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The music of Rob Eberhard Young meets
or exceeds anything out there in the acoustic guitar arena. Along
with a supporting cast of some of the best players in the country,
Rob breaks new ground in the acoustic guitar world with "Sticks
and Stones".
One of the real standouts on this
album is the second cut, "Pictures of Lulu". It's absolutely
mesmerizing with the atmospheric voice of Dawn Atkinson, and the
dynamic and dreamy frettless bass of Michael Manring. The next cut,
"Mr. Possum" , features guest artist Michael Hedges on harp
guitar. It's a slow languid ballad with the wide open aural space
of the American heartland. "Jeremy " is a haunting unaccompanied
ballad in the style of John Fahey and Sandy Bull. The next piece,
"Elizabeth" demonstrates Robs's unfailing inventive handling
of rhythm, texture and pitch.
Not only has Young blended traditional
finger picking style influences into his own distinctive style,
but he has also mastered the nuance of dynamics and arranging to
please any audiophile.
The final piece"1126#2", utilizes
the Lexicon JamMan, a device that records and loops musical phrases
up to 30 seconds in length. This is probably the only cut on the
album that fails in the inspiration department. It sounds very much
like a piece recorded a couple of years ago by JamMan guitar guru,
Jeff Pearce. Young doesn't quite reach the creative potential available
with a music tool of this nature. Yet, it remains in context with
the rest of the album, solid and well orchestrated.
All in all, this is a wonderful new
perspective of new music for acoustic guitar, and an exotic as well
as profoundly personal musical statement by this creative new talent.
The album was co-produced by Will Ackerman and as with anything
related to Ackerman, this is a perfectionists dream. Highly recommended.
information: email: young@ime.net |
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