Customer Reviews

Quah

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll never forget the fall of 1976. I was working the graveyard shift at a grocery store and my coworkers and I would hook up the radio to the intercom system so music (although acoustically awful) helped us through the night. The disc jockey who also worked all night would tend to play real mellow stuff from 1:00AM to 6:00 AM. I always thought he had great taste, but my co-workers preferred Ted Nugent and that kind of stuff. Every morning, just before his shift ended, he would play this soft gentle song that spoke softly of lost love and a feeling of sadness. It was very gentle, very beautiful and I looked forward to it every morning. I always meant to call him to find out what the song was, and of course I kept putting it off, telling myself I would call him the next day. Well, one night he wasn't on anymore! He left the station. I called and asked every jock on that station if they could tell me what that song was. Of course, none of them knew it. I loved that song and it remained a mystery to me for nine years. In 1985 a buddy of mine that I would trade albums with brought me over a few records and one of them was "Quah" by Jorma. He told me it was a great album with a great song, "Genesis" on it. I told him I would give it a try when I had a chance. About three weeks later, I put the album on one day and when it started , I turned and stared at the stereo! This was the mystery song I had been seeking for the past nine years! I taped the LP and wore that tape out, then got the CD when that was released. It was so great to hear it without the cracks and pops that were on my friend's LP.

Quah is a magical album. I still play it quite often when I need that mellow feeling. And "Genesis" remains one of the most magical pieces of music ever written. It haunts me to this day.

If I were one of these Amazon list writers I would include this on my top ten desert island discs list, greatest acoustic guitar cd's, and in the ten discs that most profoundly influenced me as a guitar player. I could include it on any number of best-of's.

What makes Quah a classic? First off, like ALL "classics" there are no weak cuts. The originals (i.e. Genesis, Hamar Promenade) are some of Jorma's best. The cover versions, besides being flawlessly performed and arranged, are chosen with a tasteful sense of program and continuity.

But that alone doesn't make it a classic. It's "guy" music - great to throw on during that all night poker game. It's "chick" music - put this on during a romantic encounter and I guarantee you the female in question will say either "Oh wow, you have this?" or "Who is this? I really like it." You can't miss either way. Of all of Jorma's recordings, Quah is the most universally appealing. Why? Get it and find out.

Quah is timeless. It doesn't sound dated. Many of my all time favorites have that problem. The production values are exceedingly high for their time. You can really hear Jorma's legendary picking with crystal clarity. To top it off, he delivers perhaps some of the best vocalising of his career.

Now I may be preaching to the choir, because I have never met anyone who didn't like this recording but - if you already have the old Relix reissue I HIGHLY reccomend that you upgrade to this version. The new cuts are worth it and it sounds better.

The three unreleased Tom Hobson cuts are great. What a treat after all these years! The best just got better. The two Tom Hobson cuts have been my favorites. Lord Have Mercy sounds like an instrumental version of another song on Tuna's The Phosphorescent Rat. I won't ruin the hidden track for you - just check it out.

A truly monumental achievment for Jorma and a great listening experience for those of us with ears.

I have long loved Jorma's Too Hot to Handle, but have never been able to get my hands on Quah until now. It was certainly worth the wait. This album represents Jorma taking a much needed break away from the confines of his former band and returning to more comfortable musical stomping grounds. The shift back into a much better fitting skin did Jorma a wealth of musical good, as one can tell from this album. His original compositions are solid and moving, and they blend superbly with the varied non-Jorma tunes, like his very masterful and impressive renditions of Rev. Gary Davies' tunes and his wickedly brilliant slide-guitar-addled take of blues classic "Another Man Done Gone." As for his guitar playing, one couldn't ask for a better tour of Jorma's command of both blues and fingerstyle guitar. When friend and fellow blues disciple Tom Hobson steps in, he only adds to Jorma's banquet, both with his equally competent guitar playing and his "I've-got-the-right-to-sing-the-blues" vocals. Tom's cowboy-esque "Barrier" makes for a charming finale (along with the following "commercial"), and helps reminds the listener than this album was intended originally to be a joint effort between Jorma and Tom, rather than as a solo debut, as it has commonly been viewed. Additional tracks included, there isn't a single dud on this one. I never heard an original vinyl recording of this album, but I dare say the remastering does this material justice, allowing one to clearly hear the delicate guitar work and the vocal nuances throughout without making it too "clean." The liner notes, too, are an enjoyable and informative read and include explanations for the dually mysterious album title and cover art. I can recommend this gladly welcomed re-issue without effort or reservation to anyone interested in Jorma's work, fingerstyle guitar, or faithful blues discipleship, or to the musical lover looking for a refreshing break from the contemporary state of musical poverty that plagues most "artists" currently available on CD.

