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Leo Kottke - Essential Audio CD

A fair review of the Leo Kottke "Essential" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Leo Kottke reviews here, or go back to the Leo Kottke tabs.

Leo Kottke Band: Leo Kottke
Title: Essential
Rating:
Release Date: 1991-10-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Up Tempo 2: Embryonic Journey 3: Rings 4: Mr. Fonebone 5: Julie's House 6: Side One Suite: Some Birds/Sounds Like/Slang/My Double/Three Walls An 7: Sonora's Death Row 8: Learning the Game 9: White Ape 10: Buckaroo 11: Tell Mary 12: Airproofing 13: Part Two 14: Agile N. 15: Tumbling Tumbleweeds 16: Sleepwalk 17: Credits: Outtakes from Terry's Movie 18: Little Shoes 19: Train and the Gate: From Terry's Movie 20: All I Have to Do Is Dream 21: Frank Forgets 22: Here Comes That Rainbow Again

Near perfect overview of the Chrysalis years
Some reviewers have complained about an overemphasis on vocal numbers, and there ARE a few too many (for which I'd dock this cd half a star), but again, the producers have chosen the best ones. I am only familiar with Kotke's Chrysalis recordings, but it is uncanny how the packagers of this cd have consistently chosen the best and most representative work from that period, capturing the many facets of Leo Kotke's musical personality, by turns joyful, sardonic, and romantic. Besides, without the vocal numbers, this portrait of Kotke's Chrysalis period would be incomplete. Other reviewers have pointed out that the fingerpicking on Kotke's Capitol recordings is more ferocious. That's hard to imagine. I should check it out.


Not quite his best work---but a pretty good deal...
I like his earlier work on Capitol Records better, especially when he vocalizes, but there are lots of great guitar moments preserved here from his time on the Chrysalis label, 1976-83. Read the reviews posted earlier than mine for details on this CD and its strengths and flaws. He still played uptempo, he still sounded like he was handling two guitars at once, and he still exhibited wide-ranging tastes, from Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game' to Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk" and the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do is Dream. " Here you get a Kris Kristofferson song, a Sons of the Pioneers tune, a song associated with Robert Earl Keen, although not written by him, and 13 Leo originals. Worth the dough, but if you can get the Capitol releases instead, go for them first.


Some of Kottke's best
There are more vocal tracks here than I would have liked (don't forget his famous "geese farts" quote) but there's enough technically fine work to keep any fan of Kottke, and guitar music in general, satisfied. This is a fine sampling of Kottke's Chrysalis years (about 1977-1983) - his "middle period", before his nearly career-ending hand injury. ("Airproofing" is one of the finest two minutes of acoustic guitar I have ever heard. ) I'm still a bigger fan of his earlier Takoma/Capitol work, though, and the Rhino 2-CD anthology is a more comprehensive career overview (it also includes the Chrysalis period). But this is still a tasty collection, and I'm listening to it now as I write. You can't go wrong by it.


"A True Slice of All Kottke's Work to Date"
If you do buy it you will want more as this collection not only has some of his earliest work but goes on to highlight almost every album over the course of thirty years. If you are going to buy one Loe Kottke CD this is it .
It even has a few of his most tolerable vocals! The only short coming is the lack of live tracks. For someone who has kept his career going by touring it would have been a natural end to this journey of a world class troubadour.


less intense, mainly instrumental Leo
What we have here is 66 minutes, 22 tracks, 15 of them instrumental, from Leo's Chrysalis recordings (1976-1983). I just picked up this collection, after years of curiosity. It's solid stuff, but not as awesomely brilliant as "6 & 12 STRING GUITAR" or the first 4 on Capitol (MUDLARK, GREENHOUSE, the live MY FEET ARE SMILING and ICE WATER). Those records, especially 6 & 12 and MUDLARK, are some of my favorites of all time. After I stopped buying Leo's records I often wondered what he was up to, and this is part of the answer.

The freshness, innocence and energy have faded by this time. (Of course his fingers were suffering -- you would not believe how he used to play! When I saw him live in Chicago and Albuquerque in '74 and '75 he would break strings, he played so hard, and just rip them out and keep going!) The vocal tracks are mainly in a mournful mode, without the earlier streak of humor. "Julie's House" (by Kottke) and "Here Comes That Rainbow Again" by Kris Kristofferson are great, both from the '83 record TIME STEP, on which T-Bone Burnett brought out Leo's country side. If you edit out the 7 vocal tracks, though, you've got 15 great instrumental tracks, and even if it's not as inspired as 6 & 12 or My FEET. . it's still fine.

If you're just getting into Leo, start with the earlier records. But this is an extensive selection from his "middle period" if you want to dig deeper.


You can see a complete list of all Leo Kottke discography, or go back to the Leo Kottke tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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