Customer Reviews

Lookout for Hope

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A point of reference: I play dobro.

Or...at least I THOUGHT I could.

This album features a style and expertise I'd have to best classify as "impossible". Jerry Douglas uses his abilities in genres beyond the traditional bluegrass places - he explores blues, jazz, free-form, ballads...and it ALL works.

Is it incoherent as another reviewer said? Perhaps. But expecting a straight "coherent artistic statement" from an outside-the-box virtuoso like Jerry Douglas is to handcuff him.

This album shows that the expressive instrument that is the dobro isn't relegated only to the hills and mountains, but can take its place with a wide-range of genres. Let me tell you something - as a dobro player, I learned more about the instrument in this disc than I have in 20 prior years.

This is not just brilliant work, but marvelously entertaining and thrilling to the ears. The song selection is delightful, and the inclusion of the guest vocalists (particularly James Taylor on the mournful "The Suit") is an added treat. What's really going to make your ears perk up are the incredible sonics. Rarely have acoustic instruments been recorded this well. The guitars are like chimes, the bass tight and warm. Whatever playback system you use will sound all the better for it.

Sample it, seek it out, but this is guitar playing like few can - or ever have - done.

Perhaps Jerry Douglas is best reviewed by someone who plays the Dobro rather than relying on the opinion of those who relegate the instrument to providing backup for a singer. This offering showcases Jerry's prodigious abilities on everything from traditional to jazz with a little Eastern flavor to season the mix. With the James Taylor rendered closing song, "The Suit", being one of my favorite. This is probably not a CD for everyone, most certainly not for someone who doesn't appreciate the sound of the lap-style resonator guitar. Those of us who have a genuine interest in this genre will be more than satisfied.

You probably already know who Jerry "Flux" Douglas is if you're looking at this page. If so, all you need to know is that this is a very cool CD.

Not only is Douglas himself in fine form, but there are a few special treats throughout. For example: Sam Bush is here, and on one song he and Chris Thile operate a pair of mandolins while Trey Anastasio accompanies on guitar. (Hey, how come almost nobody asks Sam to play the fiddle anymore?) Then, too, Maura O'Connell and James Taylor each provide a vocal track. And the opening track is a "dobrized" version of an old Duane Allman tune. (Douglas wrote the majority of the rest -- six of the eleven tracks.)

Beyond that, there's not much that reviewers need to say. It's _Jerry Douglas_, man.

If you haven't heard of Douglas before -- well, you only _think_ you haven't; it's almost impossible that you should have lived through the last twenty-odd years without ever having heard him play. The guy is everywhere. He's a virtuoso on the resophonic guitar and he's singlehandedly (well, twohandedly) extended its musical horizons by too many miles to count. He's played with everybody from Dan Fogelberg to Alison Krauss. If you've heard a Dobro guitar within the last couple of decades, the odds are better than 50-50 that it was him.

Anyway, a _very_ cool CD. Don't hesitate to add it to your collection.

Dobro Douglas dazzles us again with his new release, "Lookout For Hope," an evocative new acoustic offering that blends influences of bluegrass, jazz, classical and Celtic music. Full of excitement and energy, the music on this album is a real kick in the pants. The opening cut, an arrangement of Duane Allman's "Little Martha" features just dobro and bass (played by Barry Bales). "Patrick Meet the Brickbats" hits the bluegrass bull's eye dead on, with Douglas ably assisted by Bryan Sutton (guitar), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Sam Bush (mandolin), Barry Bales (bass), and Larry Atamanuik (drums). If one is going to have drums on their acoustic project, Atamanuik is the one who can tastefully play them. A real treat are the vocals of Maura O'Connell on "Footsteps Fall." Following a too-short interlude of "Monkey Let The Hogs Out," Douglas launches into the 10-minute jazzy title cut with Sutton, Bush, Chris Thile on mandolin, Byron House on bass, and Trey Anastasio on guitar. This aqueous composition will give you hint as to how Jerry Douglas earned his nickname of "Flux." A little sax, electric guitar, and drums are flavorfully added to provide an artistic interpretation to the hard-driving Douglas original, "Cave Bop." These instruments really spice up this project and tickle the musical palate, if your tastebuds are open to such things. In keeping with the flow, "The Wild Rumpus" and "The Sinking Ship" provide up-tempo and moderate jazz offerings. Jerry takes a 2-minute freewheeling solo on "In The Sweet By and By," and the project closes with James Taylor singing "The Suit." If one were to view this Jerry Douglas CD as an entire package, it would be a prize one that fully delivers the goods. --Joe Ross, moderator/reviewer for Nwbluegrass

