The Cherry Electric

John Kruth | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2000)
• Original Release Date: July 25, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Internal Combustion
• ASIN: B0000859UR
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,069,566 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Karmachanic

2. Wabash Cannibal

3. Bertha Cool

4. Hole In the Head

5. King Hand-Me-Down

6. Teen Empress

7. Hell Camino

8. Lady Jane (Brian Jones Ghost Dance Mix)

9. Midnight Hora

10. Weeping Statues

11. Parisha

12. Crazy Maker

13. Mary Mandolin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Electric mandolin lunacy, May 2, 2001

By 

Martin Stillion (EDMONDS, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cherry Electric (Audio CD)

What a fun CD! Originally released in 1995 on San Francisco's Weasel Disc, this hard-to-find little gem has been reissued by Milwaukee's Internal Combustion label, and is well worth tracking down. Known mostly as a quirky folk/rock singer/songwriter (he's recorded for independent folk labels Flying Fish and Gadfly), John Kruth is also a journalist, author, and music historian whose oeuvre includes Bright Moments, a biography of idiosyncratic jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. On this, his first all-instrumental disc, Kruth serves up a tasty gumbo of folk, experimental jazz, hip-hop, and world beat with a healthy dose of lunacy, prominently featuring his cherry red 1957 Fender Mandocaster (tuned to ADF#A, if you're keeping score). The fact that the disc is dedicated to both avant-garde jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and the Carnatic mandolin maestro U Srinivas should give you some idea of what you're in for. "Karmachanic," the leadoff number, follows a fairly conventional AABB 16-bar folk structure, but a number of layered electric and acoustic mandolin parts elevate it above the ordinary. "Wabash Cannibal" takes the train-tune idiom for a wild ride, with defiantly out-of-tune Mandocaster licks and some great sax from Jason Todd-whose playing, in fact, is featured just as prominently as Kruth's on most of the tracks. There's a wicked turntable scratch groove on "Bertha Cool," and the weirdest Rolling Stones cover of the millennium has to be Kruth's free-jazz take on "Lady Jane," which he subtitles the "Brian Jones ghost dance mix" in honor of Jagger & Co.'s late guitarist. "Midnight Hora," once again, is conventionally structured, but uniquely voiced: you won't hear tablas and tin whistle backing up an electric mandolin every day. There's more than a bit of New Orleans on "Parisha," while "Crazy Maker" is sort of a Wes-Montgomery-meets-John-Zorn-in-the-Twilight- Zone thing: Kruth plays an insistent Mandocaster theme in double stops using an alternate tuning based on major sevenths and tritones (either that or he multitracked it), while Todd and the rhythm section riff like a wrecking crew. As if that weren't enough, "Weeping Statues" and "Mary Mandolin" are both haunting waltzes that lend a bittersweet touch to the proceedings. Kruth has said this may be his best CD, and who am I to disagree?

5.0 out of 5 stars rockin good time, December 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Cherry Electric (Audio CD)

The Cherry Electric consistantly rates on my all time good time album list. It is wondrfully innovative, genre bending music -- incorporating classic and acid jazz, eastern/indian sounds, african ala King Sunny Ade, rock and roll and folk. This mess is all packaged together in a way that is immediately understandable and makes you want to tap your feet or run around your house a few times. you can't go wrong to buy this album.

4.0 out of 5 stars Love that electric cherry!, July 14, 2000

By 

Human-female (North of Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cherry Electric (Audio CD)

John Kruth is magic. It's hard to describe the type of music he plays on this CD. It's folksy-pop with splashes of ethnic color and alternative flair with a hint of jazzy rock. Beatnik comes to mind also... Sound confusing? It isn't. The melodies move like a warm breeze as in Kruth's homage to Brian Jones in 'Lady Jane'. The breeze changes to dust devil in 'Karmachanic' (brilliant), and in 'Wabash Cannibal' (the wordplay in the title, mirrors the mandolin-play in the song). It's impossible to keep your body still while listening, the rhythm literally hugs you in each song. The multitalented Kruth plays mandolin (wonderfully),harmonica, flute and several other instruments. I highly recommend this CD to anyone who appreciates beautiful, playful music.