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Rick Cox
I've been listening to Chas Smith since the late 1980's and have always been amazed at the sounds he coaxes from a pedal steel, nothing at all like the standard Nashville E9 tuning, or any recognizable timbre either. Actually Rick Cox and Chas Smith have much in common as both are masters at giving their respective instruments completely new voices. One could draw similarities to to tonalities of David Torn, and Robert Fripp, or relative newcomer, Jeff Pearce. The album is comprised of six velvety soundscapes that take the listener on a 54 minute journey with a sublime richness and power that is at once dreamy and grounded. The music is certainly diaphanous, filled with translucent delicate musical textures. Hassell does a superb job on conveying a sense of ethereal expansion on "Long Distance." My favorite was "All the while toward us," featuring Chas Smith doing what he does best, creating sensual atmospherics, which, when combined with those of Rick Cox, will surely turn heads. Rick Cox has brought together a combination of diverse and unique players and techniques reaching far into new realms of the timbral universe, from cascading symphonies of sound to spacious ethereal ambiance. This is transcendent music, with hooks galore, and the more you listen, the better it gets. Review by Ben Kettlewell Information: |
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Cold
Blue Music has recently released two real musical gems, Chas Smith's,
Aluminum Overcast, and Maria Falling Away, by Rick Cox. Cox's
ethereal guitar wizardry is perfectly teamed up with accompaniment by
legendary composer/trumpeter Jon Hassell, popular film composer Thomas
Newman (piano), and composer/performer/instrument designer Chas Smith
(pedal steel guitar).