Customer Reviews

My Feet Are Smiling

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4 star:		(1)
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I was a newly hatched "rock" "critic" in Leo Kottke's actual birth-town back in Seventysomething, and this record arrived in one of the first critpax from the record company. I placed the needle on the slab, and damn if my ears didn't flap back into my brain. It was painful but revelatory. This is one of the four or five finest acoustic guitar albums ever released. It comes from a time when Kottke still wore folk/country influences on his sleeve but was still prepared to knock some doors down. "Standing in My Shoes" is slide-godlike. "June Bug," etc., the same. The medley that ends the set is a marvel of touch and taste. If you like acoustic power and you don't already have this one, my god, save yourself: click now!

I have had this CD for about two years and the songs and guitar playing never cease to amaze me. I own a lot of CD's and this one is the best (as a guitarist Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan and Kottke are my idols). At first his voice might seem unappealing but "Hear the Wind Howl" and "Standing in My Shoes" grow on you and have become my all time favorite Kottke songs. Put it on the stereo and ask your friends how many guitarists are playing (that is always fun). No one who enjoys music of the last 100 years can dislike this CD, bottom line.

I first heard this when my father was playing some of his albums. He put on Busted Bicycle and I listened to it for a moment and then asked how many people were playing. He told that it was just one guy. My jaw dropped. No way one person could be playing all that. But there was only one person.. Leo Kottke is one of the greatest acoustic guitar players of all time. And this is perhaps his greatest album. Everyone that appreciates musical talent owes it to themselves to get this. You will not be dissapointed.

This 1972 album remains the highlight of Mr. Kottke's carreer with strong compositions and very good playing - there's not an 'off' note on this entire (live-!) album. Shortly after releasing this album, Leo played for students of the Amsterdam Conservatory in 1973. One can only imagine what effect his playing must have had on guitar students (Mr. Kottke was quite unknown, back then). But with all the technical mastery and speed of his playing, the thing that makes this album so memorable is the range of the compositions - from the stillness of Easter with its flageolets that seem to float away to the sheer exhilarating force of Jack Fig. When contemplating the music for our wedding cermony nine years ago, the Crow River Waltz medley off this album was the immediate choice. Mr. Kottke, if you read this, thank you for this - a most wonderful album.

Remember those great Looney Tunes cartoons where the angry swarm of bees would chase some goofy person/creature who had foolishly given the hive some grief? The bees would morph into great shapes of assault: a descending bomb; scissors; a sledgehammer. In 1972, a high school classmate who later became my best friend casually dropped the needle of his turntable onto a Leo Kottke LP (My Feet Are Smiling.) I wasn't impressed. The first song had some guy who flubbed a song ("The Tennessee Toad" was Leo's intention), but instead, ends up groaning a vocal as he played a thick morass of churning acoustic guitar-so what? I asked.

Enter the swarm of angry bees, who took as their target my unsuspecting ears. Leo had finished tune #1 and unleashed "Busted Bicycle," a banjo-styled frenzy on 12-string that had me reeling in shock. A bass line percolated like crazy behind the frantic buzz-saw resonance of the melody-or whatever represented one. How many fingers did this man have? Twenty? I was hooked-or stung, depending on how it manifested. "Louise" is a mournful eulogy for a woman of loose virtue and easy access, "Blue Dot" has some painful-for-the-fingers dual-string bending, and the more sedate studio version of "Stealing" is cranked with a V-10 engine. "Living in the Country" (which appears on Leo's out-of-print Circle `Round the Sun LP, available from sellers on Ebay) follows, as does the mischievous "June Bug" and "Standing in My Shoes" with Leo on slide.

Right after "Egg Tooth" (which is nearly impossible to follow, like an opening break on a pool table when the balls scatter like crazy), the clincher is what Leo calls a "medley," starting off with the gorgeous "Crow River Waltz," sounding for all the world like a lovely lullaby, J.S. Bach's classical "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," and the frantic pedal-to-the-floorboard "Jack Fig." With 26+ CDs to his credit, my head hasn't stopped humming since. And Leo's been "in the zone" since he picked up his first guitar. This is doing what you love for work.

