| Gary Lucas — Cinefantastique (2013) |
Gary Lucas — Cinefantastique
Ξ◊ { The guitar master puts his cinema project to tape. }
Ξ◊ Guitarist best known for his work with Captain Beefheart, and Jeff Buckley as co-writer of a few of his best compositions.
Ξ◊ A world class guitar hero, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, an international recording artist with over 20 acclaimed solo albums to date, and a soundtrack composer for film and television, GARY LUCAS is on the move in 2013.
Born: 1952 in Syracuse, NY
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Instrumental Rock, Jewish Music
Member of: Fast 'n' Bulbous, Gods & Monsters, The Du-Tels
Location: Syracuse ~ Manhattan, New York City
Album release: October 1, 2013
Record Label: Northern Spy (043)
Duration: 76:37
Tracks:
01. Mon Oncle 3:38
02. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday 2:13
03. Casino Royale 2:09
04. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence 2:09
05. “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific 4:53
06. J’ accuse 6:53
07. Sátántángo 2:43
08. “Our Love is Here to Stay” — from An American in Paris 3:55
09. Vertigo / Psycho 3:58
10. Fellini’s Casanova / Rosemary’s Baby 5:57
11. Spanish Dracula 4:36
12. Aguirre, the Wrath of God 4:33
13. Sex and Lucia 4:00
14. Howdy Doody Time 0:30
15. Entr’ acte 20:18
16. Charlie Brown 1:29
17. Around the World in 80 Days 3:03
REVIEW:
By MATT B. WEIR; Score: ***
Ξ◊ Gary Lucas, is an American, finger-picking guitar player of legendary status and slippery categorization, the sort of no-trend, shadowy, omnivorous weirdo for whom Northern Spy Records opened their doors in the first place. He left his stamp in the catalogs of Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley, and his technique is so virtuosic that — this is cool — once Lester Bangs asked him “which part” he had played on a solo live recording.
Ξ◊ Cinefantastique, his first album on Northern Spy, is a collection of mostly recognizable film and television soundtrack music performed on solo acoustic or electric guitar, either live onstage or live in the studio. It’s all about no overdubs with Lucas, and he shows off his singular skill and style on these tracks, rearranging scores intended for full orchestras into music for one man with two hands. Lucas is clearly passionate about the relationship between music and film: he has sneaked soundtrack music onto past albums, toured alongside the Spanish Dracula film from 1931, made a whole record of Chinese 1930s and 40s pop tunes inspired by singers/actresses, and he’s already announced that Cinefantastique Vol. 2 is on the way.
Ξ◊ It’s great to see an iconoclast release a labor-of-love-type record, but a part of me — maybe a dark part of me I should try to destroy — was initially frustrated that someone with such talent, the man who played “Flavor Bud Living” on Doc at the Radar Station (his minute-long guitar instrumental is, for me, still one of the most mysteriously powerful moments in the whole Captain Beefheart catalog), would take the time to lay to tape snippets of Vertigo, Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, South Pacific, and the freaking theme from Peanuts. I do not, under any circumstances, believe a musician must prove him or herself to such a nebulous, sinister-sounding group as “listeners with expectations,” but I must be honest that it’s only after a month of extensive listening to Cinefantastique that I am beginning to accept it on its own terms.
Ξ◊ But, even on its own terms, the album can be rather slight. “Around the World in 80 Days,” “Sex and Lucia,” “Howdy Doody Time,” “J’accuse” (the only track with an overdub, a violin), and “Charlie Brown,” are pleasant but ultimately forgettable acoustic guitar tracks. They sound like… songs from film and television? Played expertly on acoustic guitar? He’s simply not in full-force, and you know it because, when he is, it’s something completely different to behold. “Sátántángo,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “Casino Royale,” and “‘Our Love is Here to Stay’ from An American in Paris’” all burst and glide with glee, Lucas collapsing a whole orchestra’s worth of expression effortlessly into his steel-body guitar. Of the Takoma Records bunch, he most evokes Leo Kottke in his approach, rolling melody upon melody forward and upward with precision, warmth, and bounce. But there’s a clean angularity to it, too, maybe a hint of Beefheart’s exploding-note theory that separates him from the pack and makes him the New York downtown stalwart he’s been all these years.
