Sweet Soulful Music

Andy Fairweather Low

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 15, 2006)
• Original Release Date: August 15, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Proper Records Us
• ASIN: B000GUJEZG
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #50,714 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
British guitarist and vocalist Andy Fairweather Low has served as sideman for Roger Waters and George Harrison, and his work on Eric Clapton's Unplugged may be his most widely regaled work, but on four solo records during the last half of the 1970s, he produced a series of eclectic and ear-catching songs that proved he could just as aptly take center stage. It's taken two and a half decades for another, but Sweet Soulful Music proves that Fairweather Low is still worthy of holding down that post. Most of the 14 tracks (produced by the legendary by Glyn Johns) clock in at about three minutes, precise and near perfect songs that demonstrate his formidable appetite for Claptonesque blues ("I Don't Need," "Life Is Good"), rock ("One More Rocket"), folk ("The Low Rider") and timeless compositions (Hammerstein's and Romberg's "When I Grow Too Old To Dream"). Rock luminaries call him one of the industry's most valuable players, but Andy Fairweather Low remains a precious commodity all by himself. --Scott Holter

Product Description
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s oft-quoted assertion that there are no second acts in American life may hold water on this side of the pond, but it doesn’t apply to the Welsh, at least not to Cardiff-born Andy Fairweather Low. During the course of the last four decades, the 57-year-old writer/singer/musician has be-bopped and hollered his way through three distinct acts—teen idol, solo artist in the ’70s and in-demand hired gun. Now Low’s fourth act is beginning with the release of Sweet Soulful Music (Proper American Recordings), the first album to come out under his own name since 1980’s Mega-Shebang.

Working with legendary producer Glyn Johns, whose knack for delivering musical and sonic authenticity was honed while he engineered the Beatles and the Stones, Low has opted for stripped-down settings featuring just his guitar, the bass of Dave Bronze (Robin Trower, Procol Harum, Clapton) and the drumming of Henry Spinetti (Clapton, Harrison, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey), with John "Rabbit" Bundrick (the Who, Pete Townshend, Bob Marley) adding piano to two tracks. Bundrick played on La Booga Rooga and Be Bop ’n’ Holla, both of which were produced by Johns, while Spinetti appeared on the latter LP, so these sessions occasioned a reunion of hale fellows, well met.

As with this trio of cult classics (finally released on CD in 2004 by Edsel as the set Wide-Eyed and Legless: The A&M Recordings), Sweet Soulful Music throbs with a distinctly human vitality, its 13 original songs by turns playful and plaintive (in the manner of Dylan’s latter-day masterpiece, Love and Theft), as the artist confronts those matters of life and death that tend to increasingly preoccupy one who has been on the planet for more than half a century.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Wonderful, August 20, 2006

By	S. STRATFORD (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the record his fans have been waiting for, and it's every bit as good as we dared hope, a more than worthy successor to the four greats from the 70s - Spider Jiving, La Booga Rooga, Be Bop 'n' Holla and Mega Shebang. His songwriting is as strong as ever with a range of styles that shows a deep, deep knowledge of popular music of the last 50 years or more; that wonderful expressive voice is intact, with phrasing if anything even better than before; and his guitar playing - who knew? - is amazing (see him in action on the Roger Waters and Clapton Unplugged DVDs). A triumphant return.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fabulous soulful album!, January 10, 2007

By	Alyson Jane May - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album definately lived upto expectations. I also purchased some of the album for gifts and were received with great thanks, and the reivews I had back were very favourable. Definately worth buying!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back where he belongs!, October 3, 2006

By	Moonraker (London) - See all my reviews

It's taken him 26 years to produce a new album but it really is worth the wait! Always too good to be a side-man in my opinion, he has worked along side the likes of Eric Clapton, George Harrision & Roger Waters playing guitar but his marvellous distinctive voice has gone unheard for too long. This album is a breath of fresh air for those who like me are rather depressed at the lack of real music out there, Every track is strong and you can tell that he has worked very hard on producing such great lyrics. It's musically sweet alright and deserves to sell by the truck load. So buy it and buy your next door neighour a copy too!