From Amazon.com
Mesmerising
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Some people worry that they don't know what Kelly Joe's songs are about, but it doesn't worry me. I kind of know what they're about anyway, once I've listened to them a few hundred times. In any case, it doesn't so much matter what they're meant to be about as what you think they're about. Like an abstract painting full of colour and texture, there's plenty to work with to build up your own picture. Listening to `Cardboard Box of Batteries', I see an old man and his memories, childhood trophies hidden away and that feeling you get looking at them again or just remembering. This is the image I get now, but I may well change my mind about it later on!
Very few songwriters have the courage, or the poetry, to do this. As a listener, you need a bit of both to appreciate these songs, but they are well worth the effort.
In this second outing with a band, KJP is clearly developing a style that's all his own and I'm certain makes up for the absence of his signature slide guitar. It's a seductive sound now, mostly gentle, even for the blues of `Knock Louder', with curious guitar and fiddle highlights creating the atmosphere to back up Kelly Joe's perfect vocals. If there's somebody around who does this sort of thing better, I can't think who they are.
A great artist comes of age
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: This album is where Kelly Jo really stakes out his ground as one of the premier acoustic artists of the last ten years. And not just for his guitar playing (phenomenal as it is) but equally as much for the emotional quality of his singing, and the floating artistry of his song constuction.
It is not always easy to tune into what Kelly Jo is on about. His music is somewhat elliptical, and is occasionally abstract or even obtuse. But like all great musicians he transcends the limitations of his genre through sheer artistic ambition. What would be (in the hands of even a good acoustic guitarist) a challenging, pretty and melodic blues improvisation, becomes in Kelly Jo's case, a towering jazz achievement. At his best Kelly Jo is right up there with Coltrane, or Parker, or Van Morrison. For example, when I saw him last year doing this stuff, it was like hearing "Astral Weeks" crossed with "Blue Trane". I bought this album that day, and I have played it over and over ever since.
And, on this album, you also get the added bonus of Kelly Jo working with a set of sympathetic and understated musicians who masterfully shade and embellish his profound artistic vision - and they are a joy to hear as well.
Are these great songs? Does the album fit a standard descriptive profile? Can you hum the words at the laundromat? No, not really. But this is the real deal. Just let yourself be swept up in the epic sweep, of a great musician creating wonderful music. One of the best albums of the last year. Spread the word.
Poetry set to music
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: Kelly Joe Phelps latest cd, Slingshot Professionals, is poetry set to music. If you have any of his previous cd's your sure to love this one, they just get better and better. I've played this cd over and over and I'm not the least bit tired of it. His lyrics are like poetry and the music is even better. I have seen him in person twice at small venues and he's even better live.
Progression is a Beautiful thing....
Album Rating: (5 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: A Case in point, KJP 5th Release, "Slingshot Professionals" Each of Kelly Joe's Disc have shown growth that most Artist don't show in a life time. The Latest, this time with a full band, has shown the most growth so far. 2001's "Sky like a broken clock" KJP showed his progression as a Song writter, tunes like "Taylor John" and "Gold Tooth" with abstract lyrics, and Quirky beats Phelps took us to places that very few artist have. In "Slingshot Professinals" he continues to introduces his listeners to a cast of characters, and lets us draw our own conclusions about them. This is a mark of a great song writter.If you're looking for songs that have beginings, middles and ends to the story, you're in the wrong place, Because life can be abstract, and at times there are no answers. Phelps understands this, and it fuels his creativity, we just come along for the ride, and once again draw our own conclusions. The 5th Song on the Disc, "It's James Now" the Main Character, "Double r.j." I had to wonder...is it River Rat Jimmy? from shine eyed mister zen? In any case it is song full of rich characters and has as beautiful a melody has we've heard from Phelps yet. Phelps progression is quickly putting him among the eilte singer/songwritters/players of this generation.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder...
Album Rating: (2 of 5 stars)
Review Comments: The new Kelly Joe Phelps album is good instrumentally. (In case you're not familiar with his first three albums, you should know that "good" (rather than jaw-dropping amazing) is below par. Check out "Shine Eyed Mister Zen," first.) His band for these sessions was impressive. Zubot and Dawson are great and add much with their Weissenborn slide guitar, fiddle, and mandolin. Kelly Joe's singing and picking are as good as ever and blend in really well with the backing musicians. However, his choice to play harmonica himself and to let Steve Dawson play all of the slide guitar is a bit of a mystery. Notwithstanding the choice of instruments, the really disappointing thing about this CD, as well as his last album "Sky like a broken clock," is the wierd songwriting. It's just not a CD you want to play for other people. For example, the last album featured one song in which the character "peed down his leg" and another with a "rat boy takin' a leak against the wall." Thankfully, you won't find any urination here, but most of this CD "makes about as much sense as a frog on a chain" to quote the first line from "Knock Louder." The songwriting is like some kind of a bad impressionistic painting with the English language. "Silver in my cavity that plays music in the winter. I have a cardboard box of batteries hidden in a tire swing, a miner's hat with a light on top and a handful of wedding rings." ("Cardboard box of batteries") I hope Kelly Joe either gets back into covering traditional songs or rediscovers the knack for writing cool songs that make sense he showcased on his first three albums. Otherwise one of the greatest slide guitar players and interpreters of American folk music in the world will continue putting out very average albums.
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