One track was even immediate, the electric — as in electric guitar — “Vertigo / Psycho,” which may be the strongest track on the record. His reverb-inflected tone reveals a hypnotic, cyclical nature of the music and renders this seemingly overdone music new, drawing you inward, only to startle — like the movie — as he strangles his guitar on a dime into the shower-scene screech from Psycho. There’s a rawness to it that’s so well-crafted and right on that I can’t stop from going “whoa” every time it ends and the audience explodes into applause. His electric guitar is similarly on point on “‘Bali Ha’i’ from South Pacific,” “Fellini’s Casanova / Rosemary’s Baby,” and “Entr’acte,” which compares favorably to Erik Satie’s score when synced up to the 20-minute film.
Ξ◊ There are a lot of great solo guitar records out there this year, many that are more forward-thinking and play better end to end — Alan Licht’s Four Years Older and Bill Orcutt’s A History of Every One come to mind — but Lucas is capable of a different, perhaps more technically intriguing, wizardry. One of the best guitarists alive. (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/)
Artist Biography by Joslyn Layne
Ξ◊ When he was nine, Gary Lucas' dad suggested he take up playing the guitar. Although he followed his dad's suggestion, Lucas focused more on the French horn that he played for his elementary school band and continued to play, until getting kicked out of his high school's band. Lucas then focused wholly on the guitar, and played in various groups throughout the '60s. As a campus station music director during his second year at Yale, Lucas saw Captain Beefheart in concert and immediately wanted to play with Beefheart's unique band more than anything. Shortly thereafter, he interviewed and got to know Beefheart.
Ξ◊ Lucas soon performed as a soloist in the European premiere of Bernstein's Mass (From the Liturgy of the Roman Mass) (1973), and after graduating from college, moved to Taipei for two years. During that time, he led a locally popular group, the O-Bay-Gone-Band, until a chaotic 1976 show broke out into a brawl that seriously injured many people. Upset, Lucas promptly returned to the States, hooked back up with Beefheart, and was finally invited to join the band. He appears on Doc at the Radar Station, and was a full member of the group by the time of the Ice Cream for Crow album. After Beefheart retired in the early '80s to pursue painting, Lucas couldn't imagine topping his experience of playing in a group he considered the number one avant-garde rock band in the world, so he switched over to the production end of music, producing albums by Peter Gordon and Tim Berne, among others.
Ξ◊ In 1988, Lucas returned to live performance with a highly acclaimed solo set at N.Y.C.'s Knitting Factory, and continued to play shows and tour for more than a decade to follow. Shortly after his return, he collaborated with longtime friend Walter Horn on a score for The Golem (a 1920 German Expressionist film) as a commission for the 1989 Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival. That same year, Lucas formed his rock band Gods and Monsters. Over time, the band's lineups included Jeff Buckley and Matthew Sweet. By 1999, the Gods and Monsters' lineup was in trio form with ex-Swans drummer Jonathan Kane and former Modern Lovers bassist Ernie Brooks; the LP Improve the Shining Hour appeared in early 2000. In addition to Gods and Monsters and various solo projects, Lucas formed the Du-Tels in 1994, a psychedelic folk duo with Peter Stampfel. In 2008, he joined with jazz and blues vocalist Dean Bowman to form Chase the Devil, and the duo explored the spiritual and secular roots of the blues without sounding too revivalist, releasing the self-titled Chase the Devil on Knitting Factory in 2010. Lucas was back with Gods and Monsters for The Ordeal of Civility, produced by Jerry Harrison and released by Knitting Factory in 2011.
