As Wild as the Unrelenting Winds of Time
M. Gaines | Alabama, United States | 01/19/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
""James Luther Dickinson is a mysterious and enigmatic musical figure who, while remaining in relative obscurity, has managed to be part of a lot of essential creation, from Aretha Franklin sessions to Sleepy John Estes, to Ry Cooder, Alex Chilton and beyond. His legendary (and until now, long out of print) 1972 epic Dixie Fried might be among the most appropriately titled albums in rock history: it's a sometimes scary, often emotional, and always funky amalgam of Memphis soul, country , blues and rock, poetry and personal catharsis." -Dusted Reviews-James Luther Dickinson.........Producer/Artist/Engineer who's history reads like a who's who in the music business has finally delivered on an album he's been threating to make for the past 20 years.
Combining Blues,Jazz,R&B,country,rockabilly and the kitchen sink, Dickinson picks up the pieces from "Dixie Fried", reasembling them, transcending them, and walking away with one of the most influential contemporary pieces of musical mayhem I've heard in a long while.
His rendition of the Eddie Hinton tune "Well of Love" is pure and simple class and style.
Oh....and for you Rolling Stones fans, Dickinson's keyboard playing featured promently on "Sticky Finger", He's the one sitting on the couch next to Keith Richards in the "Gimmie Shelter" documentary listening to a playback of "Wildhorses".
Yes indeed folks JLD gives new meaning to the definition "Legendary" setting the standards far above the clouds and restacking the deck for anyone who cares to take a peek at what's inside. Next stop........"Dixie Fried"........All aboard!"
Free Beer Today
R. J MOSS | Alice Springs, Australia | 05/31/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Scratch your head? Where was the accompanying fanfare, the ranting and hullabaloo this neglected masterpiece deserves? With a beat arising from the bowels of the Mississippi, there's not an imperfect moment on it; a southern sensibility broad-brushed with gumbo lashings and loving detail in the sauce. I can't think of an equivalent musical expression that is so generously inclusive, MacRebennack, Chennier, his sons' outfit, whatever. The gravelly rush of the rockier tunes, their throaty notes invoking the bullfrog alluded to in the 'liners' by Dickinson; a marvellous imaginary duel between Billy the Kid and Oscar Wilde which challenges the concise wit of the Irishman himself, and the tenderest of love songs - Dickinson has a Rabelaisian appetite and expression, tuning the works of southern cohorts to his own indubitable fork. Exhuberance is what I feel with this marvellous CD. Nick Tosches, whose southern roots music writing has carved a reputable niche over recent decades, defers to Dickinson most eloquent notes in the 'liners'. But Tosches is right in speaking about 'this toure de force of a danse macabre (that) comes truly from beyond good and evil'. But I'd assign this to the album entire, rather than single out Hickey's,'Ballad of Billy & Oscar". My thanks again to Dylan's,'Chronicles' for unleashing this barking dog. The free beer's on Dickinson today!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1