Customer Reviews

Off The Floor Live

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The name "Famous Amos" is synonymous with tasty Famous Amos Cookies, but Guitar Player Magazine calls this Amos "one of the most lyrical and original guitarists today and his single note solos and melodic figures are so distinctive that it is virtually impossible to mistake them for anyone else's."

It has also been quoted, "Amos Garrett plays better one-handed and on an off-night than most guitar players put together."

As an extraordinary studio musician, he performed with Stevie Wonder, Chet Akins, Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, Todd Rundgren, and Emmylou Harris. In the early 70's he was a guitarist for the Paul Butterfield Band."

Recorded live at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, "Off The Floor Live" 1996, is a compilation of dynamic upbeat, and slower bluesy songs performed before an intimate enthusiastic audience.

Selections vary from Eddie Nobles "Bad Bad Whiskey" to Johnny Otis' "Willie and the Hand Jive" and Johnny Heartsman's "Goose Grease." Listen to the mesmerizing "Sleepwalk" from Santo and Johnny 50s hit. Garrett delivers in a bluesy jazzy style.

John Lee Hooker, named the inventor of "boogie guitar", is the focus of this conversational 12-minute entertaining number called "Conversation with John Lee Hooker." - Garrett reminisces about John Lee Hooker and how the blues originated.

Garrett includes Leadbelly's "Grasshoppers in my Pillow" ...I got grasshoppers in my pillow Momma, crickets in my meal.. Leadbelly, a folk legend, died in 1949 was a black Louisiana born who influenced thousands of other musicians.

Willie and the Hand Jive - a Johnny Otis rock and roll oldie has been a staple of 50's sock hop. Garrett adds some of the blues-based, snappy rock and roll rhythm he is known for.

You will get an impression that Garrett is an avid fisherman. Listen to the jazz-based "Wrong Lake To Catch Fish" and a softer "Just Like a Fish." He isn't from the bayous he sings of; he hails from Ontario Canada.

You will enjoy this entire CD. Entertaining! ...MzRizz

Not everybody "gets" Amos Garrett. His solos can sound casual and offhand -- that is, until you try to play them. And that's why he's a "guitar player's guitar player." He doesn't dazzle. He's subtle. Even odder, for a rock musician, he's pretty unimpressed with himself. Consequently, he's never out to show the world what a barnburner he is. He just likes to play what he likes to play, and to sing in his foggy Hoagy Carmichael voice. I really like this recording precisely because Garrett does not make a big deal out of his amazing dexterity on the guitar. This is NOT Mr. Ultimate Speedfingers rockin' the joint. It is --dare I say this -- pleasant to listen to. Seldom has so much guitar technique been used to reach such modest ends.

i agree with everything the other reviewer says except that the cd was recorded over two nights at the sidetrack cafe - which is soon to close - i was there and it was great as have been his other trips to the sidetrack - and the folk festival.

I bought this after the glowing raves on various websites and in a number of publications. Whish I hadn't. Someone compared GARRETT to GATTON and that was enough incentive as I am a GATTON fan. Well GARRETT is not in the same ZIP code as GATTON. With all the raves I expected a GUITAR cd. What I got is a vocalist that never rises above the level of a suburban bar band. OK if you are drunk and want to sing along, but why this should have been released as a live CD is beyond me. He sounds like an aging and fairly untalented singer with a fairly cheesy backing band that are closer to MERV AND THE MAGICTONES than to DANNY GATTON.
The guitar takes center stage on a couple of occasions and makes almost no impact. The keyboards and the horns get more exposure than the guitar. GARRETS playing is average at best and this certainly wouldn't make you rush out to find some more guitar wizzardry by him. If there is a guitar virtuoso lurking in GARRETT, this cd does its best to hide the fact.