Audio Cassette review:
Adrian Legg - High Strung Tall Tales

Adrian Legg - High Strung Tall Tales

Band: Adrian Legg Title: High Strung Tall Tales Rating: Release Date: 11 October, 1994 Media: Audio Cassette Tracks: 1: Celandine 2: Crockett Waltz 3: Cool Cajun 4: Song for Di 5: Sweetheart 6: High Strung Suite: Meditation 7: High Strung Suite: Hispanic Theme 8: High Strung Suite: Thirds 9: High Strung Suite: Major Theme 10: Naive II 11: Silent Night 12: Mud & Jigs 13: Paddy in the Synagogue/The Pregnant Folksinger 14: Sharon Puckett's Knees 15: Irish Girl 16: Profiles in Hormones 17: Queenie's Waltz 18: Two Duties 19: Meditation Reprise 20: Nasenhaarmechismus

Editoral Review On his new album, "High Strung Tall Tales,'' Legg displays a rare knack for combining strong melodic lines with arpeggiated harmonies in such a way that they flow with a graceful unity. Adrian Legg comes out of the British "baroque folk" guitar tradition of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Richard Thompson, and like his predecessors, Legg plays the Anglo-Celtic roots of folk, country and classical "early music" with a chamber musician's ear for precision and harmony. Guitarists love him for his ability to pull off these one-person "duets," but lay listeners will love the sheer beauty of melodic and harmonic interplay. "High Strung Tall Tales" serves up a generous serving of 20 tracks, covering all the far-flung aspects of Legg's career. You have the improvised, unaccompanied guitar of "Naive II"; the six studio collaborations between Legg's acoustic guitar and various other musicians; the four movements of his classically influenced "High Strung Suite"; and a sampling from a live show in Philadelphia in February, including four solo guitar tunes and five monologues delivered in his deadpan British delivery. The collaborations include a lovely guitar-and-snaredrum duet, "The Crockett Waltz," and an irreverent garage rock mugging of the Christmas carol, "Silent Night. " The suite captures Legg's playing at its most intricately virtuosic, and the live tracks document the wild humor and musical simplicity that make his concerts so special. --Geoffrey Himes .. You can see a complete list of all Adrian Legg discography, or go back to the Adrian Legg tabs