Audio CD review:
Adrian Legg - Guitar Bones

Adrian Legg - Guitar Bones

Band: Adrian Legg Title: Guitar Bones Rating: Release Date: 28 January, 2003 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Uncle Adrian 2: Jam Tomorrow 3: The Elderly Jig 4: The One-Eyed Turk 5: O'Malley & Delacey 6: Short Story 7: St. Mary's 8: Jam Today 9: Old Friends 10: Ghost In The Hills 11: Een Kleijne Komedje

Customer Reviews Another great album from Adrian Legg In fact, it might just be his best album ever. I have all of Adrian's US CD releases, and in my opinion, Guitar Bones ranks among his finest work. For the first time since "Guitars and Other Cathedrals", a significant part of the album is recorded acoustically, which is an interesting change of pace. (I think the recording makes his guitar sound just a bit less lively than it should, although this is a very minor complaint. ) The compositions on this recording are superb, and as always, the performances are mind-blowing. One reason I'm really getting to like "Guitar Bones" is that the music is just a touch understated. While every track is a winner, "La Giga Anziana", "O'Malley & Delacey", and "Ghosts In The Hills" really stand out. To sum up, this is another great Adrian Legg album. Make sure to keep an eye on Adrian's tour schedule, as his performances are very much worth seeing. Back to the basics And when I put in in my car CD player, I noticed a difference right away. It has been about three and a half years, but Adrian Legg finally gave us a new album this week with Guitar Bones. From the first note, Legg's guitar has been produced differently. The slick and reverbery new-age sound that he has used to blow us away in the past has now been replaced with a much drier acoustic sound. In a way, it almost proves that Legg is better than we thought, since he can create a good sound on the guitar with no mistakes when he doesn't have the help of sound manipulation. Hence, Adrian states that's why he named this release Guitar Bones. It's all about simplicity. As always, he revisits a few songs from the early stages of his career along with dishing out new ones. St. Mary's, one of the most compelling, features oboe, bassoon, viola, and flugel horn alongside the guitar in this once-gothic now chamber-barogue sounding piece. And Adrian cannot stray from the waltz even if he really tried. La Giga Anziana stands for the Elderly Jig, and that's pretty much the way it sounds. A more uptempo jig that we are used to from Adrian comes with O'Malley & Delancey. After you hear this song for the third time or so, the playing becomes much more of a marvel. A difference of flavor also comes across in The One Eyed Turk, where Legg plays a resonator guitar with a slide. The man who used to bend notes from here to the sky all by himself is now using a slide! But that's oaky, because he sounds just as good at it as, say, Ry Cooder. My personal favorite so far is the epic (in terms of guitar pieces) Ghosts In the Hills. Over six minutes long, this beautiful song paints a mental picture of grand landscapes in nature without being very hoaky. It's a nice change from what I thought it would be about: a haunted house. The more familiar Legg sound is saved for last with Een Kleijne Komedye. A very splattery, dirty sounding guitar does a fast, dancy jig for us in the usual lighting-fast Legg technique we all like. So, in direct contrast to his previous album Fingers and Thumbs, Adrian Legg leaves behind that experimentation more in favor of an intimate sounding album. It will please Legg fans since this sounds like a very refined Guitars and Other Cathedrals. But in contrast to that, it's pretty short: 37 minutes. . You can see a complete list of all Adrian Legg discography, or go back to the Adrian Legg tabs