Skip Hop & Wobble

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Free Music Notes for Skip Hop & Wobble

Free Music Review: Here on Earth
Hit: 5 Stars

Not many evenings go by when I don't ask my CD to play at least tracks 1, 3, and 11, and "awe and wonder" sums up my reactions nicely. I have a couple of newgrass discs ('Into the Cauldron' and 'Telluride Sessions') where I feel the musicianship on offer sometimes exceeds the music itself, but the compositions here are all quite wonderful. This is especially true of those written by Russ Barenberg, who is also a guitarist of extraordinary brilliance - six strings of gold and purple, rich and vibrant and majestic. Jerry Douglas is the king of his instrument, while Edgar Meyer plays acoustic bass with his usual gusto, originality, and wit. (And if you're wondering how an instrument that big could ever be described as 'witty', it can only mean you haven't heard Mr Meyer play yet: often he sounds like he's sawing the poor thing up for firewood, not bowing it...)

Their achievement is all the greater because they recorded this dazzling CD while being attacked by a hundred angry bees in the pouring rain. At least, that's what it sounds like. The background hiss varies from irksome to atrocious, and sabotages what ought to be a peerless masterpiece where even the album photos are a source of pleasure. With the world so full of burgers crying out for flipping, it's tragic that the sound engineer's undoubted talents are all going to waste in a recording studio. By calamitous misfortune, 'Here On Earth' is the worst affected track of all - another thousand bees join the party, and the rain turns into a torrential hailstorm. The bee-free version is probably playing on Radio Heaven right this moment.

But such is life, and if you have a lousy hi-fi, or play this in your car, you probably won't notice. Either buy it or have yourself locked up, but forget about any kind of third option. My reason for writing this review is simply to thank every one of the musicians for this astonishing gift to me and everyone else who, due to them, now skips and hops and wobbles.

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