Martin
Barre Takes "Stage Left"
The new solo effort, entitled “Stage Left”, a nod to his position on the Jethro Tull set is unmistakably a Martin Barre production. Martin’s style of writing and his sound has definitely progressed over the course of his three solo albums, yet it still retains that key sound and style you expect from Martin Barre. His music has a certain finesse to it that you don’t really hear that often anymore.
The album starts off with a really fun number titled “Count The Chickens” and then traverses a vast musical range of the guitar, from the sometimes raw “Nelly Returns”, to the soft, laid back guitar lines that flow from “Celestial Servings”, to the fast, upbeat acoustic variations on a theme shown off in “D.I.Y.”. Martin will even meld several styles and feelings into a single piece, such as “After You, After Me”, an easy to listen to and thoroughly satisfying piece of guitar work that brings you from flowing electric lines, to lush acoustic guitar and then back to end with some crunchy fiery guitar licks. As Told By, one of my favorite tracks, takes you on a heartfelt acoustic ride with a wonderful mix of acoustic background textures melding with the melodic line, occasionally augmented by a very effective electric sound mixed in the background.
You can tell Martin really takes some care in putting these tracks together, and although they may not be awash with technically challenging, fingers of fire passages, it makes up for it with a great mix of fun and beautiful melodies. Plus, there’s enough of the fast stuff in there to let you know Martin can still throw down those fiery licks like no one’s business.
Ian
Anderson's and "Rupi's Dance"
It is simply amazing how well Ian Anderson knows the way around his flutes. I myself being a classically trained flautist going on 12 years, can not fathom being nearly as fluid, free flowing and precise as Ian Anderson is on this album. Then again, the man has 20 years worth of practice on me. Still Ian’s rich sound, emotion and versatility when concerning all things flute is simply unparalleled. On this newest Anderson effort entitled “Rupi’s Dance” you can really feel the emotions running through his breath and into that metal, wood, or bamboo tube. This album is simply filled with technically impressive flute passages, like those on “Eurology”, that play very well in contrast to the softly shaped melodic and harmonic lines such as those found on the track “Griminelli’s Lament”.
The vocals here are quite solid. Ian’s voice is almost as rich and enchanting as it was circa “Minstrel in the Gallery” era on a few of these tracks. Oddly enough, there are a few other sections where vocals seem to wander off somewhere without the music’s permission. Curious, given how well Ian does for the vast majority of the album. Several of the tracks are very reminiscent of Ian’s past outing, “The Secret Language of Birds”, sometimes almost too much. But perhaps it is just the Ian Anderson style showing some of it’s perseverance. Overall, the tunes are a mixture of sounds from different eras, some dutifully recalling acoustic passages of prior Tull albums, and some traversing new paths all together.
Although Ian’s flute playing may be the highlight here, don’t count out the tracks where the flute plays second to the overall sound. “Not Ralitsa Vassileva”, in particular, is a soft flowing song with an almost haunting verse and contrasting chorus sound that is the most enchanting piece I’ve heard anywhere in a long while, defiantly one of the gems on this album. “Calliandra Shade” is another fine example of a song that would stand well on it’s own sans the flute lines. But what would an Ian Anderson album be with out the signature flute interludes and solo passages that wind their way around the foot-tapping acoustic guitars riffs and curiously witty lyrical lines?
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