Customer Reviews

Knuckleball Suite

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Peter Mulvey played much of this album for me and another hundred or so Kodiak (Alaska) music fans the other night before we listened to Chris Smither perform. I was very pleased with Mulvey's masterful guitar playing and clever poetry. While he sang and played, I could not help thinking who I would send this album to...good sign.

Mulvey must have received formal guitar training early, as his guitar work is masterful, switching from bare finger picking to flat picking with ease and grace was impressive without being too showy. But very good guitar alone is getting a bit common, passe even. What stands out with Mulvey is his bitingly pointed and humorous lyrics with his masterful guitar. In the folk tradition without being folky, Mulvey comments on politics, love, and the direction life takes in spite of our best efforts to steer ourselves through it.

If Peter Mulvey is new to you, here is a fine discovery. If he is known to you, here is a fitting new example of this modern troubadour's musical and lyrical talent.

This is a fantastic album, and well deserving of your hard earned. However, as of 12/25/08, the samples provided here by Amazon are NOT from this album. They don't even sound like Peter Mulvey. I don't where the samples originate, but be careful not to judge your decision to buy based on them. They do NOT represent The Knuckleball Suite.

Amazon folks: If you manage to see this and correct the error, feel free to delete my post.

When I bought this CD, I had NO idea what to expect. I enjoy a wide range of musical genre; excluding very little: opera, rap and what us old folks called "acid rock" which became headbanger, thrash and who knows what it is called now. I hate to hear guitars scream in agony!

This CD definitely is well titled. Peter Mulvey throws a "knuckleball" at the listener. It is not rock. It is not jazz. It is not country. It is not bluegrass. It is something in between all of them!

As other reviewers have opined, Mulvey's guitar talent is outstanding. While he does not have a "strong" voice, it is delightful and appropriate to the material. The lyrics are unusual and fascinating. His songs make you THINK! I wonder if anyone else has ever thanked President Eisenhower for what is now known as the "Interstate Highway System," although most people would be appalled if they knew the reason for its initial construction.

I find this CD reminiscent of some of the recent work of Mark Knopfler. Don't think "Dire Straights," think more in terms of "Early Bird," "Border Reiver" and "Piper to the End."

I enjoyed every second of "Knuckleball Suite" and highly recommend it.

I just purchased and downloaded the mp3 version of this album and what I received was not Peter Mulvey's Knuckleball Suite. I don't know what album it is, but there has been some kind of mistake made on the Amazon website regarding this recording.

Listening to the samples afterward I now know that they are incorrect also. I didn't check them before purchasing because I am familiar with this album. I won't make that mistake again.

My experiences with Amazon have always been excellent and I am sure they will rectify this problem.

Amazon Admins: Feel free to remove this after the correct recording has been posted.

I saw Mr. Mulvey perform live, he is an excellent guitar player. He writes intellegent, witty and tuneful popular songs.

He would sound like this. Peter Mulvey's music is always worth listening too. This album is no exception. His attention to the songs is as prevalent as ever. And this one just flows as naturally as maple sap in spring. Indeed a sweet treat!

a suite of laughter and sorrow -- there's no other song produced this year as moving as "Marty and Lou."

I am a Peter Mulvey fan who is looking to replace this CD - it got lost somewhere in the abyss. THE SONGS THAT I AM SAMPLING HERE ARE NOT PETER MULVEY. Check what you are listening to with other CD's that you are confident are him singing. I am listening to the sample songs and they are not only not the right songs, tehy don't even sound like him. CHECK IT OUT BEFORE YOU BUY. I think there must have been a technical error on behalf of Amazon (sorry - never had any other complaints).

I ordered three Peter Mulvey tapes at one time in a fit of enthusiasm which I regretted a bit once I had listened to the complete CDs.
First the pluses: Mulvey is a guitar virtuoso with a very pleasing baritone - he is an accomplished musician and, as in the title track, one heck of a songwriter when he wants to be.
My problem is that so many of the songs are melodically over complex or veering towards a kind of free jazz indulgence that wears on you real quick. You get the feeling that he is half recording stuff for his own eclectic enjoyment rather than thinking about how they might be received among the great public out there.
hat's too bad because at his best on tracks like Abilene, Lila Blue and the title track, he is 5 stars all the way, but then you have to grit your teeth through all these overwrought, borderline "atonal" numbers, hence, sadly, the three stars.