Guitar Parts [Single]

Doug Smith | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 2, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: Solid Air Records
• ASIN: B000X9MFQU
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,952 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Ante Up

2. Gentle Giant

3. Night Of The Raccoons

4. Your Valentine

5. Springtime

6. Hold On

7. The Magnificent Seven

8. Sunday Sonata

9. At The Boardwalk

10. Sor Phalanges

11. Waltz for Sara

12. Ave Maria

13. Can't Help Falling In Love

14. Fifty Years Ago

15. Arabesque #1

16. Saturday Sunrise

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Delicate, dependably pretty work by a master, October 17, 2007

By 

David J. Loftus (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Guitar Parts (Audio CD)

Doug Smith has had a terrific ride in the last couple of years, sharing a Grammy for the all-acoustic Henry Mancini tribute, "Pink Guitar" in 2005, then winning the International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, Kansas the following year. This year he also did a two-CD instrumental collection of Elton John hits and a second Christmas album.

But this is his latest "straight" disc of the stuff he does best. It's characteristically pleasant and good-humored, with perhaps a lighter touch than some of his earlier albums -- there are no barn-burning romps on the order of "Crest of the Revolution" or "Millennium Force."

Standout cuts include "Gentle Giant," a Renaissance-flavored canter with an occasional phrase that reminds me of Steve Howe's "Mood for a Day." There's a gorgeous medley of Schubert's "Ave Maria" and the Peretti/Weiss song made famous by Elvis Presley, "Can't Help Falling in Love." They work together perfectly. An arrangement of Debussy's "Arabesque #1" for two guitars (Smith is double-tracked for this one) is also a winner. "Night of the Raccoons" is a humorously slinky piece composed by fellow guitarist Paul Chasman. Smith does a sweetly rousing rendition of Elmer Bernstein's theme from "The Magnificent Seven."

The disc is titled "Guitar Parts" because the guitarist resurrected a collection of compositions he originally did on commission for Chip Davis's American Gramaphone label -- the "Dayparts" series -- some years ago. The perennial favorite "Sunday Sonata," which has appeared on at least a half dozen albums, is here. "Waltz for Sara" is a lovely piece. "Gentle Giant" was renamed after a favorite 1970s British progressive rock band from its original name, "The Charitable Charlatan." Other cuts from his American Gramaphone days include the upbeat "Ante Up," the limpid "Your Valentine," "Saturday Sunrise," "At the Boardwalk."

Altogether, perhaps not his absolute best collection, but dependably calming and beautiful when you need a break from your Death Metal.