Website: http://garylucas.com/
Label: http://northernspyrecords.com/artist/gary-lucas/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Lucas/170323516340269?fref=ts
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.lucas.5836?fref=ts
REVIEW — Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Ξ◊ This is an amazing solo guitar offering that has been a long time in coming. Mr. Lucas has been one of Downtown's must exciting and creative guitarists for more than two decades, often playing solo guitar(s) performances that always knock his audiences out. Lucas has also been a longtime film fanatic who went on to play live and recorded soundtrack music for many flicks throughout his long career. 'The Golem', 'The Edge of Heaven' which was inspired by female Chinese singers/actresses and more recently: Federico Garcia Lorca's "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" are just a few of the soundtracks that Lucas has provided music for.
Ξ◊ For this fabulous disc, Mr. Lucas takes us on a journey around the world and through time, playing the music of sixteen film, TV and cartoon composers, from 1919 to 2001. He selectively chooses composers both well known: Burt Bacharach, Richard Rogers, George Gershwin & Nina Rota to lesser knowns. Mr. Lucas composed a couple of these pieces himself and the entire disc fits together into a compelling mosaic. What I dig most about this disc is that it uses the same magic: which great soundtracks utilize by sneaking into our memories, no matter how good or bad a certain film is and painting a picture in our minds. Listening to Gary perform each of these songs evokes a kaleidoscope memories and feelings. Mr. Lucas plays both acoustic and electric guitars, with and without devices, just what is needed for each piece. It doesn't matter if I've seen the films or have heard any of these songs before, each one has a way of transporting us somewhere else. This disc is some 76+ minutes long and by the end I did feel as if I had been around the world (in 80 days), which is of course the name of the final song here. 'Cinefantastique' is a wonderful treasure chest of superb cinematic jewels.
© GARY LUCAS & Mika Vember/May 23, 2013 (20:45)
Photo credit: Wolfgang Windbacher (Nikon Coolpix P7000)
_______________________________________________________________
| Gary Lucas — Cinefantastique (2013) |
Gary Lucas — Cinefantastique
© GARY LUCAS & Mika Vember/May 23, 2013 (20:45)
Ξ◊ { The guitar master puts his cinema project to tape. }
Ξ◊ Guitarist best known for his work with Captain Beefheart, and Jeff Buckley as co-writer of a few of his best compositions.
Ξ◊ A world class guitar hero, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, an international recording artist with over 20 acclaimed solo albums to date, and a soundtrack composer for film and television, GARY LUCAS is on the move in 2013.
Born: 1952 in Syracuse, NY
Styles: Alternative/Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Instrumental Rock, Jewish Music
Member of: Fast 'n' Bulbous, Gods & Monsters, The Du-Tels
Location: Syracuse ~ Manhattan, New York City
Album release: October 1, 2013
Record Label: Northern Spy (043)
Duration: 76:37
Tracks:
01. Mon Oncle 3:38
02. Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday 2:13
03. Casino Royale 2:09
04. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence 2:09
05. “Bali Ha’i” from South Pacific 4:53
06. J’ accuse 6:53
07. Sátántángo 2:43
08. “Our Love is Here to Stay” — from An American in Paris 3:55
09. Vertigo / Psycho 3:58
10. Fellini’s Casanova / Rosemary’s Baby 5:57
11. Spanish Dracula 4:36
12. Aguirre, the Wrath of God 4:33
13. Sex and Lucia 4:00
14. Howdy Doody Time 0:30
15. Entr’ acte 20:18
16. Charlie Brown 1:29
17. Around the World in 80 Days 3:03
REVIEW:
By MATT B. WEIR; Score: ***
Ξ◊ Gary Lucas, is an American, finger-picking guitar player of legendary status and slippery categorization, the sort of no-trend, shadowy, omnivorous weirdo for whom Northern Spy Records opened their doors in the first place. He left his stamp in the catalogs of Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley, and his technique is so virtuosic that — this is cool — once Lester Bangs asked him “which part” he had played on a solo live recording.
