Solilai

Artist: Pierre Bensusan
Label: Rounder Select
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio Cassette

UPC: 011661306844
EAN: 0011661306844
ASIN: B00000033B

Release Date: 1990-10-17

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Tracks:

Nice Feeling
Bamboule
Jardin d'Amour
Santa Monica
Suite Flamande aux Pommes (Flemish Apple Suite)
Milton
Solilai
Doatea

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Customer Reviews:

A good album for those who hate light-jazz/new age.......2005-02-15

Bensusan is one of those instrumentalists that is really hard to categorize. A lot of people would lump this album into the ambient music/New Age category (which was a trend which could not go out of style fast enough for my tastes), and in fact it was in the New age section that I found this CD back in 1987, but there really is a lot more going on in this sophisticated performance than that categorization would imply. While plenty of people will be perfectly happy with this as an ambient type of music, for those more demanding listeners there is plenty here to appreciate.

That having been said, if you can find the original release, by all means acquire it. I have mixed feelings about artists tinkering with their previously released recordings, and this is an example of where the original should have been left well enough alone. It is still a masterful recording, but somewhat marred for those listeners acquainted with the original.

You Have to Start Somewhere.......2004-07-09

This is a re-release of what was Pierre Bensusan's first original material album. Several of the cuts (Nice Feeling and Santa Monica) have been re-recorded to suit a change in Bensusan's style. Depending on which you are listening to you will hear either a strong, almost fearless musician who was just starting out, or a fine, controlled musician who has developed the kind of polish that only years of experience can bring. Personally, I would fault neither, and hope you get a chance to hear both.

Bensusan is a singer/guitarist who combines a Celtic base with the kind of styling that is, more often than not, labeled 'light jazz.' There are times when that label (and its close cousin 'new age') are appropriate, and times when is not, and this is really one of the latter. Bensusan belongs less to any tradition than he does to musicians that hear things they like and integrate them into something entirely new. Listen to Solilai or Bambouie for a while and you will see what I mean.

The guitarist moves back and forth among the options available to him with considerable grace, taking advantage of the DADGAD tuning that he popularized. The album is as much about Didier Malherbe on sax and flute as it is about Bensusan's voice or playing. The overall effect is a loose mélange that sounds easy, until you realize how much is going on (listen to Overland for a bit). Then, suddenly, it's not just pleasant, but something worth repeated listening until it finally sinks in. This is an important part of Bensusan's attraction - his work is as interesting to the musician as it is to the casual listener.

A lesson in not mending what aint broken.......2003-05-06

It is a pity that what was one of the finest acoustic guitar albums of the 80's has, in this manifestation, lost the pulse in arguably the two strongest tracks, Santa Monica and Nice Feeling. The original vinyl recording was truly worth 5 stars, It had a swing and continuity to the piece but I gave it an average 3 stars because of this re-presentation. Having said that though, If you are new to this CD then you should view it as a 5 as you will not know what you have missed out on. It is still a cracking work and affords an elevated status in the corpus of acoustic guitar music and space in your collection.

Exquisite Journey.......2001-12-04

In 1989, I was cross-country skiing near the Rio Grande on a rare snowy day here in New Mexico. An eclectic radio station I was listening to played the tune "Flemish Apple Suite" from Solilai as I skied. The exotic combination of Bensusan on guitar and Didier Malherbe on soprano sax sent me into a dream state. The snow, the blinding sun, and the most compelling of French fingerstyle/jazz made for an experience I will never forget. It took me 9 years to locate the CD I heard that day, and it still remains one of my favorites.

This album introduced me to Pierre Bensusan ..........2001-04-25

At the time, I was listening to someone else's copy, and this was not available in the U.S. So I did the only reasonable thing, added to my scavenger hunt list and picked up my copy in Newcastle-on-Tyne during a port'o'call there with the U.S. Navy. You, however, do not have to go to such extremes. Pierre has a dimension of finger-style guitar playing that is uniquely his. And the music herein crosses geographic boundaries and timelines. Listen, and take an imagined journey ...

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