With his earthy baritone voice, Kottke sounds more like a distant cousin of James Earl Jones, and amazingly, he sings well with it (aside from his youthful days of doubt and legendary claims that he vocalized more like "geese farts on a muggy day"). Leo has a...unique sense of humor too; it's part of his performance. Any distraction, observation, flash-in-the-dark thought, or other perusal will bring a deluge of stream-of-consciousness remarks that remarkably fit in behind his tuning warm-ups, and the laughter that wafts from the audience only inspires him to further mental mischief. Maybe it's because he now has to hear "9/11" associated with his birthday. Leo never seems to do things low-key anyway. Go try and decipher his existentialist Einstein-meets-Salvador Dali-like essays on his website if you want to see how Gomez Addams would have written (http://www.leokottke.com), so excuse it as a quirk of fate. But Leo likes the macabre (let him tell the audience about dissecting a horse in high school, or working in a morgue), and somehow, the bees that he generates from his fingertips aren't quite so angry; in fact, they're...excited! Leo, you're my man!

This album is the litmus test for your friends' musical tastes. If you play "Stealing" and they say "oh my GOD!!", pour them a margarita, sit down on the porch and listen to the rest of the thing. Can't think of a better afternoon than that.

Seriously though, I don't need to tell you...the others here already have. Leo Kottke is an American treasure. Take my money, my car, my house and my cat, but leave me my Leo Kottke CDs. I'm not kidding. This is as good as it gets.

For the record, my favorite tune on the album is "The Fisherman". There are many reasons but mostly I just love the melody. It's a beautiful song that's as timeless as a mountain stream.

In my transient years, I lost this album. It was an LP. It was my favorite of my entire Leo kottke collection. It has Eggtooth on it as well as the better versions of songs that were repeated later. Don't pass this one up, it is sure to please. It was out of print (unavailable) for many years. Thank God for technology. Did you know that June Bug was played on a classical (nylon string) guitar? PS Leo, thanks for the autograph at Mishuwaka inn.

Along with the earlier 6 and 12 String Guitar, this is unarguably Leo Kottke's finest work. While it was recorded some 30-plus years ago, the sound suffers not. This is a live recording with ambiance in abudance. At the time, Leo Kottke and John Fahey had virtually pioneered the technique of closely miking an all-acoustic instrument through the P/A at relatively high volume. This album will give you the feeling that you are on stage right beside the musician. (The concert was recorded at Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 1972). Kottke's command of his instrument(s) has few peers, but his harmonic sense is matched only by that of the late Bill Evans. While picking speed was at the time of this record, one of Leo's trademarks (witness the closing track Jack Fig), it cannot be said that this detracts in any way from the musicianship. Anyone who has seen Leo live can attest to how his picking hand resembles a crab in perfect fluid motion as it massages the strings. Kottke is also a master of the instrumental ballad. The composition Easter is one of the most beautiful melodies ever played. Check out The Ice Miner and Mona Roy (neither is contained on this recording) for more examples of gorgeous instrumentals a la LK. But the title that has received the most mileage from this album is Louise, one of the great tragic songs about life in a small truckstop (For more about that, read about Paul Siebel, the song's composer). This album is typical of a Kottke concert; some very dry-wit, some self-deprecating pokes, a little prosaic banter about weird concerts, and long-time stories that make the listener feel as if their own life is not so weird after all. In between the chat is of course, a multi-course feast of 6 and 12 string bottleneck guitar and fretted wonders that may just make you want to investigate John Fahey, Peter Lang, Bruce Cockburn, Jim Hall, Don Ross, and Baden Powell. This is a pretty good place to start if you've never listened much to pure acoustic solo guitar. This recording has endured the time machine test admirably. It's also a great promotion for one of Leo Kottke's live performances.

Just saw Kottke play live in Ojai, CA last nite (05-15-04) and reminded me so much of this album that I had years ago as an LP. He played many of the same songs (especially when he was called back for TWO encores!) along with a lot of new, very complicated stuff. He is the quinessential American acoustic guitar virtuoso. The performance was typically low-key with lots of silly banter between songs. The music is a combination of folk and classical.

I've listened to a LOT of albums, spanning most of the major popular genres, and this is in my top ten, period. I've listened to it dozens of times and never seem to tire of it. The other reviews you read are all true -- Kottke's playing is more than masterful -- it's transcendent.

It's been said before that the best way to hear bluegrass music (and this might well fit the genre of "Newgrass") is "live" outside the studio. While Kottke's early studio albums are all great, this is the very best he's done, because the spirit of the music comes alive. I can't imagine anyone from the western hemisphere coming to this from any musical preference and not enjoying it.

Want more joy in your life? -- Listen to this record. You have to hear it for yourself.