Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A welcome return from a true guitar maestro., April 29, 2008
In keeping with the ongoing philosophy of genre-bending eclecticism that has driven all of his solo work, Earl's "Spice Of Life" embraces a range of styles - jazz, funk, pop, soul and more.
This new collection, inspired by the music of Klugh's life, offers up a soulful collection of songs designed to warm even the coldest night.
Some of the tracks are backed by full, lush orchestration, while others feature the strength of his fantastic acoustic guitar alone.
He reinterprets four of his favorite standards, but there are some Klugh originals: "Ocean Blue", "Driftin' ", a soft, melodic pop piece; the funky "Sleepyhead", "Snap!""and "Venezuelan Nights".
The latter is a pure gem, a soft, classical piece that showcases Klugh's nimble fingering. This is a Klugh original and he says he wrote it to honor Antonio Lauro, a classical guitarist and composer from Venezuela.
"One of the solo pieces I wrote is directly in the style of Antonio Lauro, a classical guitarist and composer from Venezuela" he says. "When I was young, there wasn't a lot of sheet music for classical guitar. Antonio's waltzes were some of the first transcriptions I ever had, and they are beautiful. I wrote and named the piece "Venezuelan Nights" in honor of Antonio".
A master class in jazz/soul, blues and R&B, the legendary Grammy winner guitar Maestro transforms the thoughtfully selected covers into his own, and succeeds in producing an intensely passionate and diverse album.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A welcome and thoroughly enjoyable return!, July 1, 2008
For Earl Klugh fans it's been 9 long years since his last "full production" CD, Peculiar Situation. Spice of Life is a welcome and thoroughly enjoyable return. There are three main reasons for this:
1. This CD highlights and features Earl's clean and melodic guitar work instead of a lot of solos by other instrumentalists (sorry saxophone lovers - there's nothing for you on this one), and the non-guitar solos that are on this (mostly keyboard and flute) are well placed and non-distracting.
2. It sounds like Earl is very present and enjoying his playing on this recording (the cover photo seems to illustrate this). As a very long time fan of Earl's it's delightful to hear this almost intangible element come through so clearly.
3. There's a nice mixture of styles and genres on this CD but the songs transition smoothly (which is tough to pull off).
Regarding the last point, this CD features a few classic Earl upbeat originals (Ocean Blue, Sleepyhead, Morning in Rio), a couple nice ballads (Driftin', Heart of My Life), a playful alternate version (or vice versa) of Heart of My Life (Lucy's World), a couple beautiful solo guitar numbers (Venezuelan Nights, The Toy Guitar), four well crafted and orchestrated "oldies" (Canadian Sunset, C'est Si Bon, My Foolish Heart and a Brazilian stylized rendition of Monk's Bye Ya), and even a little funk (Snap!). There isn't a nicer combination of the various styles Earl has become known for in one recording.
For those unfamiliar with Earl Klugh this is an excellent introduction to his amazing catalogue of music and a very welcome return for any fan. It's great to have you back, Earl!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome, outstanding superb CD, May 2, 2008
Earl Klughs new cd is a delightful ,awesome,superb , fantastic. The arrangments are awesome his musicianship is awesome. Id say going out as quick as you can & buy his new Cd.
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by Earl Klugh 
