Customer Reviews

Saints

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

 

 

I'm amused by the thought that someone might pick up this CD as a "solo guitar" release and expect something like the Windham Hill guitar stuff. Boy would they be in for a surprise! Listening to this is the musical equivalent of eavesdropping on a mad scientist fooling around in his laboratory. While the disc does have its melodic passages - such as Ribot's haunting version of John Lurie's "It Could Have Been Very Very Beautiful" - it's just as likely to hit you with an off-the-wall, experimental piece like "Book of Heads #3" (a John Zorn thing). Throughout the CD, John creates some fascinating sounds with his extreme manipulations of the guitar. Some of the tracks are utterly engrossing, such as the buzzes, scrapes, and moans that make up "Empty." Somehow he combines those sounds to produce a feeling of desolate spaciousness, like bad reception on a radio station from another plane of existence. Then there's his remarkable take on the Beatles' "Happiness Is A Warm Gun." He twists and layers the notes yet retains the song's integrity; this is a version I'm certain John Lennon would have really dug. Sometimes the pieces can be discordant or head-scratchingly obtuse, but Ribot is so good I'm willing to tag along with him as he wanders down many different avenues.

The secret of Marc Ribot is to understand he's not from this planet. He's some sort of sorceror. He's one of these guys who invents musical forms as he goes along. Pioneer is a good word. Genius is a good word. As with his Tom Waites' stuff, he breaks new ground here. If you like your music 4/4, with every note neatly in place, you'll hate this CD. If you dig Dali and Picasso in art, you'll love Ribot on the 6-string.

I've heard Ribot on everything from Zorn to his latin thing to Elvis Costello and he continues to surprise me. This set seems at first to be an off-the-cuff little session, but after repeated listenings (I can't seem to stop listening) it reveals a great deal of thought. He manages to bring out the melodic side of Ayler songs while really messing with the Beatles and some "standards."

This is a cd I can't fully describe. Its strange, beautiful and compelling, all at the same time.

With the backing of a major label, the recording is like being in the same room and the packaging is quite nice. Lets hope he's not booted off the label the same way Columbia boots their artists.

Marc Ribot's "Saints" is one of those albums that proves that major record labels should not be allowed to ever distribute interesting music-- barely four years old, this one is already out of print, which is a travesty as it is a fantastic record.

The album is Ribot performing solo guitar (mostly acoustic, though occasionally electric) over a series of standards and covers. Ribot approaches in an inside-outside fashion, often combining delicate theme statements with more eclectic and aggressive improvisations, coaxing a wide array of sounds out of his guitar. He really seems to dig in hardest on the Ayler material ("Saints", "Holy Holy Holy" and "Witches and Devils") taking the opportunity to stretch Ayler's music by inserting a lot of space-- not having any accompaniment allows for this easily enough certainly. Ditto for Zorn's "Book of Heads #13"-- on all of these, scratches, slides, rattles, bangs, are all common. And yet as outside as these are, they all possess a delicate beauty, one that can be similarly felt on his oddly phrased "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" or "Somewhere", where Ribot prevents the natural lushness of the piece from getting in the, or the sort of start-stop nature of his take of "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)", that almost sounds like a bizarrely skipping record player. And finally, if "Happiness is a Warm Gun", with its overwhelmingly lyrical guitar, doesn't catch you, listen to it until it does. It should.

This is not an easy album, people associate solo guitar with that. Nor is this an album that is not firmly lodged in the avant-garde, but it is a fantastic record where Ribot really gets a chance to shine.

this album is indeed an acquired taste. its easy to listen to this album once and give it a bad review like i feel some of the other amazon reviewers here did... but the truth of the matter is... ribot extends the vocabulary of the guitar beyond cheesy soulful solos and orthodox, predictable changes to create a vernacular all his own. i have found the best music usually is not immediately accessible and takes some time wrestling with it to reach its full capacity of enjoyment. don't be put off by the bad reviews.

Marc Ribot, like many of the musicians currently part of the New York Underground, has proven his versatility time and time again. "Saints" is (as far as I know) his third album consisting of only himself on guitar, but he has had his own band, The Prosthetic Cubans, various incarnations of John Zorn's Bands, and Medeski Martin & Wood. "Saints," however brings Ribot's technique to the forefront.

First, the song selection: Ribot bookends the album with compositions by the enigmatic avant-garde jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, and in between plays tracks by Zorn, Lennon/McCartney, fellow Lounge Lizard John Lurie, two traditionals, and a Bernstein/Sondheim song from "West Side Story." Each song captures a different emotion and couples beautifully with his unique stylings.

Upon a listen or two, it is admittedly a little tough to distinguish between each song. The sound itself lacks much variation throughout, but, with repeated listenings, that proves to be to its benefit. Add this to the list of "Must Have Ribot Recordings."

A side note: at the tail end of "Happiness is a Warm Gun," Ribot lets out an exhausted sounding "oh yeah." For that alone, he is credited with vocals in the liner notes. While it's not as satisfying as his hilarious vocal on "Las Lomas de New Jersey" (from "¡Muy Divertido!" with The Prosthetic Cubans), the fact that he is credited at all is pretty amusing in and of itself.

Marc Ribot ain't everybody's cup o tea. I discovered him on Tom Waites' Big Time, and read the small print to see who the hell that incredible guitar player was. Then I got Muy Divertado, Saints, and a couple other Ribot albums. One at a time. The damn things are addicting. He gets more soul out of a guitar than you'd think possible. Especially in Saints, which is nothing BUT guitar, with some nasal breathing thrown in inadvertently. If you're a Django fan, you'll love Ribot. If you're not, why not? What's wrong with you? Just kidding. But Ribot is the same sort of acquired taste as Django.

This avant gard jazz guitar exercise by Mark Ribot is just a bit too avant gard for me. I'm a certified Ribot fluffer too.

The first 7 tracks on the disc sound to me like a sub par practice session. I understand that great artists need the freedom to be able to explore and I wouldn't think of holding this against him, but...

The fire in his playing--showcased on his recordings with Tom Waits, his own Cubanos Postitzos records, and with Zorn--shows up for the fist time on the 8th track on this disc, where he finally delivers some solid patented "Ribot" lines with his normal "country twang".

But from there, it's back to the silly messing around that characterize the first 7 tracks. I really don't even know how to describe the stuff here. I guess it must be too hip for me, or something.

God knows this guy has chops to rival anyone playing guitar these days--but this experiment is just way out there. Save yourself a buck and don't buy this one. Worth a listen if you can somehow procure a friend's copy, though ;-)

Two stars cause it is Marc Ribot, after all.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ribot; his stuff with Medeski Martin and Wood was great. Based on what I had heard there, I went with this album. All I heard was guitar. Plucking of a guitar. It's one thing to have solo guitar, as in some strumming here and there, but this sounded as if it had no musical scheme whatsoever. Maybe this is just too experimental for me, I don't know.

Picture this: mediocre and possibly inebriated solo guitar player half-heartedly warming up in the studio with the tape rolling for 45 minutes. That will give you a good idea of the content of this CD. It's really that bad. I found absolutely nothing intriguing, creative, or inspring about any of the extended unfocused stretches of sonic blather found herein.

Maybe I just can't think outside the box? Wrong. As a long-time music collector with very eclectic tastes, I'm always in search of artists who push musical boundaries. What's more, I'm a big fan of Tom Waits, on whose albums Mr. Ribot performs ably. The problem with this disc is not that it fails to be conventional, but rather that it resoundingly fails to be interesting.