Customer Reviews

Unit of Measure

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is one song after the other of great jazzgrass from one of the masters. I normally don't write reviews, but I felt obligated this one time to say buy this album for Sally Goodin' if nothing else. I have heard plenty of Tony Rice(by himself and with others) and several different bands' cuts of Sally Goodin' and I have never heard better of either. Holy S*%t. That's all I have to say. It is unbelievable anyone can play that hard and that fast for over 8 minutes. The rest of the album is great also, but Sally Goodin', wow. That's all I'm gonna say.

Tony Rice's music has always been, above all else, expressive. His voice and his guitar seemed to mesh with a scary amount of ease for the amount of power they both carried. Either on "Pride of Man" calling as a holy beacon shouting warnings to the nations of sinful men, or on "A Good Woman's Love," singing the wistful, halcyon feelings of a man in love, Rice's voice was a bluegrass standard, and his guitar playing was fast and clean, but also inventive and full of emotion. Since his voice has failed him, his gutiar playing has picked up the slack. On Unit of Measure, he plays his heart out for all to see, playing both the role of bluegrass butt-kicker and tone poem champion. An equal mix of slow and fast, and of solo and ensemble songs, Unit of Measure really showcase Rice's imagination and his ability to bring out the best in others as well. When seeing him a few months back at the Birchmere, I was excited to see how much he played off of Vassar Clements. His love for fiddle players is all the more evident on this album, with Ricky Simpkins helping Tony connect with his muse. Without his voice, Tony Rice has continued developing his "spacegrass" by pushing any and all creative efforts into his guitar playing, and Unit of Measure is the next beautiful stage of this development, and a beatiful statement unto itself. Buy it, and spend an hour with it in a quiet room. You'll see that Tony can still sing with the best of them.

This is my first exposure to the Tony Rice Unit, though I had listened to David Grisman's Hot Dawg (with T.R. on guitar) some years back. I can't say enough good here- somewhat out of the deep bluegrass genre perhaps, this CD blends guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bass together in smooth, haunting melody and foot-stomping frolic in the most seamless manner imaginable. You will not be disappointed.

It isn't often that I come across an album that can soothe as well as excite and amaze me. Everyone on the album shines. Rice uses just the right amount of technicality in his playing to keep me absorbed mentally yet allow me to relax and enjoy the music. I find this album even more exciting and adventurous than his similar 1979 album Manzanita. This whole CD is done without vocals, instead utilizing tons of solos by everyone! The tracks flow quite well together too. This album is probably best suited for any fan of Tony Rice, bluegrass, flat picking, and especially those who love intelligent bluegrass compositions without vocals.

If you are a fan of bluegrass/acoustic music and haven't heard this cd yet, buy it now. You won't be disappointed. This has got to be one of the most talented lineups around. The guitar work between Tony and Wyatt is amazing and the fiddle playing is so nice it has to be heard. This is a great one. Hit the road soon TRU.

Oddly enough, The Tony Rice Unit was apparently formed as a vocal extension to Tony's stylistic development with the David Grisman Quintet. The Unit produced several excellent bluegrass albums over the years, and people have come to know them not only for their strong vocals (featuring Tony's unique lead voice) but for their incredibly tight instrumental work as well. Without Tony's singing voice, the instrumental side of the Unit is now coming into the foreground.

The Unit has a remarkable ability to produce strong acoustic improvisational work while remaining true to the bluegrass sound, and the 1996 (we wonder why it took four years to get these) recordings in "Unit of Measure" are no exception. In addition, the live recording of "Sally Goodin" from 1999 is nothing short of exceptional. This is certainly a must-have for Tony Rice fans, as it showcases just how well he works with 'The Unit' and instrumental arrangements in general.

We can only hope the Unit continues to produce albums of this caliber, despite many of its members having migrated to other bands.

This is some of the best guitar work Tony has done in a long time. It seemed like there for a while, Tony was doing the same ole licks over and over, but on this recording, his playing sounds as fresh as ever and he is definitely the KING OF TONE! his old Martin guitar sounds like a cannon with a ton of tone to spare. David Grier,Bryan Sutton,Zane Fairchild,Brad Davis and all the rest of the up and coming Flatpicking young guns cite this man as one of there primary influences and if that is not enough to convince You, then I dont know what will. Buy this CD if You like great guitar music, You will not be sorry!

For my particular taste, this album is a little uneven. Tony Rice is always great to listen to, but the selection of tracks on this particular effort left me a little disappointed. I bought it after running across the rendition of "Beaumont Rag" on Pandora. That's my favorite on the CD and the others are pretty much filler. Just my taste, though.

I have been a fan of Tony Rice for some time now, and I must say this is one of my all time favorites. If you like crystal clear acoustic tones, impeccable articulation, inimitable phrasing, technical perfection, thoughtful interpretation, and world class musicianship, give this one a try and I'm confident it will be one your favorites as well.

An excellent collection. Everything is very clean, very musical, and the arrangements are skillful and appropriate. More straigt-ahead bluegrass than I expected, but there is still a variety here. Not as "space-grassy" as I would like it to be. One of my favorite records is "Backwaters," and this seems like a step backwards stylistically from that, hence my rating of 4 stars instead of 5. However, there is nothing to complain about other than I would have liked to hear more jazz on this record.