Customer Reviews

LAGQ's Guitar Heroes

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

 

 

This is an exciting display of 6 string prowess that really isn't classical, yet will inevitably become a classic. It is an amazing tour de force worthy of the California Guitar Trio. The efforst here focus on composers and players who are heroes to this quartet, and it is a compendium of the best: McLaughlin, Hendrix, Metheny, Towner, Howe, Rheinhart. Each and every selection is brilliant whether they are essaying Norman Blake or Frank Zappa. York, Tennant, Kanengiser and Dearman command their instruments with power and discipline, and the finessse and passion leaps off the strings. The fretwork is a tribute to each of the heroes honored, and indeed this is truly an honouring of great fretmen. The digital encoding of the disc is such that you get a very precise definition of who is playing spacially from right to left. Very impressive, as you would expect from Telarc.
Their take on Towner's "Icarus" is both timely and quite a creative adjustment of the tempo. Steve Howe's "Mood For A Day" undergoes a makeover as a flamenco tour de force, and it actually comes off even more amazing than Howe's various re-workings of this abstemious wonder. At times, the compositions are those of the heroes, at others it is the LAGQ's composition evoking essential qualities of the personalities honoured. It works beautifully on all accounts. If you are a fan of acoustic guitars, or even of any of the guitarists honoured here, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

I JUST GOT THIS CD FROM AMAZON LAST WEEK AND I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO IT! THESE GUYS ARE IN TOP FORM. I THOUGHT I KNEW WHAT A GUITAR SOUNDS LIKE, BUT I WAS MISTAKEN.

I HAVE NEVER HEARD NYLON STRINGS SOUND LIKE AN ELECTRIC DELAY LIKE ON CHET ATKINS "COUNTRY GENTLEMAN" OR EVEN A FRETLESS BASS SOUND LIKE ON THE MICHAEL HEDGES INSPIRED "LAMENT AND WAKE". THE PAT METHENY SONG IS GREAT AND "B AND B" SOUNDS AS AUTHENTIC AND INSPIRED AS ANY BLUEGRASS TUNE I HAVE EVER HEARD.

I AM QUITE IMPRESSED WITH THE ARTISTS THE LAGQ DECIDED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO. THERE ARE A LOT OF COMPOSERS ON THIS ALBUM I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE, WHO ARE PRODUCING SOME REALLY INNOVATIVE MUSIC. THIS JUST MIGHT BE THE LAGQ'S BEST ALBUM. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND CHECK THIS ONE OUT.

It probably seemed like a good, "high concept" idea -- a CD by the creative, adventurous and technically adept LAGQ that, track by track, pays homage to guitarists the group admires.

Known for bending and blending genres, classically trained LAGQ members John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Andrew York roam far and wide on "Guitar Heroes." They arrange tunes by Chet Atkins, Yes's Steve Howe and Oregon's Ralph Towner, and interpret pieces written as tributes to Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt and Frank Zappa, among others.

The result is sometimes playful and intriguing, as listeners familiar with the original guitarists hear many musical stretches and reinventions. More often, it's self-conscious, labored and a little too clever, down to titles like "We Know You Know: Reverie for Mahavishnu," written for John McLaughlin, and "Pluck, Strum and Hammer," dedicated to Hendrix.

Along with "Gypsy Flower," a dissonant re-imagining of Reinhardt, these pieces evoke at least some of the style and technique of the "heroes," but not much of the soul.

The best tracks offer more than mere pastiche -- a heartbreaking version of Pat Metheny's "Letter From Home," and the guitarist Sergio Assad's mysterious "Uarekena," the title referring to an indigenous Brazilian tribe.

"Lament and Wake," written by Evan Hirschelman in memory of the late Michael Hedges, also stands out. It includes many of Hedges' radical guitar techniques, but, far more importantly, it's a poignant, stirring six minutes of music.

The final track, the quartet's simulation of Chet Atkins' slap-back echoes on "Blue Echo/Country Gentleman," is a hoot. But much of this disc sounds like pieces that would sound more exciting in concert, two or three per night, perhaps as encores or on the occasion of one of the great guitarists' birthdays. In other words, a little of LAGQ's "Guitar Heroes" goes a long way.

This is a wonderful disc. I am blown away that anyone knowledgeable about classical guitar or other fingerstyle guitar would find the LAGQ anything less than superb. I have seen them in concert and they were amazing. Their arrangements/performances of parts of Carmen would have been worth the price of admission by itself. These guys are brilliant. The only thing I think you can pick on is possibly the choice of music that they record. Well, that's why we listen to LAGQ instead of other brilliant guitarists such as C. Parkening or D. Russell or P. Romero: because they give us something different.

I own a pile of classical guitar recordings (Williams, Romero's, Parkening, Russell, Segovia, etc., etc., etc.), including from the LAGQ: LAGQ, For Thy Pleasure, and Labyrinth and solo recordings by Kanengiser and York. I am a classical guitar player, fingerstyle steel-string player, and guitar maker.

