Customer Reviews

Trios

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

 

 

First the good: Rob Wasserman plays a great bass, and any song you will find examples of his talent.
Hornsby's "White-Wheeled Limo" has a nice jazzy feel to it, with this particular trio in fine balance (Wasserman/Hornsby and Branford Marsalis)
All three of Wasserman's one man "Trios" are worth your time and really show off the instrument's range well.
The highlight of the CD for me: Willie Dixon's "Dustin' Off the Bass" a song that just showcases a great talent with a song that just exemplifies the skill and joy of this artist.
"Easy Answers" and "Home is Where You Get Across" don't seem to fit in with the rest of this recording, they are angrier and have a more anxious tone probably befitting the rest of the trio on each; Bob Weir/Neil Young on the former and Chris Whitley and Les Claypool on the latter (some phenomenal pickin' on this one)
Now the bad:
Brian and Carnie Wilson contribute something called "Fantasy is Reality" and it is as bad as the title suggests- slow, nonsensical lyrics and no point to its existence.
I'm a big Elvis Costello fan but his contribution is just terrible; this is another one given away by its title, "Put Your Big Toe in the Milk of Human Kindness"
Edie Brickell doing her impression of New Bohemians whimsy with the dopey song "Zillionaire" Jerry Garcia is supposed to be here someplace as well, but I couldn't listen to this more than a few times without banging my head against a speaker. Then I heard "American Popsicle" by the same pair and I want to take back what I said about "Zillionaire." This is worse. Sometimes improvisation doesn't work.
Gypsy I and II take too long to develop for short pieces. They were OK but feel out of place here.
Wasserman likes to experiment and this definitely is an experiment. I'm always willing to take the good (when it is this good) with the bad. This is why you can program CD players.

Bass virtuoso Rob Wasserman underpins a wide variety of music that was originally released in 1994. With contributions from the likes of Carney and Brian Wilson, Bruce Hornsby, Elvis Costello, Edie Brickell, Neil Young, Willie Dixon, Jerry Garcia, and others, this is an eclectic but consistently enjoyable collection of tunes. I did not have the original silver disk available for comparison, but I can report that the UDCD release sounds awfully nice. For me, the highlight of the disk is the opening cut, "Fantasy is Reality," performed by Wasserman and the Wilsons. The rest of the tunes are OK, but perhaps the whole recording is just too eclectic for its own good.

To be sure, there's some very good stuff here -- a clever instrumental reworking of "Satisfaction"; a downbeat early version of Bruce Hornsby's "White Wheeled Limousine"; some tough blues-rock ("Home"); Bob Weir's song with which the Grateful Dead discovered funk ("Easy Answers"); and sublime vocals by Edie Brickell and Elvis Costello. My only caveat is that taken together, it sounds more like a randomly assembled various-artists compilation than a cohesive conceptual work.

Wasserman is a great bassist. There's some nice tracks on this album. No complaints. But his Solo album holds together better and inspires more repeated listenings.

i really love the brian wilson contribution "bells of madness"...really cool song. also elvis costello's "milk of human kindness" is great. the most boring stuff on here is wasserman's solo compositions. contrary to the previous reviewer's comments, the collaborations on here are excellent overall