Is That You

Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 18, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000002H8A
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,792 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good album, March 5, 2008

By 

Danylo Lytovchenko "dleet" (USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Is That You (Audio CD)

For me, this album of Bill Frisell is my favorite so far... it has some great masterpieces in it... beautiful melodies... This is actually my first album of Frisell I heard, and I still listen to it with pleasure through years. I highly recommend it!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth a listen, December 29, 2000

By 

C. Robinson (San Mateo, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Is That You (Audio CD)

Great album without a doubt, but not quite as strong in my opinion as 'Before We Were Born', released the same year.

It has a much less 'live' a feel than 'Before We Were Born', due largely to Frisell's multi-instrumental, multi-layered overdubbing in the studio. Wayne Horvitz demostrates some pretty impressive (if heavy-handed) production chops here, standing out far more on this album in that roll than that of composer or even keyboard player.

But hey, what's a little studio trickery when the end result is as good as this? 'No Man's Land' navigates a vast, spare sonic landscape with an occasional fiery squall from Frisell and some amazing, atmosperic drumming from Joey Baron.

'Rag' makes its debut here, the most obvious early example (that I know of) of Frisell's 'front porch Americana' style that would fill entire albums later on.

Frisell takes the melody of 'Chain of Fools' into his capable hands and delivers, big time. He squeezes as much emotion and nuance from every note as Aretha Franklin ever did, and that's obviously saying a lot. As he's demonstrated many times, Bill Frisell has an amazing way with a pop tune.

Dave Hofstra's tuba on 'Hello Nellie' is a highlight: blissfully bouncing along while Frisell boils all around him.

...and that's just my favorite tracks. Much of the album is more in the territory of the 'avante garde spooky' sound of the early 90's scene in downtown Manhattan.

This would be a really good purchase for more recent Bill Frisell fans, who would like to see where he was coming from on his way to such albums as 'Ghost Town', 'Nashville', and 'Gone, Just Like a Train'.

3.0 out of 5 stars Frisell drizzles dazzle, May 3, 2010

By 

IRate - See all my reviews

This review is from: Is That You (Audio CD)

3 1/2


Not as melodically astute or compositionally engaging as the brilliant guitarist's top-tiered solo outings, but a diverse and technically wondrous smattering of early excellence nonetheless.