Lookout For Hope, Jerry Douglas's latest record is a tour-de-force for him and his instrument. When you see the package with its exquisite art work, read the titles of the numbers, and read the liner notes you will know this record was made by professionals with creativity and love. You can go along as Douglas strums, plunks, grabs, and caresses the strings, slides the steel bar along the neck and flashes the Dobro's top against the lights. Some rides are smooth and sweet as in Little Martha, a summer tune; some are sad as in Sweet By and By and Sonia's Lament. If there was doubt whether you would decorate a loved one's grave soon, you will wind up looking for wild flowers, just be sure you don't get caught trespassing. Hold on tight for The Wild Rumpus, a raucous number that could get old folks in trouble by causing them to throw caution to the wind, go out and ride a big roller coaster with a grandchild. It could even bring back memories of Junior Johnson running moonshine in a souped up Ford through Knoxville or the movie, Smoky and the Bandit. James Taylor and Maura O'Connell keep a melancholy mood going in their vocals on The Suit and Footsteps Fall. Jeff Coffin's sax on Cave Bop accents Douglas's Dobro with authority, soft pounding, and funk, humming birds lurk around Viktor Krauss's bass rhythms. The sad horn Fitzgerald wrote about in Gatsby blows on Sinking Ship. Friends from Alison Krauss and Union Station show up with perfect timing: Barry Bales, Ron Block, and Larry Atamanuik, a great drummer and even better person, whose name, if spelled right, gets you in shows for half-price. Jerry Douglas has done much and he has gone far away from the rust belt that is Warren, Ohio. He is to the Dobro what Earl Scruggs is to the banjo, a question under consideration for the SAT test if that is in your future. This record will please Douglas's aficionados, whatever their ages. And fans too, I might add. Folks who have come on board to new acoustic stylings for their integrity and Americana in the 90s with Alison Krauss, Del McCoury and others, or through Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, will prize Lookout For Hope

It simply doesn't get better than Jerry Douglas...
...except when you by from this vendor. great experience. on a budget. on time. perfect product. won't hesitate to buy again.
g

Great music. Saw him open for Paul Simon a few years ago and didn't realize he was part of Union Station. As far as the SACD sound goes it's great. It is only in stereo, but still sounds wonderful.

At the time of this writing, there have been two other reviews, both 5-stars. I concur fully with both. So I will only add that it is wonderful to see Maura O'Connell back in her fine, unique form (after, in my opinion, her recent and dissapointing generic-singer solo release). Jerry Douglas is the premier producer of not only Jerry Douglas, but also of Maura.

Bottom line, though: this latest album demonstrates again his musical taste, creativity, and proficiency.

It's hard to find fault with this eclectic recording which touches on many styles ranging from bluegrass (of course) to jazz.

If you're a bluegrass fan, you probably have this. But, if you're a fan of jazz, or improvised music in general, I highly recommend this.

Jerry Douglas is one of the most musical players around on any instrument. He can play very moving lyrical lines, and cook like no ones business. On this disc, you'll get to hear plenty of both.

Shawn

Jerry Douglas--awesome!

This CD is so hot that it is worth the purchase if only for the sake of two songs--"Little Martha," the Allman Brothers classic tune, here done by Jerry's overdubbing playing harmony to himself; and "Senia's Lament," one of the most gorgeous dobro melodies I have ever heard.

Enjoy!