A Hero Returned
Kevin Killian | San Francisco, CA United States | 07/07/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"He could have had a bigger career if he had stuck to music, but that's part of the dharma. Lang disappeared from the concert stage and the recording studio for something like 20 years, and when he returned he wasn't the 25 year old who recorded THE THING AT THE NURSERY ROOM WINDOW way back in 1973. That's okay, we all grow and change, but on the other hand a lot of fans who played this LP to death got tired waiting for him to come back to us.
On CD you can hear the perfection of his attack even better; the clarity of the 12 string (and 6 string) numbers is amazing. Lang's titles are always amusing: be they plain ("Adair's Song") or whimsical ("Snow Toad") or redolent of an earlier era of US and UK folk music ("Young Man, Young Man, Look at Your Shoes") the music that accompanied these little haiku titles was always apropos and surprising.
Special to this release was the inclusion of three bonus tracks that all but the dead faithful had completely forgotten about, for only one was ever actually played in concert. "Flames Along the Monongahela" takes us back to what Greil Marcus called the "old, weird America" of Harry Smith and his "Anthology of American Folk Music," or at least to MUSIC FROM BIG PINK, while "Going Down the China Road" has the delicacy of some of the Garcia/Hunter compositions of the AMERICAN BEAUTY/WORKINGMAN's DEAD era."
Masterful and fun to listen to
Felix G. Villarreal | 03/03/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"True story. I purchased this "LP" 25 years ago. I brought it home and the playing was so fast (especially in the first few cuts) that I thought I had my turntable set to the wrong speed. It has been only recently that I have noticed there others out there who love fingerstyle guitar. Over the years I have my developed my personal understanding of this musical genre built on a foundation of music from John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Preston Reed, Michael Hedges, Michael Gulezian, Bola Sete, and Pierre Bensusan primarily but not exclusively. On any given day any of Lang's cd's can be my favorite by him. This debut lp (now available on cd) starts with six light and quick songs followed by the wonderfully moody "Bituminous Nightmare". The eighth song is the explosive classic "Wide Oval Rip-Off" featuring thrilling slide work and blistering riffs. Lang then leads us with a contemplative narrative on "Young Man, Young Man, Look at Your Shoes". Two more light and crisp melodies before the long, melodic and slightly unpredictable "Future Shot at the Rainbow" finishes the album. The three bonus cuts are from his "American Stock" album which may not be available on cd. "Going Down the China Road" is funky and fun at the same time. Reissues of his work on cd and clips of Lang on YouTube.com (clips/cuts from this album as well as others are on the site) display this artist's unique style and compositional virtues. There are only a handful of fingerstyle guitar debut albums that are so complete and this is one of them."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1