Large As Life & Twice As Natural [Import, Original recording remastered]

Davy Graham | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 1968
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Fledgling
• ASIN: B000B8GU78
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #537,905 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Both Sides Now

2. Bad Boy Blues

3. Tristano

4. Babe, It Ain't No Lie

5. Bruton Town

6. Sunshine Raga

7. Freight Train Blues

8. Jenra

9. Electric Chair

10. Good Morning Blues

11. Beautiful City

12. Blue Raga

Editorial Reviews

With the exception of 1964's Folk, Blues & Beyond, this is Graham's finest non-compilation album. It's also his most fully arranged and rock-influenced effort, with backing by a meaty ensemble featuring Danny Thompson (of Pentangle) on bass and British blues stalwarts Jon Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith (Graham Bond, Colosseum) on drums and sax respectively. Even Davey's singing sounds better than usual. Graham offers some decent blues, but more interesting are his frequent excursions into raga folk-rock of sorts, especially on "Blue Raga" (learned from Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan). The raga-jazz interpretation of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," which moves from meditative opening drones into a freewheeling explosion of modal folk-rock, is one of the highlights of Graham's career on record and one of the best expressions of his ability to make a standard his own. Flegdling. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Davy Graham, fully-realized: the stuff of legends!, February 23, 2008

By 

Elliot Knapp (Seattle, Washington United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Large As Life & Twice As Natural (Audio CD)

In 1968, a scant five years after his full-length debut, Davy Graham released this, his fifth album, and the most full-fledged realization of his creative vision, and arguably the highest of his high-water marks (with the possible exception of his first masterpiece, Folk, Blues & Beyond...). Not only does this album contain some of Graham's most ripping moments as a guitar virtuoso, it also contains some of the most mind-blowing combinations of world folk music idioms and strikingly original arrangements of Graham's career.

As usual, Large as Life and Twice as Natural finds Graham backed by an ace combo of inventive and reactive session players, most notably Danny Thompson on upright bass. Their chemistry is clearly evidenced on the very first track, Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now." This recording is one of Graham's most fiery, and certainly a classic reading of Mitchell's standard. The song starts out mysteriously enough, with Davy's stinging acoustic bursting single notes, with some flourishes by the rhythm section behind. Soon, Graham's smooth voice enters, wordlessly mimicking the melody. Finally, the song explodes into a galloping, jazzy riff that guitar aficionados will certainly drool over. Fans of Joni Mitchell can also note how Graham's buoyant arrangement lends a cathartic energy to her classic song. It wouldn't be classic Davy Graham if the vocals weren't imperfect, and it's a thrill to hear him strain for the high notes on the chorus--sometimes, energy does make up for imprecision!

"Bad Boy Blues" finds the ensemble as full as ever, with a sax and flute augmenting the band's jazzy groove. "Tristano" is undoubtedly some of the best solo guitar Graham ever committed to tape--a whirling blend of jazz and faux-Eastern droning, with some blistering fretboard runs. "Babe, It Ain't No Lie" and "Bruton Town," (later recorded again by Thompson and Pentangle on Sweet Child) are American and British folk songs, respectively, and wouldn't have been out of place on Folk, Blues and Beyond. "Sunshine Raga," which, as the booklet notes, is based on a scale with a major third, is a blast of Indian-influenced improvisation that conveys pure rapture through music. "Jenra" is another ripper, with some killer riffs in Graham's DADGAD tuning. "Blue Raga" concludes the album with another seductive Eastern groove. In reality, it's a spinning blend of raga and pan-British folk modes, fired off with the attitude and improvisational flair of the jazz and blues traditions, which perfectly sums up Graham's unique vision and overwhelming contribution to music that has inspired countless guitarists, not the least of which include Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page, Roy Harper,Paul Simon, and Martin Carthy.

In comparison with Folk, Blues and Beyond..., which usually gets the limelight as Graham's best album, I think this one is underappreciated--while Folk, Blues and Beyond... is certainly a high-water mark, it's principally a collection of folk songs with unconventionally Eastern and progressive moods and flourishes, while Large as Life features some all-out explosions into territory uncharted by most mere traditional song interpreters. Regardless, they're both unquestionably essential for Graham's guitar playing, his influence, and his flair for eclecticism and classy fusion of disparate world folk elements. Plus, this album's artwork is packed with photos of Graham as I always picture him in my mind's eye--in a straw hat, smoking cigarillos, just a bit of a madcap (or was that in a sombrero? Oh wait, wrong album...). Whether you get the 2005 Fledg'ling reissue, or the brand new 2008 Les Cousins reissue (released simultaneously with Graham's new album (!), Broken Biscuits), you're getting great sound and a beautiful color booklet of the original album art. Don't miss this album.