Street of Lost Brothers

Gary Lucas

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 24, 2000)
• Original Release Date: October 24, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Tzadik
• ASIN: B00004YKZY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #355,592 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Too often the title "guitar god" is bestowed upon musicians whose focused dedication has also turned them into one-trick ponies. Then there's the real deal, a.k.a. Gary Lucas, a musician whose sheer innovative skills are matched only by his restless stylistic explorations and cross-genre instincts. Lucas has contributed adventurous fretwork to a dizzying array of projects, from Captain Beefheart to soundtracks to singers such as Joan Osborne, Nick Cave, and Jeff Buckley. Indeed, it's often hard to believe this album (his second for John Zorn's Tzadik label) showcases just one guitarist, ranging as it does from occasional Hebrew folklore schtick ("Yigdal," "Mahzel Means Good Luck,") to loving and unexpected tributes to loopy personal musical favorites ("I Kill You for Nothing [Marx Brothers Medley]"), languorous, atmospheric avant-garde excursions ("Sh'ma"), and even Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." Utilizing a stunning arsenal of techniques that range from acoustic-based open tunings and brisk fingerpicking to noisy avant-garde electric and slide work, Lucas never lets his tasteful, daring instincts overwhelm his material. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Giving voice to the multitudes, November 20, 2000

By	BB "Bill Bamberger" (Whitmore Lake, MI USA) - See all my reviews

Walt Whitman wrote, "I contain multitudes." As do we all. But few of us can give rational voice to all the facets flashing inside us. Gary Lucas can---here he does it for those inside himself, and for the larger body of his Jewish ancestry. As with most of his work, this CD combines thumb-and-finger flurries with introspection, Jewish root-rock with universal human drives, and the friendly howling demons of musical feedback. Several tracks here are solo performances (a spiky, haunting version of "Ride of the Valkyries" is a standout---"To defeat the enemy, learn to sing his song," Lucas notes), others are performed by various groups of friends/musicians. Two of these feature his long-time cronies "Kenny and Larry." These guys prove that Louie Prima didn't die---he just underwent total mitosis and remerged as these two aces of front-stoop wild-yawp swing. Like the great BUSY BEING BORN, his previous album for Tzadik, STREET OF LOST BROTHERS encompasses a wide range of Jewish music. There is "Mahzel Means Good Luck," a novelty hoot at the cliche of Jewish fatalism. And there is more music from the Marx Brothers films, as well. In his liner notes, Lucas reminds us of Delmore Schwartz's warning: "In dreams begin responsibilities." But in their acting out begins material magic---the guitar work on Lucas' cover of the Velvet Underground's "European Son" being a good example: it crawls up and down riffs as spooky and slanted as Lou Reed's jawline, then ends with a sound like the flatiron building being wrapped in chains and dragged along the pavement. Another standout is a wonderful, long dialogue of electronic voices between Lucas and his "original Jewish soul brother" Walter Horn (synthesiser, sampler) on "Sh'ma." This shining, wordless dramatic narrative makes a perfect soundtrack to the painting of a red-lit, red-soaked street on the CD's cover. There are drops of both desperation and defiance in even the quietest moments here. For all his declared affection for "blasphemous noise," Lucas' deepest, most sincere facets front his multitudes on STREET OF LOST BROTHERS.