Steve Tibbetts - Man About a Horse (8 tracks) +Album Reviews

Sublime primal zen tapestry

Brian Arnold | Southborough, MA USA | 08/08/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Where we last left off with Steve Tibbetts, we heard his work moving in several directions, ranging from the wonderful acoustic folk of Suzi Katz's 1994 "Three Day Rain", to the heavy electric and percussive doses of his previous 1994 release "The Fall of Us All", and the more recent eclectic collaborations with Tibetan nun Choying Drolma "Cho", and...Norwegian fiddler Knut Hamre "A". Where does this new release fit in?A Man About A Horse needs to be listened to, and isn't served justice with words or comparisons.But I'll try, in the hope that maybe others will give it a listen...."A Man About a Horse" is a natural progression of "The Fall of Us All", benefitted by the more natural, earthy, primal sounds of "Cho." The pieces are well-conceived yet very organic, not all all "song-like" and often atonal, shifting in mood and tone. Four basic instruments, guitar (Steve's searing electric and acoustic), percussion (batteries provided by Marc Anderson, Marcus Wise, and Tibbetts Too), and bass (Jim Anton). It's much more ethereal, but not any less Big and Heavy where it needs to be than "The Fall". At first, the music is disorienting, and oscillates between soothing and irritating ("bone-crunching" comes to mind, but to say this might be not "couth", as Steve broke a hand before making this recording...), but as with all Steve Tibbetts music, the heady combination becomes more compelling after each repeated listen. The music isn't getting any deeper, you are drawn deeper into it. On this recording, Steve is going Somewhere through the music, and it seems as if he gets There. May we enjoy similar journeys in life. Highly contemplative, and utterly gorgeous."

A Mastermind of Guitar and Sound

Travis Wade Evans | Atlanta, GA | 08/06/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Steve Tibbetts, a fabulous Minnesotan guitarist and mastermind of sound, has produced beautiful and highly robust music during the course of his career dating back to 1977. His albums, ranging from his self entitled "Steve Tibbetts" to the "The Fall of Us All", have been so interesting and so well focused that the audience keeps coming back to listen again, pleasantly surprised to hear something different each time. His successful projects include "CHO", a beautiful collage of acoustic guitar and the spiritual voices of Choying Drolma and the Nagi Nunnery Foundation, followed by a US and European tour. Each album exposes the listener to elements of American music and elements of music from foreign lands ranging from Indonesia to Africa while successfully reminding the audience that successful music comes not only from the heart and soul but also through personal experiences gained from traveling to places far from your hometown. Steve's guitar and musical influences definitely include Jimi Hendrix, David Torn, John Fahey, Zakir Hussain, Sultan Kahn, and Robert Fripp.Steve's latest release "A Man About A Horse" reiterates the points made above with even more punch and as with his earlier releases it is definitely deserving of a Grammy nomination. Like most of his ECM albums, this one features both acoustic and electric guitar. "A Man About A Horse" is impulsive, uplifting, meditative, and spiritual. It rocks, it soothes, and it radiates. Steve Tibbetts is an incredible musician and dedicated fans and newcomers to his music will definitely not be disappointed with this cd. "A Man About A Horse" will likely attract audiences of various ethnic backgrounds and attract listeners of pop, folk, rock, jazz, new age and world music. Long time collaborators, Marc Anderson(percussion), Marcus Wise(tabla), and Jim Anton(Bass), add plenty of texture and punch to this atmospheric album. There are fierce guitar licks, meditative acoustic guitar offerings, heart pounding drums, and mesmerizing sounds based on Steve's previous field recordings made in Bali and through his studies at a retreat center in Vermont where he captured a choir of approximately 250 voices and mixed it in with his colorful musical soundscapes of percussion, bass, and guitar. Lupra - 4:43 A wonderful opening, a collage of acoustic guitar bass, and percussion with meditative passages.Red Temple - 6:36 This is an opening of a three piece suite with pure energy radiated from the guitar surrounded by heart pounding drums and soothing sounds.Black Temple - 10:06 A continuation of an epical journey from the prairies of Minnesota to the foreign lands of Indonesia where the wind brushes through the mountains and the guitars roar like lions.Burning Temple - 3:58 Closing of the suite. The guitars cools off, the listener cools off. Ambient textures radiate though the speakers as we journey with Steve into the next half of the cd. Glass Everywhere - 3:58 The journey continues with mind blowing electric guitar, bass, and acoustic guitar soundscapes. Lochana - 3:40 The pace picks up with screaming guitar kept tame by meditative soundscapes. Great supportive bass work by Jim Anton.Chandoha - 5:53 Look out, Hendrix's spirit is calling, Steve responds with some incredible electric guitar licks. Koshala - 5:54 This spiritual journey comes to a pleasant end with a collage of tabla, exotic drum patterns, bass and acoustic guitar.This is a wonderful ECM release.I highly recommend "A Man About A Horse""

