Customer Reviews

Toolin' Around Woodstock With Levon Helm

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

 

 

Guitarist Arlen Roth is best known to other guitarist (and those who employ them) rather than to the music-buying public. His work with Eric Anderson, Paul Simon, Pete Seeger, Rick Wakeman, Livingston Taylor and Loudon Wainright III have shown Roth to be a talented and flexible player, and his well-regarded series of instructional materials have shown him to be as adept at teaching as he is at performing. But his own releases, sprinkled throughout the decades from the '60s onward, have never broken as widely as his session work. His latest set, much of it cut live-in-the-studio, includes heavyweight roots-music friends Levon Helm, Bill Kirchen and Sonny Landreth. The set list is heavy on familiar covers, but the players' depth, and the depth of their musical friendships, gives this a dimension well beyond the songs themselves.

Though Helm's name was added to the title, Roth gets his share of the spotlight, both with his strings and with his voice. His work with a volume control on Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk" is as mesmerizing as the original's steel, and his edgy playing on an instrumental arrangement of Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" is a worthy substitute for the vocal. Helm, fully recovered from a bout with throat cancer, drums throughout, provides a superbly earthy vocal on the opening rendition of Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," and serves up a suitably pained take on Buck Owens' "Cryin' Time." Bill Kirchen, the master of the Telecaster, proves an excellent duet partner (both guitar and vocal) on a cover of Joe South's "Games People Play," and Sonny Landreth's slide guitar adds boiling energy on "Tumblin'" and lazy blues on "Deep Feeling."

Roth's daughter Lexie (who's released her own album, "One Long Blink") is gussied up with strings and her dad's bluesy guitar on Willie Nelson's "Night Life," and she sings a duet with Helm's daughter Amy on a cover of Betty Everett's "Just One Look." A 41-minute bonus DVD shows the group at work and provides an interesting look at how musicians communicate in the process of creating music. Roth's low-key approach to this project, the musical talent of his guests, and the tight bonds of friendship between the players make this a warm celebration of rootsy rock and blues. 3-3/4 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2008 hyperbolium dot com]

Levon Helm is singing better on this than his solo album! I found my favorite cuts are the pair with Bill Kirchen and Arlen singing together. Sonny Landreth and Arlen provide some great cuts, too. Good showcase for some guitar talent.

This is a must have album for anyone who ever wanted to hear an incredible guitarist, a legendary drummer and some "down-home" music. Sonny Landreth and Bill Kirchen add to the mix, but Arlen is simply spectacular!

Great CD from a whole lot of my favorites. A great collection of songs perfectly done by some of our masters.

Just brilliant work from a master guitar player and great musical collaborators like Levon Helm. Every song played and sung with enormous passion. Very highly recommended to anyone who appreciates REAL music.

I purchased this after listening to a few online clips that gave me the impression it was along the line of Levon Helm's most recent release and that it would prominently feature his vocals. I was a bit disappointed to find that not to be the case. It's an O.K. effort but contains many covers and some of those are instrumentals, which to my view are almost filler. If you're looking for some melodic guitar tunes, go for it. If you're looking for raw, roots rock in the Band genre, skip this one.