Ξ◊ Cinefantastique, his first album on Northern Spy, is a collection of mostly recognizable film and television soundtrack music performed on solo acoustic or electric guitar, either live onstage or live in the studio. It’s all about no overdubs with Lucas, and he shows off his singular skill and style on these tracks, rearranging scores intended for full orchestras into music for one man with two hands. Lucas is clearly passionate about the relationship between music and film: he has sneaked soundtrack music onto past albums, toured alongside the Spanish Dracula film from 1931, made a whole record of Chinese 1930s and 40s pop tunes inspired by singers/actresses, and he’s already announced that Cinefantastique Vol. 2 is on the way.
Ξ◊ It’s great to see an iconoclast release a labor-of-love-type record, but a part of me — maybe a dark part of me I should try to destroy — was initially frustrated that someone with such talent, the man who played “Flavor Bud Living” on Doc at the Radar Station (his minute-long guitar instrumental is, for me, still one of the most mysteriously powerful moments in the whole Captain Beefheart catalog), would take the time to lay to tape snippets of Vertigo, Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, South Pacific, and the freaking theme from Peanuts. I do not, under any circumstances, believe a musician must prove him or herself to such a nebulous, sinister-sounding group as “listeners with expectations,” but I must be honest that it’s only after a month of extensive listening to Cinefantastique that I am beginning to accept it on its own terms.
Ξ◊ But, even on its own terms, the album can be rather slight. “Around the World in 80 Days,” “Sex and Lucia,” “Howdy Doody Time,” “J’accuse” (the only track with an overdub, a violin), and “Charlie Brown,” are pleasant but ultimately forgettable acoustic guitar tracks. They sound like… songs from film and television? Played expertly on acoustic guitar? He’s simply not in full-force, and you know it because, when he is, it’s something completely different to behold. “Sátántángo,” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “Casino Royale,” and “‘Our Love is Here to Stay’ from An American in Paris’” all burst and glide with glee, Lucas collapsing a whole orchestra’s worth of expression effortlessly into his steel-body guitar. Of the Takoma Records bunch, he most evokes Leo Kottke in his approach, rolling melody upon melody forward and upward with precision, warmth, and bounce. But there’s a clean angularity to it, too, maybe a hint of Beefheart’s exploding-note theory that separates him from the pack and makes him the New York downtown stalwart he’s been all these years.
One track was even immediate, the electric — as in electric guitar — “Vertigo / Psycho,” which may be the strongest track on the record. His reverb-inflected tone reveals a hypnotic, cyclical nature of the music and renders this seemingly overdone music new, drawing you inward, only to startle — like the movie — as he strangles his guitar on a dime into the shower-scene screech from Psycho. There’s a rawness to it that’s so well-crafted and right on that I can’t stop from going “whoa” every time it ends and the audience explodes into applause. His electric guitar is similarly on point on “‘Bali Ha’i’ from South Pacific,” “Fellini’s Casanova / Rosemary’s Baby,” and “Entr’acte,” which compares favorably to Erik Satie’s score when synced up to the 20-minute film.
Ξ◊ There are a lot of great solo guitar records out there this year, many that are more forward-thinking and play better end to end — Alan Licht’s Four Years Older and Bill Orcutt’s A History of Every One come to mind — but Lucas is capable of a different, perhaps more technically intriguing, wizardry. One of the best guitarists alive. (http://www.tinymixtapes.com/)
Artist Biography by Joslyn Layne
Ξ◊ When he was nine, Gary Lucas' dad suggested he take up playing the guitar. Although he followed his dad's suggestion, Lucas focused more on the French horn that he played for his elementary school band and continued to play, until getting kicked out of his high school's band. Lucas then focused wholly on the guitar, and played in various groups throughout the '60s. As a campus station music director during his second year at Yale, Lucas saw Captain Beefheart in concert and immediately wanted to play with Beefheart's unique band more than anything. Shortly thereafter, he interviewed and got to know Beefheart.