Tibetan buddist punk jazz rock!!

James H. Timber-Giboyeaux | Puerto Rico | 09/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Sorry I found no other way to describe it. Tibbetts and his music travel through space and time. This album features contemplative music and plenty of distortion guitar art and polyrhythmic drumming. The performance of Anderson, Wise and Anton is commended, an impressive powerful sound. Tibbetts punk electric guitar underscores the boisterous percussives driving underneath a rumbling tide of distorsion. All of it is very intoxicating, seductive and fun."

MOR Tibbetts

drefractor | Arizona | 12/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A good effort by-in-large, utterly fantastic in places. I couldn't find much thematic continuity in about half of the songs in this outing, but that doesn't seem the main objective of the creative process here -- Tibbett's heavily distorted staccato chords and gut-wrenching guitar soloing mingle with pastoral guitar washes and thoughtful 12 string fingerings and are combined with his collaborater's percussive inputs resulting in music collages of beautiful originallity.

The Red Temple, Burning Temple, Lachana and Chandoha each tell a story or trigger various sensory imaginations to my mind, while the others either lack flow (Black Temple) or never seem to get beyond a vague idea of a story or an emotion. I understand there's a certain 'calculated randomness' to the workings of the universe, but it's not necessarily interesting to listen to except, perhaps, as an uber look into the interpretations on, or construction of randomness from one man's mind...

If you're new to Steve Tibbetts, this is a very decent work to start with. Not his most accesable (his 2nd album, the overtly emotional "YR" easily takes that honor), but it has some astonishing recording dynamics and guitar and percussion muscianship that you'll find in few other places. If you like the more sedate pieces (or pieces of pieces) you hear, travel next to his "Safe Journey" album then his recent effort with Choying Drolma from 2004; if you like the more percussive and electric guitar dynamics then try Exploded View followed by the even more experimental dynamics of "The Fall of us All.""

Unique Soundscapes

Justarasta | Coral Gables, FL United States | 01/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording represents more of a series of soundscapes rather than what we might generally recognize as songs. They will take you on a journey if you let them, but this is not casual listening music. Describing the uniqueness of this music is unfortunately harder than simply saying it. But I guess that's part of my undertaking in providing my comments. Each song relies heavily on percussion and guitar, both in varying forms. There are side instruments in some songs, but they generally do not play prominent roles. The music flows, but really has no beginning and no end but for the brief moments of silence when between what have been described as tracks, hence the description as soundscapes. Unlike CD's such as Transit, which was a disappointment, the music is always pleasant if not melodic, Critical listening will reveal new textures and layers on each listening. This is my second Steve Tibbetts CD, Safe Journey being the first and a third is on the way. It's safe to say that I enjoy this unique brand of music. Thank you Sterophile for making me aware of Steve Tibbetts as he was previously unknown to me. At least one reviewer there has put this CD on his list of 5 CD's if he was stuck on a desert island. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but this is good stuff that you will likely enjoy if you've somehow managed to find this CD review."

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