Customer Reviews

Like Minds

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

 

 

... from this talented quintet? Start with longtime playing partners (and Grisman alumni) Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, add a dash of guitar-master David Grier, pour on Tony Trishka's scintillating banjo stylings, and wrap it up with Todd Phillps' "spacey/solid" bass, and voila! an instant near-classic jam album. The compositions all come from the various band members (with the notable exception of Jimi Hendrix's "3rd Stone from the Sun, which is pretty high energy but somehow misses the mark) and lay out some wonderful melodic foundation - Marshall's "Hot Nickels" and Trishka's "Garlic & Sapphires" are my personal favorites, but almost every track is a keeper. The unsung hero of this effort may be Todd Phillips, who shifts from timekeeper to timewarper and back on numerous occasions without missing a beat. All of these guys have their own gigs, but I'd love to hear a followup!

The music I like best is the music that can alter my state of mind and this definitely does. The first time I popped this in my CD player I had a headache and was driving for a couple of hours. This disk made me forget the headache and basically zone out for the trip. I have heard efforts at playing psychedelic bluegrass before and didn't expect much but this was surprisingly compelling. I respectfully disagree with the above reviewer about Third Stone from the Sun. It is great.

I've always felt like too much was lost in the translation from performance to recording with bluegrass music and had hoped that Psychograss might enable me to transcend what I'm sure must be a flaw in how I hear music. If I were a musician, especially a competent one, then I think I would not have this problem, but "Like Minds" does not compel to change my position.

The band itself is a stellar array of acoustic virtuosos and the collective talent here is off the charts. They take turns leading the fray and then regrouping as collective, and while there is an undercurrent of experimentation and eclecticism, the music sounds too much the same throughout to my untrained ear.

I think I expected either more or a different energy, such as the rapid-fire pace of the Meat Purveyors, the oddball viewpoints from the Gourds, or the jazz phrasing from David Grisman.

All in all, there are some good moments here and the only real dog (and only cover song) is Hendrix's 3rd Stone from the Sun. But I'm never going to consider this a favorite CD.