Customer Reviews

Slant 6 Mind

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is Greg Brown's best yet! He turned some sort of corner with Further in (96), some sort of move toward the older, wiser and more moving, but with Slant 6 Mind he has produced his masterpiece. I saw him with Bo Ramsey at the University of Utah this fall, and it was amazing to hear the sound produced by just the two of them. Bo watches the strings as he plays bluesy electric guitar, and so his cowboy hat is always low over his face and he bobs and weaves around so energetically on his skinny legs, it's a wonder he doesn't fall over. The album starts out strong with the title track, a bitter attack on the commodification of everything: "I was looking for what I loved... Whatever it was, it's gone." The best song, and the album's centerpiece, is "Billy From the Hills," for and about Greg's father. What is celebrated here is a life of integrity, a real life close to the land:

"You can strip the trees, foul the streams, try to hide in progressive dream, ease into the comfort that kills. Before I do that, I'll grab my pack and disappear with Billy from the hills."

Greg's father was a preacher, and despite Greg's humor and earthiness, he is clearly passing on some strong moral teaching.

Another great Greg Brown album from 2006 is The Evening Call!

Want to know what life in the small-town Midwest feels like? This album catches the feel of my childhood in Minnesota and Iowa completely. This is easily one of the best albums I've ever listened to. The music hits you like a massive hammer, knocks you down and leaves you hungry for more.

Brown takes you from some backwoods small town sawdust pile right into the armpit grit of the modern world of urban distortion,tecnology,cynicism and everything in between. But the real human element is always there, the good the bad and the who give's a damn...you just got to listen. For most it does not come easy, but the truth usually hurts...and once you hear it you get hooked.Both Bo Ramsey's and Greg Brown's playing is unbelievable, the musical blend of these two wizards is a tapestry of "less is more" in a style most muscians never achieve, the ultimate fusionists. I was floored when I first heard this six or seven years back, and I just re-purchased ...it's all as relevent or more so then ever. Brown has timeless raw insights to share, Americana a la 21st century. Mr. Brown has a stack of albumns, I have heard most and never found the music or prose lacking.Thank you Mr. Brown.

Johnny Cash fans might dig Greg Brown.

He's got a folk sound, but with a blues undertone, and a western overlay. There's a Bruce Cockburn sensibility, with some nuances of Elvis Costello. Even Bob Dylan fans will find something in "Slant 6 Mind," especially those struck by Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" and "Oh Mercy" albums.

Brown has a deep, relaxed voice. The guitars are sometimes picked, sometimes strummed, with a jazz-folk, front-porch flavor.

The lyrics are personal, in the manner of Springsteen and Van Morrison, though not as blue collar thematically. He draws, instead, from the experiences of a rural, country growing up.

From the first song, "Whatever it was," he slides in some ironic humor:

"She says, "Come hither", but when I get hither she is yon.

I was looking for what I loved. Whatever it was, it's gone."

It is all visual and metaphoric throughout the album, like his envisioning of blues man Robert Johnson, in a mournful lowing "Dusty"

"He licks the pencil, looks around, writes a few words down,

and pulls a moan from his guitar

A hound dog answers low and he stands up real slow

He's got a ways to go, he don't know how far"

Find passion and slow slide guitars and harmonicas, rich mixing that never overwhelms a song. Buy it for your next long drive down I-80 or up Rt. 66 and put it on repeat. You'll like it the first time, and it'll grow on you.

I fully recommend "Slant 6 Mind" by Greg Brown.

Anthony Trendl

editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This CD has not left my 5 disk carrousel in the 8 months I've owned it. Greg Brown is amazingly creative--at times deeply reflective while wonderfully funny at others. The music is intelligent and sincere. Greg Brown is an American treasure in my opinion. To know him is to love him, as they say. Additionally, the recording quality is excellent.

My wife and I heard Gregg Brown at a Folk Concert and decided to buy one of his albums - slant 6 mind is one of our favorites. Great fat rough edged sound.

After Further In, I didn't think it could get any better, but I was wrong.. This is his best yet. Brilliantly witty, starkly sexual, and savagely spiritual, Greg Brown has rocked my world once again.

I ma new greg brown fan,, this is a classic album, nearly have it work out all ready,,, kelly joe pheilps makes a huge contribution to this album fabulous production...

Greg Brown!!! A musician that can bring you inside the song, a storyteller...this disc just becomes a part of you after a few listens. I have had little exposure to Greg Brown. I originally bought this album when it was released in '97, enjoyed it from time to time, always came back to it, when I hadn't heard it in a while I would miss it. It's one of those. The only other Greg Brown material I own is 'The Live One' which I also really enjoy.

In my humble opinion, if you're gonna buy one Greg Brown album, this is it. Bob Dylan likes him too!