Those in the folk circuit probably know Leo Kottke, an acoustic
\nguitar virtuoso if there ever was one. But those outside may never
\nhave heard of the man.<\/p>\n
Shame if you’re in the latter category. The man has been
\nreleasing albums since 1969, and his acoustic shines through, even
\nover his embarrassing attempts to sing (this is not a slight —
\nKottke once described his voice as “geese farts on a foggy
\nday”).<\/p>\n
So an album titled
\nOne Guitar, No Vocals<\/i> would seem to be an examination of
\nwhat Kottke does best, but that’s not quite the case. Because of a
\nlingering hand injury, Kottke’s playing has slowed down quite a bit
\nfrom the 1970s, making this more of a classical guitar album.
\nFortunately, Kottke does not sacrifice melody for speed, making
\nthis a compelling listen for fans of the guitar.<\/p>\n
The opener “Snorkel” alternates between gentle picking and an
\nintense strummed middle section, while “Morning is the Long Way
\nHome” is the most like the Kottke of old — quick, sprightly and
\nfull of attitude. “Too Fast” is repetitive at first but speeds up
\nand adds odd chords to the finger-picking, while “Three\/Quarter
\nNorth” is almost a love song, showing Kottke’s ability to veer into
\nsinger-songwriter territory.<\/p>\n
“Retrograde” sounds like a Dave Matthews backing track, moody
\nwith the bass strings but hopeful on the higher strings, but it is
\novershadowed by the even moodier “Chamber of Commerce,” which
\nstarts with a sad arpeggio, veers into John Mayer territory and
\nthen becomes firmly Kottke halfway through, with a half strum\/half
\npicking technique that he is so good at. It’s the most complete
\nsong on here and never gets repetitive.<\/p>\n
Repetition is a bit of a problem here, even for a master like
\nKottke. With only one acoustic guitar, the songs start to drag on
\nand interest wanes near the end of the album. It’s not that the
\nmusic is bad — only someone as talented as Kottke could pull off
\nthe 9-minute “Bigger Situation,” and “Accordion Bells” breaks the
\nrules by throwing a light accordion behind the guitar. But even
\nvirtuosos get old — does anyone honestly like sitting through all
\n26 minutes of “Dazed And Confused” when Jimmy Page plays the guitar
\nwith his violin bow, for example?<\/p>\n
In short, this is not Kottke’s best work, but it’s some of the
\nbest acoustic guitar out there, and if you’re a fan of this
\ninstrument or complex folk music in general, this is for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":27160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7200],"rating":[5619],"class_list":["post-38506","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-leo-kottke","rating-rating-c"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38506"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}