When I first heard "Quah" 23 years ago, I had no idea what a huge impact it would make on my music listening habits for the next two decades. As a guitarist, I have always admired and tried to learn from Jorma's guitar style, and this album has repeatedly made its way into the CD player (and before that, the cassette deck, and the turntable before that). There is literally no other album in my collection I can say that about. A new rerelease with added bonus cuts answers the question, "How could this gem get any better?" Digital remastering brings out a new clarity, and previously unheard songs make this release a joyous occasion for Jorma fans. Take my word for it...if you like acoustic fingerstyle music, this is important stuff.

Originals like "Genesis" and "Hamar Promenade", as well as being probably some of Jorma's best material ever, sound clear as a bell, and the Blind Blake classic "Police Dog Blues" is still, to my ears, the best recorded rendition of this song ever since the original in 1927. Jorma's coverage of Reverend Gary Davis material is well known, and sounds better than ever on this reissue. I am enjoying the two "new" instrumentals, "Lord Have Mercy" and "Midnight In Milpitas", which fit right into the roster as though they were always there.

I am particularly fond of the tracks by Tom Hobson, because over the years he has been an "acquired" taste for me; I have really come to appreciate his songs and quirky vocal delivery. He had the perfect voice for the songs he chose to do; it's a shame the record execs didn't think much of him at the time and limited him to two cuts. "Blue Prelude" has always been one of my favorites from the CD. The newly added "No Mail Today", though it suffers from a slightly off-kilter ending, is now officially my favorite of the Hobson cuts. I owe Jorma a debt of gratitude for personally answering my questions a few years back about this friend and his tragically short career.

Kudos to all involved in the release of this CD...and thanks from a dyed-in-the-wool Kaukonen fan!

The main problem for a music fan these days is to find in the flood of mediocricity something that can really move ones heart, soul, whatever you call it. That is why we surf the web, web radios, Amazon. One of the net stations was playing Jorma Kaukonen's "Genesis" somehow long forgotten to me. There I was, like thunderstruck! What a beauty! Suddenly the crazy, calleidoscope seventies were moving fast before my mind's eyes again. I immediately checked amazon.com and found "Quah" and to my delight - remastered! Every single song, from "Genesis" through "Another Man Done Gone" to "Hamar Promenede" a real gem. Jorma's vocals crystal clear, the guitars superb! I am a professional musician myself, and it is not too often that I experience so much truth and beauty on one album. Five stars is the highest here but I am giving SIX! "QUAH" is Beauty and it is a Flawless Beauty! Grab this record! It is way beyond time!

This has been a cherished piece of vinyl for me, out of print for decades. The songs are classic Americana, transcendently performed and carefully recorded without being over-engineered. It may sound funny to say this, but I'm struck with the parallels to J. S. Bach - there's a somehow mathematical clarity to these songs, which like Bach's combine deep soulfulness and elegant structure. Jorma is in fine voice (not to mention in firm command of his guitars), and the material and performers synch up for a few moments of magic on this disk.

"Quah" was Jorma Kaukonen's first solo album which was recorded in the wake of the dissolution of the Jefferson Airplane in 1974. It is,arguably, the finest of the many projects Jorma has taken on in the post-Airplane years. While Paul Kantner and Grace Slick persued sonic experiments,resulting in the formation of the Starship, Jorma revisits his folk-blues roots. The results are unlike any album release of that era. The album has been out of print for sometime and has become a treasured object for fans of both the Airplane and Kaukonen. It is a timeless relic which should be heard by a wider audience.