Ξ◊ Lucas soon performed as a soloist in the European premiere of Bernstein's Mass (From the Liturgy of the Roman Mass) (1973), and after graduating from college, moved to Taipei for two years. During that time, he led a locally popular group, the O-Bay-Gone-Band, until a chaotic 1976 show broke out into a brawl that seriously injured many people. Upset, Lucas promptly returned to the States, hooked back up with Beefheart, and was finally invited to join the band. He appears on Doc at the Radar Station, and was a full member of the group by the time of the Ice Cream for Crow album. After Beefheart retired in the early '80s to pursue painting, Lucas couldn't imagine topping his experience of playing in a group he considered the number one avant-garde rock band in the world, so he switched over to the production end of music, producing albums by Peter Gordon and Tim Berne, among others.
Ξ◊ In 1988, Lucas returned to live performance with a highly acclaimed solo set at N.Y.C.'s Knitting Factory, and continued to play shows and tour for more than a decade to follow. Shortly after his return, he collaborated with longtime friend Walter Horn on a score for The Golem (a 1920 German Expressionist film) as a commission for the 1989 Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival. That same year, Lucas formed his rock band Gods and Monsters. Over time, the band's lineups included Jeff Buckley and Matthew Sweet. By 1999, the Gods and Monsters' lineup was in trio form with ex-Swans drummer Jonathan Kane and former Modern Lovers bassist Ernie Brooks; the LP Improve the Shining Hour appeared in early 2000. In addition to Gods and Monsters and various solo projects, Lucas formed the Du-Tels in 1994, a psychedelic folk duo with Peter Stampfel. In 2008, he joined with jazz and blues vocalist Dean Bowman to form Chase the Devil, and the duo explored the spiritual and secular roots of the blues without sounding too revivalist, releasing the self-titled Chase the Devil on Knitting Factory in 2010. Lucas was back with Gods and Monsters for The Ordeal of Civility, produced by Jerry Harrison and released by Knitting Factory in 2011.
Website: http://garylucas.com/
Label: http://northernspyrecords.com/artist/gary-lucas/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Lucas/170323516340269?fref=ts
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.lucas.5836?fref=ts
REVIEW — Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Ξ◊ This is an amazing solo guitar offering that has been a long time in coming. Mr. Lucas has been one of Downtown's must exciting and creative guitarists for more than two decades, often playing solo guitar(s) performances that always knock his audiences out. Lucas has also been a longtime film fanatic who went on to play live and recorded soundtrack music for many flicks throughout his long career. 'The Golem', 'The Edge of Heaven' which was inspired by female Chinese singers/actresses and more recently: Federico Garcia Lorca's "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" are just a few of the soundtracks that Lucas has provided music for.
Ξ◊ For this fabulous disc, Mr. Lucas takes us on a journey around the world and through time, playing the music of sixteen film, TV and cartoon composers, from 1919 to 2001. He selectively chooses composers both well known: Burt Bacharach, Richard Rogers, George Gershwin & Nina Rota to lesser knowns. Mr. Lucas composed a couple of these pieces himself and the entire disc fits together into a compelling mosaic. What I dig most about this disc is that it uses the same magic: which great soundtracks utilize by sneaking into our memories, no matter how good or bad a certain film is and painting a picture in our minds. Listening to Gary perform each of these songs evokes a kaleidoscope memories and feelings. Mr. Lucas plays both acoustic and electric guitars, with and without devices, just what is needed for each piece. It doesn't matter if I've seen the films or have heard any of these songs before, each one has a way of transporting us somewhere else. This disc is some 76+ minutes long and by the end I did feel as if I had been around the world (in 80 days), which is of course the name of the final song here. 'Cinefantastique' is a wonderful treasure chest of superb cinematic jewels.
Photo credit: Wolfgang Windbacher (Nikon Coolpix P7000)
_______________________________________________________________