Sunshrine

James Blackshaw | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 25, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tompkins Square
• ASIN: B0014DC0Y6
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,524 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 12-String Genius, June 28, 2009

By 

Piers Moktan "Piers Moktan" (Khorsor Elephant Stable, Nepal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sunshrine (Audio CD)

Do you remember `Black Mountain Side' from the seminal first album by Led Zeppelin? Yes, that was Jimmy Page's brief showcase of his talent on the acoustic 12-string guitar, treating us to an oriental-infused and orgiastic display of sheer, goddamn musical drama. As a teenager it blew me away-I had never heard anything like it, and it took me years before I did again. I thought that discovering John McLaughlin's Shakti project would be the nearest I would ever come to experiencing the delights of `Black Mountain Side' (and that in itself was pretty momentous, culminating in my witnessing the finest musical performance of my life at London's South Bank when he reformed them as Remember Shakti). But now with James Blackshaw (and also Jack Rose on the superb `Raag Manifestoes') I have found the true inheritor to that wonderful experience of 2 minutes and 12 seconds of Jimmy Page's genius.
James Blackshaw is an incredible musician, typically spoken of with reverence and affection by comparison with the acoustic legends John Fahey and Robbie Basho. What Jimmy Page achieved in two minutes, Blackshaw manages to sustain for 26 on the title track, thankfully rather less insistently frenetic though. For merely one man, a guitar, and some hand bells to entrance a listener for so long is surely a remarkable achievement. And he was only 23 when he recorded this, his follow-up to his debut album `Celeste', making him one of a very small elite of masters at playing exploratory, raga-inspired, and folk-tinged acoustic 12-string. This album may only consist of two tracks, `Sunshrine' and the shorter `Skylark Herald's Dawn', but it's nonetheless an essential addition to the collection of anyone who loves music that can transport you into states of contemplative bliss.