Customer Reviews

Ring of Truth

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

 

 

One of the finest small-label releases of all time, "The Ring Of Truth", featuring Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones/Bluesbreakers)on guitar and Barry Goldberg (Electric Flag)absolutely cooks from first note to last.
Especially delicious are the magnificent "Never Fade Away", "Sweeter", the title track. The disc closes with a wonderful version of the Stones classic "Winter". Taylor claims a co-credit on the latter, though Mick & Keith disagree, and he's never recieved royalties. John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful) guests on Bob Dylan's "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window).
Carla is an amazing vocalist and composer, and Taylor's solos have never been, well, sweeter!
Buy it (also avaliable on E music.com as a download) and play "Never Fade Away" about 10 straight times!

Mark Schlesinger
former Secretary
Columbus Blues Alliance

Carla Olson's "Ring of Truth" is an excellent return to form, the first CD since her "Reap the Whirlwind." She's joined by former Electric Flag member Barry Goldberg on keyboards & Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. The CD has been disparaged because of the extended jams on "Great Black Hole" and "Winter," but it's kind of nice to hear the band getting down, taking their time to cook with these tunes.

"My trail was hot; they followed my scent; I tried to throw them off but they were hellbent; don't let them take me back to LOSERVILLE," she sings on the rocking opener with Rick Hemmert searing the drum skins. "Never Fade Away" is another rocker with Carla's hot guitar dominating the mix. "The Low Way" is an electric midtempo track. The title track is a midtempo look back, "Your promised tales of romance & lust sounded convincing, you had our truth, but did it come to pass or all melt to dust?" "Locked Up Tight" has Carla's husky vocals on a slower #. "Sweeter" throbs flat out with Goldberg's piano mixed high. For Dylan fans, Carla does a decent job on a track of his I didn't know, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" complete with John Sebastian on harmonica. "Great Black Hole" @ 9&1/2 minutes builds into an instrumental storm. Carla keeps up the volume on "Wave of the Hand." "Friends in Baltimore" gets in your face with sassy guitar. "After You've Gone" is an instrumental credited to Goldberg & Taylor. The CD concludes with "Winter" from the Stones' "Goats Head Soup" album, clocking in at just under 12 minutes. The strength of this CD is the strong guitar prowess of this former Textones star. If I were to suggest improvement, perhaps it would be variety of songwriting, making each track more distinctive. But for all that, this is still a great set! Enjoy!

This is a terrific album! It's one of those rare recordings that play again as soon as it's over. If you're familiar with Olson's fine work with the Textones and Mick Taylor's Rolling Stones/post-Rolling Stones work, you'll find the combination here irresistable.