The brightly colored figurative art on the cover, by Jorma's former wife, predates the splashy street art of uptown Manhattan in the 1980s. Like the album, the artwork is completely unique and unprecedented. Jorma is in excellent voice as he blazes through the intricate fingerpicking stylings of Harlem's Gary Davis and the master picker Blind Blake. Tom Hobson's contribution is vocals on two tracks,one of which is "Sweet Havaiian Sunshine." On that track, Jorma demonstrates his expertise on Hawaiian slack key tunings on guitar. Jorma's orginal compositions like "Genesis" and "Hamar Promenade" prove to be the equal any tracks on the Airplane's groundbreaking, folk oriented "Surrealistic Pillow." Indeed, Jorma's incredbile resilence as a musician, is evidence to many fans that he was the heart and soul of the Jefferson Airplane. In the subsequent years, Kantner and Slick's Starship project became so commercially compromised, it began to erode the very integrity of the original Jefferson Airplane. Though Jorma Kaukonen has yet to produce an album as striking as "Qauh", his work with Hot Tuna and as a solo artist continues to embody the uncompromised artistic vision of the heady years of Haight-Ashbury.

I was inspired to purchase this after hearing Jorma sing the lovely "Genesis" on a recent Prairie Home Companion. The music still sounds terrific, pristine and poignant, and the liner notes (by Jeff Tamarkin, who penned the Jefferson Airplane biography) add a great deal, esp. about "Genesis." Jorma is quoted: "It's about a guy who got cheating," and the implication is that the song was an attempt to persuade his wife Margareta to forgive him. (Now that I think about it, I seem to perceive a similar strain in several of his other songs of the period, on Hot Tuna albums as well as Quah.) The CD format allows one to hear the 6 songs of side 1 of the vinyl record, and the first two of side 2, back-to-back w/o interruption, and I love them still after 29 years, esp. "Genesis," "Song for the North Star," and the two Rev. Gary Davis covers, "I'll Be All Right," and "I Am the Light of this World." I've always had more trouble with the two Tom Hobson tracks, esp. "Sweet Hawaiian Sunshine," but as Jorma points out in the notes, they don't sound as strange today as they did in 1974, and I have to agree. "Slightly eccentric," might be the best way of putting it, but no more than that. The four additions that didn't make the original cut are also good, esp. the two instrumentals, esp. "Midnight in Milpitas."

I think the most touching thing about the CD is that Jorma dedicates it to the memory of Tom Hobson and Margareta Kaukonen. Perhaps he's implying a sense of closure there, perhaps acknowledging the connections all of us feel with the people we once knew who've passed on before us.

Still a masterpiece.

A kindred spirit sent me the Quah cassette a few years ago. I recall playing it for the first time alone in my car, and feeling swept away in what I can only describe as a hynotic swirl of transcendence.
A mystical, gentle, sensual, erotic and loving piece of musical brilliance.

Because you certainly will find some good moments, a lot I want to think, to listen to it. Alone or together with your best friend, or girlfriend. Music helps us to give colour to particular days and then those experiences use to remain in our minds linked with the music we actually listened in the period. I have to say that I know, I can assure you that you will want to link some moments, some experiences of your life to the music contained in Quah. This album is special it has a melodic quality that is very tender, very warm, very human. Is is so warm to listen to Jorma and his guitar, playing their hearts out in this record from the seventies. This music is great. It is so american in a sense. I really love it and Jorma play great arrangements on the acoustic guitar. It is one of the acoustic guitar albums I love the most, together with music by Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Ralph Towner, Pat Metheny few more. I perfectly know how different could sound James Taylor and Michael Hedges,Jim Crose and Ralph Towner but the acoustic guitar put them in close relation to me and I enjoy them all. I did buy this album in the eighties when I was a growing musician, a young guitarist hungry for flashy things and so at that time it didn't impressed me that much. I listen to it just once then I forgot about the thing. Now I have bought the remastered cd edition and I find a marvellous album because now that I passed some bad things, I know the beauty of tenderness. Maturity is a nice thing sometimes. Best to you all. Buy this record.