Search - Richard Leo Johnson :: Language

Scary and beautiful

Gayla D. Paul | Cedar Rapids, IA United States | 06/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first couple of listens I didn't like this as much as I liked Fingertip Ship - I LOVED Fingertip Ship! The thing about this CD is, Richard's playing gets overwhelmed by production sometimes, and for me, the grace and intensity of him just sitting there playing the damn guitar is breathtaking. After a few more listens I started to get more comfortable with it, and now I don't like it less or more, just differently.Richard is one of the most incredibly, purely creative people on the planet today, and anything he does is going to be earthshakingly good. My opinion? You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Compelling and diverse

Nobody important | 02/18/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Every time someone starts talking about the newest discovery of a guitar wizard, I get nervous. Generally, it means that yet another person has acquired a record deal because he can play as fast as Kottke, or plays a Michael Hedges percussive style, but has nothing creative to add to the genre. What caught my eye about this album, though, and got me into Richard Leo Johnson was the record label-- Blue Note (it helped when I noticed that Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule and formerly of the Allman Brothers makes a few guest appearances, though). Why on earth would a jazz label put out an album from some new age hack? I was curious enough to give the album a try, and it's good. If you like Preston Reed, you'll probably like this. RLJ has a unique compositional sense that comes only from being self-taught, and every piece, even those he didn't write, sound uniquely his own. He combines odd rhythms, odd tunings, odd and occasionally dissonant phrasing, and all-around odd techniques to make everything on this, and Fingertip Ship (well worth owning) sound, that's right, odd. The recording technique is equally odd- none of the many musicians who contribute to this album were ever together. They recorded their parts entirely separately, which at times gives the pieces an awkwardness, but also means that each part is recorded with more individuality than can be achieved in a traditional recording format. At times, this album does sound like that annoying, new age fusion garbage that has flooded the music scene (Paul McCandless' horns helped in many places, but hurt in others, although if you are a fan of his band, Oregon, you probably won't mind as much as I do), but it also has flashes of brilliance that blew me away. If you're looking for pyrotechnics from other modern solo acoustic guitarists with some compositional sense, here are a few to check out-- Preston Reed is the master of two-handed tapping and percussive playing; Adrian Legg is about the best finger-picker I've ever heard; and to broaden your horizons to some experimental brazilian/classical guitar, Badi Assad has filled the gap left by the death of Bola Sete. If you really feel like broadening your horizons, check out Steve Tibbetts (who is not a solo guitarist, but is required listening anyway), particularly his self-titled debut album, if you can find it, which is mostly acoustic guitar and recording tricks. RLJ is carrying on the Tibbetts tradition of true experimentalism."