Bonus Track
Featuring 6 GRAMMY winning guitarists, and former Rock stars (Greg Hawkes from The CARS and Laurence Juber from Paul McCartney and WINGS) plus legendary players from around the world , Tommy Emmanuel and Nick Charles from Australia , Eltjo Haselhoff from the Netherlands and International Guitar Champion Doug Smith!
Various Artists, "This Guitar's in Love with You," Solid Air Records 2014
This latest addition to Solid Air Records' composer-themed guitar anthologies is one of the strongest in the series. The contributing artists exhibit strong empathy with the music of Burt Bacharach, no doubt due to their exposure to his and lyricist Hal David's hits when they saturated the radio in the 1960s and Seventies. The disc begins with "Casino Royale" by Mark Hanson and Doug Smith, first popularized by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Wayne Johnson follows with a bossa nova take on "The Look of Love", played on nylon string and double-tracked, with light percussion added. Johnson phrases the melody beautifully and adds some nice improvised lines. David Cullen plays "Do You Know The Way to San Jose?" on nylon string as well, recalling Dionne Warwick's recording, adding a number of guitaristic elements, such as artificial harmonics. Tommy Emmanuel's "(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a natural highlight, incorporating effective dissonances and a nod to stride piano, while still evoking The Carpenter's iconic performance. "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" receives a beautiful Mexican-influenced interpretation by Mike Dowling. Laurence Juber's two numbers, "Alfie" and "This Guy's In Love With You" are masterful. His jazzy DADGAD chord voicings grace "Alfie", while "This Guy'" retains the romantic feel of Herb Alpert's blockbuster 1969 hit, yet at the same time unmistakably LJ. Other artists include uke master Greg Hawkes, Al Petteway, Eltjo Haselhoff, Nick Charles, Arlen Roth, and solos by Mark Hanson and Doug Smith, each adding variety and quality to the album. Hanson and Smith team up again to close the disc with a reprise of "What the World Needs Now Is Love", played with exceptional skill and taste. This disc deserves the same level of critical attention received earlier by Solid Air's Pink Guitar tribute to Henry Mancini (which won a Grammy) and will surely be loved by guitarists and nonmusicians alike.
With a catalog that boasts such top-drawer acoustic pickers as Laurence Juber, Tommy Emmanuel, Ed Gerhard, and Pat Donahue, Solid Air hit on a format of having a dozen or so guitarists contributing tracks to a central theme. These have included the music of Leiber and Stoller, Cole Porter, Elvis, and Henry Mancini, which won a Grammy. It might smack of gimmickry if the quality weren't so high and the individual arrangements so interesting.
By Frank Kocher, February 2015
Solid Air Records has been recording music by a collection of talented acoustic guitarists, with discs by nationally known artists as well as theme projects like music by Elvis, Cole Porter, and Leiber and Stoller, played by a group that includes local aces Jim Earp and Wayne Johnson. This Guitar's In Love With You is the latest, a generous 16-track offering that focuses on tasty arrangements of Burt Bacharach standards, finger-picked on wooden guitars.
Johnson plays The Look of Love on nylon strings, with a light, lyrical jazz approach that feels perfect for one of Bacharach's best-ever compositions. Earp's song is Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head? and it has the vibe of the slack-key tuning style heard on his Aloha Guitar CD, maintaining a steady bass line, chords, and melody simultaneously. Other highlights on the disc include a rousing, picked rendition of Promises Promises by Doug Smith, and former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes on ukulele playing What's New Pussycat?
Other artists on hand also include Laurence Juber, who plays both Alfie and This Guy's in Love with You, Arlen Roth Wishin' and Hopin' , Australia's Nick Charles I Say a Little Prayer, and Tommy Emmanuel They Long to Be) Close to You. Throughout, the technical proficiency is off the charts, and since the music is all the same well-known pop, the music here plays like the work on one artist (who would likely be the world's best finger-picking guitarist). For lovers of guitar, it is a can't-miss.
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