Customer Reviews

Diamonds to Dust

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is probably the most impressive CD I've bought since Steve Earle's "Trancendental Blues". It's dark, but brilliant songwriting. If you like people like Earle, Tom Russell, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Lucinda Williams, etc., your going to love it.

Gurf Morlix, the man behind the magic curtain on so many other artists' recordings, steps forth to center stage on his fourth solo release, "Diamonds and Dust." He fixes his gaze squarely on mortality, loss, and life's travails. Yet he somehow keeps from spiraling into darkness by offering a few deft touches of humor and wit, leaving the door to hope and salvation open just enough to let some light through.

Some recordings require a bit of work before they yield their rewards, and this one follows suit. Mr. Morlix plays guitar with a measured excellence, shirking the flourishes he could easily have added to focus on a more stripped-down, rootsy sound. Rick Richards great drumming keeps things moving, and the complimentary vocals from Patty Griffin offset the dry rasp the Mr. Morlix voices here.

With this release, Mr. Morlix could shed his label as the consummate sideman, but I suspect he will keep on doing things at his own pace.

Listening to Toad of Titicaca while i write this, which is a good CD, but sounds more like Jim Lauderdale's style( which certainly isnt a bad thing ! )...
However, Diamonds to Dust is more real, more raw, more Gurf ...this is the best CD I've bought in a while...I was introduced to Gurf through Ray Wylie's " Snake Farm", and i'm sure glad of it....THIS is what real music is...soul ripping emotion, sung from the voice of experience....

Not my first CD and seems to be better than anything previously I listened to. When Gurf Morlix lends his name to anything there'll be certainly diamonds to enjoy.