The Guitar Player

Artist: Davy Graham
Label: Sbme Castle Us
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 060768131422
EAN: 0060768131422
ASIN: B0000BXN0K

Release Date: 2003-09-09

Related Categories:

British Folk

| Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

Traditional Folk

| Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Traditional Jazz General

| Traditional Jazz & Ragtime | Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

| Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

Revival

| Folk | Styles | Music

Tracks:

DON'T STOP THE CARNIVAL
SERMONETTE
TAKE FIVE
HOW LONG, HOW LONG BLUES
SUNSET EYES
CRY ME A RIVER
THE RUBY & THE PEARL
BUFFALO
EXODUS
YELLOW BIRD
BLUES FOR BETTY
HALLELUJAH, I LOVE HER SO
SHE MOVED THRU' THE BIZARRE / BLUE RAGA
MISERLOU
HEY BUD BLUES
ANJI
FINGERBUSTER
LA MORENA
HAPPY MEETING IN GLORY
SUITE IN D MINOR

Customer Reviews:

Obscure but hugely influential 1960's acoustic guitar master.......2005-11-17

I first became aware of Davy Graham as the author of "Anji," which Paul Simon covers on Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" album. It's not just a catchy solo guitar piece, it's the only instrumental song in the entire S&G discography. Well, as a gigantic S&G fan, I just had to know who this Davy Graham guy was. Unfortunately, since this was in the late 1980's and pre-Web, I spent a lot of time trawling through used record bins and was nearly convinced the guy had never recorded an album himself. I didn't find anything until "The Guitar Player...Plus" was reissued on CD in 1992.

As it turns out, this obscure album is one of the better folk-pop acoustic guitar instrumental albums ever recorded, and Graham's work singlehandedly inspired the British folk revival of the 1960's, influencing Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch (who also covered "Angi" on his first album), Nick Drake, and many more. Graham's style has elements of jazz and blues, but is far more melodic and percussive. On this album he is accompanied only by drums, but they are lively and very fun where applied. Personally I think the lack of vocals makes it far more enjoyable, because (like Richard Thompson and Bert Jansch) the draw is the amazing guitar skill, which his voice does not match. I might add that while Graham was influential he was certainly not copied to any extent that would make this album seem stale to a new listener - quite the contrary, it sounds unique and fresh (if not quite modern) today.

The 2003 remaster does sound great, although at a skim it doesn't sound too different from "Guitar Player...Plus." More notable is that the tracks added after the original 12 are different. "...Plus" has a different version of "Anji" that is older and sparser, more similar to the cover versions, while the remaster has a redone version from 1976 that includes bass. The other extra tracks on "...Plus" are from an EP that predates this album, while on the remaster they are redone versions of songs from later than this album. In both cases they are nice extras but don't outshine the album tracks.

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

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