Jeff Lang

SOLO RELEASES

OTHER RELEASES

COMPILATIONS

1. Ravenswood
2. I Still See You
3. Trainwreck 49
4. Big Feeling
5. No Good Answers
6. Can't Raise My Head
7. Burn That Bridge
8. 61 Highway
9. Too Easy To Kill
10. Bateman's Bay
11. Prepare Me Well

CREDITS

All songs arranged by Jeff Lang, Bob Brozman and Angus Diggs.

Produced by Jeff Lang & Bob Brozman
Recorded by Chris Thomson

Bruce Elder - Sydney Morning Herald

There has been a sea change in blues playing over the past decade. It probably started with Chris Whitley's ground-breaking Living With The Law album. It continued and was refined by players such, as Kelly Joe Phelps, Ben Harper, Bob Brozman and Jeff Lang.

The, change was basically a repudiation of the template offered by Chicago-based electric blues which characterised the great R&B British-based bands which emerged during the 1960s (Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Chicken Shack, early Jethro Tull and Fleetwood Mac et al) and a return to the acoustic Delta-style of folk blues.

Here is a fascinating meeting of musical minds. Bill Brozman, a blues performer reminiscent of Taj Mahal in his encyclopaedic knowledge of the idiom, meets Australian Jeff Lang, who is supported by his regular percussionist, Angus Diggs. The result is an absurd, almost obscene, demonstration of acoustic guitar virtuosity.

There are moments (just listen to Get Lucky) when you gasp and want to ask, "How did you do that, you flashy pair of bastards?" as the two duck and dive around each other in amazing displays of cleverness. This is one of those albums where each track comes with a detailed description of the guitars being played. Thus the gorgeous rendition of The Changeling, a song of written by the great Chris Wilson, features a sublimely subtle instrumental middle section with Lang on a 1936 Kalamazoo acoustic and Brozman on a Bear Creek Kona Hawaiian.

The song 61 Highway, written by Fred McDowell, sees Lang on a 1934 Regal Dobro and Brozman again on the Bear Creek number, and Danville Girl has Lang moving across to a Churchill acoustic lap steel and Brozman on a National Tri-Cone.

The interplay of the two guitars - particularly in the middle section on Danville Girl - is glorious. No less impressive is the Brozman composition Rolling Through This World where Lang shows what he can do on a 1926 Oahu Hawaiian, while Brozman stretches out on a National Baritone Cone. Again, the instrumental section where the guitars weave around each other is just simply amazing.

Of course, if you don't care about guitars this information is pretty useless. However, it in no way diminishes the sheer beauty of this album. Acoustic blues is one of those musical styles which is irresistible. It seems that all a good guitarist has to do is bend a note and the emotional charge unleashed ensures that the listener is totally seduced.

Lang is the most exciting contemporary blues performer in Australia at the moment and Brozman, who is planning to settle in Australia, is a player of extraordinary virtuosity. This is a great meeting of two great players. The end result - although very cheaply recorded and characterised by quite a lot of echo - is a tour de force. It is an album where two hugely talented guitar show-offs demonstrate just exactly what can be done when they decide to stretch their considerable skills.