I like everything from LAGQ and they are incredible in concert. (I can't believe some one doesn't get the joke and allusions in Pachebel's Loose Canon ...) My $0.02.

I have been listening to Guitar Heroes for the past month and I still hear something new every time.

The playing is top notch and most of the songs are really well composed. They use a lot of cool effects, like echoes and percussion. There are parts of Guitar Heroes where they sound like they are tapping like Van Halen! There are not many classical guitarists doing that and it is not cheesy at all.

Classical guitar is really morphing into a whole new style. It is a great time to be listening to music!

It goes without saying the the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is in fact the BEST performing guitar ensemble in the world right now. The quartet always impresses me with their variety, technique, musicianship, ensemble playing and innovation. The playing and material on this album reflects just that. The variety reflects many different styles: contemporary classical, rock, jazz, avant garde, new age, bluegrass, country and flamenco. The technique is spotless, the musicianship is incredibly fine tuned the group plays together perfectly and the selections are fresh, new and very interesting. It's a true treat to hear nylon stringed classical guitars playing tribute to their greats and the greats of their electric counterparts.

To talk about highlight tracks on this album just wouldn't be fair. There are too many. The cover of Ralph Towner's "Icarus" is exciting in its use of special guitar techniques, its Brazillian flavor and Andrew Yorks amazing improvised solo. The bouncy tribute to Norman Blake and David Bromberg is fun and incredibly enerjetic. The hommages to McLaughlin and Hendrix are provocative, strange and haunting. Following those two abrasive, dissonant cuts is a beautiful transcription of Pat Metheny's Letter from Home and Sergio Assad's very cool composition "Uarekena." The disc also features a flamenco reworking of Yes's "Mood for a Day," a tribute to gypsy great Django Reinhard, a Romeros quartet piece bubbling with Spanish flair, the extended technique ridden Michael Hedges tribute, an avant garde nod to Frank Zappa and a bouncy country influenced salute to Chet Atkins. Every cut is strong and is oozing with LAGQ perfection and nuance.

The other cool thing about this album is that it is mixed in stereo. The players are mixed across the speakers so that the arrangements can be aurally analyzed much easier. This album is a must have for any fan of the guitar... not just classical players.

This was the Grammy award winner in classical crossover for 2005. It is great if you appreciate the innovators in 20th century guitar music. Listen to The "Assad Duo" and a rock remedition of a Michael Hedges tribute" Lament and Wake which stand out. Both these songs got great reviews as arrangements by the newspaper critics. Get the multi channel version if you have a a top notch audio system with the speakers to show off the enginneering. If you just want "pretty" background music this is not an album for you.

Didn't like Brazil when it first came out but it grew on me. I have 4 other LAGQ titles beside GH and Brazil. GH is my least favorite of the bunch. Why? Because almost nothing is recognizable on this outing of covers paying tribute to guitar heroes. They just could not have picked more obscure songs. And then there is the sound. Nylon string guitars sound flat and stale anyway but this is just awful. I used the brightest sounding headphones I have, AKG K701's and it still sounds dull as a butter knife. There is just no crisp treble here at all.

I read a review just like what I just wrote and ordered it anyway. Leave this one and get the rest.

LAGQ's CD "Guitar Heroes" begins with their take on Ralph Towner's classic Icarus. This choice proves an apt one, for like this mythical Greek hero, LAGQ strives to accomplish something great and wonderful, but instead crashes to earth.

In fact, the CD begins with much promise, leading with the soaring cover of Icarus and the well-done homage to Blake and Bromberg "B&B." Then the McLaughlin and Hendrix tributes founder badly before the band achieves stability with a pair of unexciting but listenable tunes in honor of Pat Metheney and the Assad Duo (I always thought it was the other way around, Duo Assad).

A rather horrid homage to Steve Howe and a lackluster one for Django Reinhardt are countered by the brief but clever Duane York, a nice yoking together of slide and classical styles. The tip of the cap to Los Romeros is OK, but then the overlong, often irritating tributes to Michael Hedges and Frank Zappa do not add any luster to either of these late guitarists' legacies and set the CD on a terminal downward spiral.

The nice tribute to Chet Atkins that concludes this set is not enough to restore altitude and the whole effort essential crashes to earth.

No doubt the performers had a great time recording this CD for their grasp of technique and nuance proves solid. The problem is that the concept of "Guitar Heroes" fails to translate into much pleasure for average listeners like me.

I can't think of any recent collection of music that I enjoyed more than this album by the LAGQ. "Guitar Heroes" is amazing right from the beginning and never ceases right through the last track. The performances are solid, always musical and often mesmerizing. The songs and arrangements are impeccable and thoughtful, never pandering or taking the easy route to illuminating a particular guitar hero. After listening to this album, you want to hear more of the LAGQ, and also more from their "heroes". For that alone, this offering is a tremendous success.