Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters

Review of Gary Lucas' June 5th solo acoustic concert at McCabe's in Santa Monica
by Roy Trakin in HITS Magazine 6/11/10

Gary Lucas at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica: The best damn blues-rock-avant-garde guitarist you probably never heard of, Gary Lucas was a CBS Records copywriter when I first met him in the late ‘70s (he coined the Clash ad line, “The only band that matters”) before heeding the call of musicianship. The co-lead guitarist in his idol Captain Beefheart’s band from 1980-’82 for his Virgin albums, Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow, the Yale grad submitted music to the late Jeff Buckley, who put the words to the songs which eventually became “Grace” and “Mojo Pin,” before joining Lucas’ Gods and Monsters as lead singer. Since then, Lucas has become an in-demand performer who frequently travels around the world—he recently returned from the Transylvania Film Festival, where he played along to a Spanish version of the original silent movie Dracula—and has collaborated with everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Lou Reed, Chris Cornell, Alan Vega, Iggy Pop, Dr. John, Patti Smith, Bob Neuwirth, Adrian Sherwood, Richard Barone, Peter Stampfel, DJ Spooky, Allen Ginsberg,John Zorn, Bryan Ferry and John Sebastian. He also co-wrote several songs with Joan Osborne, including the Grammy-nominated “Spider Web” from her best-selling Relish album. An infrequent visitor to L.A., nothing could be better than seeing a master craftsmen like Lucas surrounded by guitars of all shapes and sizes hanging on the walls, silently vibrating with the sounds coming from the stage. With his ever-present floppy hat, Lucas’ pick-less lightning-quick, percussive fingering style harks back to the old Delta bluesman as it anticipates the mult-layered post-modern sensibility, as he simultaneously creates overlapping leads and rhythm. The set offers an overview of his career, starting with “Hurly Burly,” his own attempt at a traditional blues stomper, then into “Let’s Go Swimming,” a tribute to the late, idiosyncratic downtown avant-disco composer Arthur Russell. A medley of “Mojo Pin” and “Grace” is followed by a lovely rendition ofAlberto Iglesias’ score to the Spanish film Sex and Lucia, a lilting affair that shows the breadth of his cinematic stylings. Lucas melds several Chinese pop songs from the fertile Shanghai film studios of the ‘30s, which he first recorded for the compilation The Edge of Heaven, recently re-released by Knitting Factory Records, remarkable for marking the overlap of east and west culture. He also previews instrumental versions of Rolling Stones songs “The Last Time” and “She’s a Rainbow,” from an upcoming album he’s working on with Andrew Loog Oldham.Grammy MusiCares’ Scott Goldman joins Gary for a pair of duets on his own compositions, “10 Foot Rule” and “Bipolar Express,” whimsical cross-sections of their two styles that form a synchronous call-and-response like matching pieces of an intricately configured puzzle. The highlight, though, is Lucas’ version of his old pal Don’s “Sure Nuf and Yes I Do,” the first track on Beefheart’s Safe as Milk, expressing his love, admiration and interpretation of Van Vliet’s genius. Watch this YouTube video to see him playing the song on another occasion with Robyn Hitchcock here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEWjKfxKRC4 . If you want to check the intimitable Beefheart performing the song in Cannes back in 1968, go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSPf5Viwd0 . By the time Gary’s finished and greeting his quorum of dedicated admirers back in the storefront—including highbrow types like L.A. Times TV critic Robert Lloyd, music journo Richard Cromelin and This Is Your Brain on Music author Daniel J. Levitin—it is clear we have all witnessed one of the world’s most innovative, unique axemen in peak form. You owe it to yourself to do the same. - HITS Magazine

Check out a rave review by David Fricke in Rolling Stone
for Gary Lucas and Najma Akhtar's "Rishte" --
#4 on the World Music Charts Europe:

Blues from India
Gary Lucas is a modern guitar miracle, an alchemical soloist with monster technique and a rare collaborative touch. He is especially good with master voices; his work with Captain Beefheart and the late Jeff Buckley is a master lesson in aggressive invention and supportive electricity. That empathy is half the pleasure of Lucas' Indo-blues venture. Rishte (World Village), with British-born Indian vocalist Najma Akhtar. The other half is the sharp, soaring way she threads his space-fuzz dynamics and pungent Delta settings on National steel. Akhtar, who sang with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on their 1994 Unledded TV special, sounds perfectly at home in Skip James' "Special Rider Blues," while Lucas makes the Mississippi ghosts dance.


5 Stars, The Financial Times:
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/ft_rishte_0609.pdf

4 Stars, MOJO:
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/mojo0709.jpg

4 Stars, fROOTS:
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/Rishte_fRoots_June_09.pdf

4 out of 5, Haute Fidelite (France):
http://www.hautefidelite-hifi.com/disques.php?disque_id=21#disque

Top of the World selection in Songlines:
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/Songlines_%20July_2009.pdf

La Vanguardia (Spain):
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/Culturas.pdf

The Vortex (UK):
http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/cd-reviews/rishte.html

La Marseillaise (Marseille daily newspaper):
http://garylucas.com/www/rvw/Rishte_La_Marseillaise.pdf

Cyclic Defrost (Australia):
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=3248

Featured CD of the Day on the National Australian Radio ABC Network:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/dailyplanet/stories/2009/2597024.htm - Rolling Stone and other Intl. Media