff. Boy would they be in for a surprise! Listening to this is the musical equivalent of eavesdropping on a mad scientist fooling around in his laboratory. While the disc does have its melodic passages - such as Ribot's haunting version of John Lurie's "It Could Have Been Very Very Beautiful" - it's just as likely to hit you with an off-the-wall, experimental piece like "Book of Heads #3" (a John Zorn thing). Throughout the CD, John creates some fascinating sounds with his extreme manipulations of the guitar. Some of the tracks are utterly engrossing, such as the buzzes, scrapes, and moans that make up "Empty." Somehow he combines those sounds to produce a feeling of desolate spaciousness, like bad reception on a radio station from another plane of existence. Then there's his remarkable take on the Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." He twists and layers the notes yet retains the song's integrity; this is a version I'm certain John Lennon would have really dug. Sometimes the pieces can be discordant or head-scratchingly obtuse, but Ribot is so good I'm willing to tag along with him as he wanders down many different avenues."

If Miles or Bird played guitar.

William Merrill | 05/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The secret of Marc Ribot is to understand he's not from this planet. He's some sort of sorceror. He's one of these guys who invents musical forms as he goes along. Pioneer is a good word. Genius is a good word. As with his Tom Waites' stuff, he breaks new ground here. If you like your music 4/4, with every note neatly in place, you'll hate this CD. If you dig Dali and Picasso in art, you'll love Ribot on the 6-string."

Making wrong right

T. Huff | 11/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this album is indeed an acquired taste. its easy to listen to this album once and give it a bad review like i feel some of the other amazon reviewers here did... but the truth of the matter is... ribot extends the vocabulary of the guitar beyond cheesy soulful solos and orthodox, predictable changes to create a vernacular all his own. i have found the best music usually is not immediately accessible and takes some time wrestling with it to reach its full capacity of enjoyment. don't be put off by the bad reviews."

Very Strange Set

Stephen | Virginia Beach, VA USA | 12/04/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've heard Ribot on everything from Zorn to his latin thing to Elvis Costello and he continues to surprise me. This set seems at first to be an off-the-cuff little session, but after repeated listenings (I can't seem to stop listening) it reveals a great deal of thought. He manages to bring out the melodic side of Ayler songs while really messing with the Beatles and some "standards."This is a cd I can't fully describe. Its strange, beautiful and compelling, all at the same time. With the backing of a major label, the recording is like being in the same room and the packaging is quite nice. Lets hope he's not booted off the label the same way Columbia boots their artists."

Amazing.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marc Ribot's "Saints" is one of those albums that proves that major record labels should not be allowed to ever distribute interesting music-- barely four years old, this one is already out of print, which is a travesty as it is a fantastic record.

The album is Ribot performing solo guitar (mostly acoustic, though occasionally electric) over a series of standards and covers. Ribot approaches in an inside-outside fashion, often combining delicate theme statements with more eclectic and aggressive improvisations, coaxing a wide array of sounds out of his guitar. He really seems to dig in hardest on the Ayler material ("Saints", "Holy Holy Holy" and "Witches and Devils") taking the opportunity to stretch Ayler's music by inserting a lot of space-- not having any accompaniment allows for this easily enough certainly. Ditto for Zorn's "Book of Heads #13"-- on all of these, scratches, slides, rattles, bangs, are all common. And yet as outside as these are, they all possess a delicate beauty, one that can be similarly felt on his oddly phrased "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" or "Somewhere", where Ribot prevents the natural lushness of the piece from getting in the, or the sort of start-stop nature of his take of "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)", that almost sounds like a bizarrely skipping record player. And finally, if "Happiness is a Warm Gun", with its overwhelmingly lyrical guitar, doesn't catch you, listen to it until it does. It should.

This is not an easy album, people associate solo guitar with that. Nor is this an album that is not firmly lodged in the avant-garde, but it is a fantastic record where Ribot really gets a chance to shine."

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