TAS American Primitive Guitar - Ten Essential Albums List, January 2019
Recorded in just three and one-half hours, the release of this truly iconic album virtually launched Leo Kottke out beyond the St. Paul, Minneapolis confines where he had been ensconced as a local phenom. By jumping on board John Fahey's burgeoning Takoma label, Kottke's guitar wizardry (especially finger-picking a 12-string, usually reserved as rhythm accompaniment) gave other guitarists far and wide, second thoughts. Throw in some sassy slide work on both 6 & 12 and you'll know why this particular record is commonly referred to as an Intro to Guitar 101. With twelve original compositions plus a few by some guy named J.S. Bach, Kottke's blues, folk, country and classical channelings dictate both his playful and reflective approach on each. Highlights include blazing picking techniques on Broken Bicycle and Vaseline Machine Gun with some muscular bottleneck slide work on The Sailor's Grave On The Prairie.
"The 1969 classic is one of the best-selling solo-acoustic guitar albums. Kottke, a Fahey acolyte, had mailed a demo cassette to the Takoma label office in Berkeley, California. The close-miked recording technique, then still relatively new to the industry, captured the aggressive attack and delicate intimacy of the steel strings on such tracks as "The driving of The Year Nail" and "The Brain of the Purple Mountain". Kottke has gone on to become the genre's most commercially successful artist." - Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, January 2019
Features:
Vinyl LP
Selections:
Side I:
1. The Driving of the Year Nail
2. The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds
3. Ojo
4. Crow River Waltz
5. The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie
6. Vaseline Machine Gun
7. Jack Fig
Side II:
1. Watermelon
2. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
3. The Fisherman
4. The Tennessee Toad
5. Busted Bicycle
6. The Brain of the Purple Mountain
7. Coolidge Rising
Recorded in just three and one-half hours, the release of this truly iconic album virtually launched Leo Kottke out beyond the St. Paul, Minneapolis confines where he had been ensconced as a local phenom. By jumping on board John Fahey's burgeoning Takoma label, Kottke's guitar wizardry (especially finger-picking a 12-string, usually reserved as rhythm accompaniment) gave other guitarists far and wide, second thoughts. Throw in some sassy slide work on both 6 & 12 and you'll know why this particular record is commonly referred to as an Intro to Guitar 101. With twelve original compositions plus a few by some guy named J.S. Bach, Kottke's blues, folk, country and classical channelings dictate both his playful and reflective approach on each. Highlights include blazing picking techniques on Broken Bicycle and Vaseline Machine Gun with some muscular bottleneck slide work on The Sailor's Grave On The Prairie.
"The 1969 classic is one of the best-selling solo-acoustic guitar albums. Kottke, a Fahey acolyte, had mailed a demo cassette to the Takoma label office in Berkeley, California. The close-miked recording technique, then still relatively new to the industry, captured the aggressive attack and delicate intimacy of the steel strings on such tracks as "The driving of The Year Nail" and "The Brain of the Purple Mountain". Kottke has gone on to become the genre's most commercially successful artist." - Greg Cahill, The Absolute Sound, January 2019
Features:
Vinyl LP
Selections:
Side I:
1. The Driving of the Year Nail
2. The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds
3. Ojo
4. Crow River Waltz
5. The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie
6. Vaseline Machine Gun
7. Jack Fig
Side II:
1. Watermelon
2. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
3. The Fisherman
4. The Tennessee Toad
5. Busted Bicycle
6. The Brain of the Purple Mountain
7. Coolidge Rising
