Every Shade of Love

Jesse Johnson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Bmg Music
• ASIN: B00000DNBD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,643 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Next Hendrix? ... By All Means, April 27, 2000

By 

David L. Esterbrook (Detroit, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Shade of Love (Audio CD)

Jesse Johnson had always shown flashes of brilliance, first with The Time (see 777-9311, or My Drawers), then on his own (Revue's Can You Help Me?, Shockadelica's refined acoustic Black in America). Here on Every Shade of Love, Johnson displays incredible maturation and confidence as the heir apparent to ascending the guitar god throne. Reminiscent of his mentors Prince and Hendrix, Johnson lets loose with stratospheric guitar funk on seven of the eight tracks here. However, my personal favorite is when Johnson slows things down on I'm Just Wanting You, where feathery and jazzy riffs seem to echo some of Hendrix's softest moments ala Little Wing and Castles Made of Sand. Plus this track has some of the finest lyrics of longing and regret that I've heard. While not widely recognized, Johnson is a hidden gem, found among the ashes of the Minneapolis Sound. You've got to hear him to beleive me.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Press Play - Then DUCK!, February 7, 2000

By 

El Kabong - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Shade of Love (Audio CD)

An all-time, Hall of Fame, take-no-prisoners rock guitar meisterwerk....whether or not you've ever heard of it. Meet Jesse Johnson, who I never much cared for in his previous incarnations: with The Time, his own Revue, or his solo debut SHOCKADELICA. I always felt Jesse was pushing that Prince connection too hard, mimicking that sound too closely, and downplaying his guitar at every turn. Then allofasudden and outta nowhere comes this album, EVERY SHADE OF LOVE. The Prince influences are still there, but FINALLY Jesse plugs in and lets loose! The first track, 'Lovestruck', throbs with sweat-glistening funk, until 2/3 of the way in when Jesse explodes with the NASTIEST extended solo this side of Hendrix, Beck and Trower. You'll need to change your pants after hearing it. But the next song, 'So Misunderstood', actually ups the level of intensity, with Jesse bombarding you with distorted licks and crazed lead-lines from start to finish. It's difficult for words to convey just how mind-bending this guy's playing is on these tracks, but they instantly lifted him up to my personal Guitar Olympus. Even though the rest of the album settles into more-familiar material -funk and ballads, nicely crafted - NOBODY who's ever heard this album can get past those first two songs. You love all-out guitar madness? You NEED this cd, my friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Are we all listening to the same cd?, April 14, 2007

By 

Jenks (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Shade of Love (Audio CD)

First off, let me say that I have been a fan of Jesse Johnson's (on and off) since 1985. Even so, I find it highly questionable that this cd rates any higher than 3 stars. This is not Jesse Johnson at his best. There were only two songs on this album that I thought were good: "Love Struck" and "I'm Just Wanting You". The song "I'm Just Wanting You" is well written and arranged and the guitar work is simply superb. Other than that, the rest of the album is well...medicore. It seems as if Mr. Johnson was stunted artistically. Surely, he was fed up and frustrated with the music biz and all its politics and this frustration was apparent with this album. Or he probably just needed some time to reflect and to recharge his artistic batteries. This album is more hard hitting, with respect to his guitar playing. Perhaps this album can be viewed as a transitional album. Because after this album, he didn't release another until 1996, which was Bare My Naked Soul-an all out rock album.