Customer Reviews

Kensington Blues

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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Track list: total time = 45 minutes
1. Kensington Blues
2. Cross the North Fork
3. Cathedral et Chartes
4. Rappahanock River Rag (for William Moore)
5. Sunflower River Blues
6. Now That I'm a Man Full Grown II
7. Flirtin' with the Undertaker
8. Calais to Dover

This is a phenomenal outing. I can't really do it justice, but for a PR written, but honest, evaluation, go to the label site and check out all three of Rose's releases. VHFrecordsdotcom has sound samples for all the songs, a comprehensive review AND...hold on to your hat! A GREAT price! I bought all three Rose CD's for 30 bucks, including shipping! Amazon is a good site, but hey, why are the discs more than 50% more? Please, that is ridiculous! Check out his other titles for my reviews on those, as well. A little bit about the songs...I'm a sucker for 12 string guitar. Add Rose's masterful finger picking and it's all over for me. Next, he throws in some slide work, not Delta blues, but Eastern flavored. Add a couple tasty rags and finally his wonderful cover of Fahey's Sunflower River Blues. Great production, no dub's, just first-takes, amazing.

He's been called the natural heir of John Fahey and on his earlier releases managed to evoke the memory of Fahey, Basho and (Sandy)Bull, blending a Mississippi blues drawl, folky americana and eastern influences. However it is with this album that he truly justifies that description.

I would suggest that this is a significant step forward from those earlier albums, "Red Horse White Mule/Opium Musick"(now available as a single CD release)which are excellent, but require a lot more listening to get into. He produces a richer, warmer sound packed with memorable melodies and even greater variety, expanding his repertoire to include a couple of delightful ragtime numbers.

When you consider that every track was a first take you realise this is a performer brimming with confidence and at the top of his game. Such is that confidence that he effortlessly 'takes on the master' with a wonderfully fluid rendition of Fahey's "Sunflower River Blues". This album is packed with variety from rag to raag, to mini epics of winding narrative.

If you have any interest in the solo guitar of Kottke, Lang, Fahey, Basho etc, but want to see where the future lies, this is an essential purchase.

Too beautiful for my vocabulary. Modern? Traditional? Folk? Country?

All of them, all of it. Mr. Rose' life was too short.

What an amazing guitarist! When I listen to solo guitar, it is usually classical or jazz. I purchased Imagionational Anthem and heard several of Mr. Rose's performances (Cross the North Fork; White Mule) and haven't looked back. This is such a fundamental, earthy frenetic, richly textured and reasonably-recorded album that I return to it more often than to my favorite classical guitar recordings. He stands out on Imagionational Anthem (among superb company) and he stands splendidly on his own with Kensington Blues.