Customer Reviews

Light Shine

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

 

 

This CD came out when Jesse was at the height of his creative powers. He was tourning as opening act of the 1974 CSNY reunion tour (and by most reviews playing better than the headliners) and producing some of the best music coming out of northern california. Mining some of the same jazz influenced ground as Van Morrison, he merged the singer songwriter with light jazz.

This disc is a followup to Song for Juli. While Juli may have been a little stronger overall, here Jesse takes a few more chances. California child opens with a bit of bright cali-pop breaking immediately into the moodiness of Grey Day. The title tune is a feel god anthem, mining the same spiritual territory as Get Together.

Arguaby Jesse had a five year run of creativity that anyone would be proud of. This is the peak of that period. Highly recommended. This goes in and out of print, so get it while it's available

I first bought this album in the 70's, and over the years I have worn out every copy of the record and tape. It's the perfect album for a rainy day or in front of the fireplace. Mellow jazzy blues with Jesse's unique voice. Nothing like it.

Amazing that no one else has entered a review for this CD. One track alone is as good as anything Jesse ever did. "Grey Day" is a lilting journey into a state of mind that can strongly evoke the feeling of being in the woods, in the fog and rain, with senses saturated, surrounded by the elements and the natural high of being in the moment,caught up in nature's dance. The haunting lyrics will stay with you and take you out of yourself for a while with the flute accompaniment. The tract is long because it evolves into a jazz set only to return to you to earth with an expanded mind. Too bad a shorter version of this tract hasn't been produced or remixed a "greatest hits" songlist. Buy this CD!

"Lightshine", the title tract,is also a well known and positive keeper from Jesse (the human songbird) as well. Plenty of poetry on this one.

The first half of this album (the California Suite) is a religious experience for me. Grey Day and Light Shine both have passages that make my soul soar and my hair stand on end. It seems positively Pagan. Crank up the stereo and let it take you away.

The rest of the album is fine, but not nearly so great as the first half. Even if the rest of the album were missing, the California Suite would easily justify the cost of the CD.

I bought this in the 70s when it was new and impressionable, it brought jazz to my repertoire and the appreciation of a rainy day with a fireplace and a pot of lapsang souchong. I ordered this last year on a whim and was as impressed as I had been in the beginning. This is one that I am ordering yet again because of the delicacy of thought and intimacy of a wordsmith.

Wow--I found this album very cheap and this was not at all what I expected. This is, very strictly speaking, a folk rock album, but it is tinged with a brilliant jazz edge.

Young strums his guitar, but he has a amazingy musical drummer. A lot of these numbers have walking bass lines and break into cool jazz interludes:
I mean the genre cool jazz, not that the jazz interludes are cool.

What really makes this album, though, is the saprano sax. Jim Rothermel, who plays here, has an amazingly fluid style. He may be on a folk rock date, but his solos weave in and out of the chord changes like a true jazzman. You have to love the saprano sax--it is so light, you can make winding musical statements sound increadibly natural increadibly quickly. Frankly, as far as mainstreem rock goes, I have not heard jazz applied this well since Van Morrison put out Moondance. Some of the sections on Light Shine seem to use jazz in a much more genuine way.

Young may not have the best chops in the world when it comes to jazz, but he sure had good taste, and the talent to assemble a band to put across his lovely brand of jazzy folk.

Side One

1-California Suite:
California Child
Grey Day
Light Shine

Side 2

1-Pretty and the Fair
2-Barbados
3-Motorcycle Blues
4-The Cuckoo
5-Susan