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Blues Underground Network |
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L.R. Phoenix "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe"
 "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" is the 3rd album I have received from L.R. Phoenix of which the other 2 were L.R. Phoenix & Mr. Mo'Hell "Jumper On The Line" and L.R. Phoenix & Mo'Hell "Wrecked". Both of those albums received my highest rating of 5***** and of which "Jumper On The Line", I said, "L.R. Phoenix & Mr. Mo'Hell know how to play the blues and they do so with a Raw and Unique Style that is very refreshing, almost primevil in nature. They draw on their Rawness and Uniqueness from one the best and that is L.R. Burnside, for whom they have even been referred to as his Reincarnation ".
Mr Mo'Hell is not on "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe", but that doesn't mean that the talent on this album is lacking, far from it, as L.R. Phoenix has gathered together perhaps the best European talent around. Joining L.R. on "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" are Andres Roots (Electric Guitar, Dobro, Slide Bass, Tremolo Guitar, and Percussion), Raul Terep (Percussion, Drums), Indrek Tiisel (Harmonica, Jew's Harp), Peeter Piik (Upright Bass, Fretless Bass, Bowed Bass), Martin Eessalu (6 String Banjo), Asko-Rome Altsoo (Bass Drum, Additional Instrumentation), and Hanno Maadra (Viola). L.R. Phoenix did Vocals and Acoustic Guitar on all Tracks, as well as, Axe and Grunts on Track 7 "Down South". "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" was recorded at White Room in Tartu, Estonia. Estonia, for those who don't know, is just below Finland, across the Finnish Gulf. It is bordered on the East by Russia, the South by Latvia, and the West by the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Riga. Many, if not all the artists on this album, reside in either Estonia or Finland. L.R. Phoenix, whom now lives in Finland was born in England. "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" was Produced & Mastered by Andres Roots, L.R. Phoenix, and Asko-Rome Altsoo.
"The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" consists of 13 Tracks of which he unabashly says on the back of the CD Cover, were "written, borrowed & stolen by L.R. Phoenix ". L.R. Phoenix does not offer up any song credits in the CD Cover, but the write-up he sent me indicated a wide variety of Artists whom he based some of the songs on, as well as, which one were Covers. Songs based on other Artists included, Hollow Log (Fred McDowell), Bedroom (John Lee Hooker/Canned Heat), Crying (Based on Blind Willie Johnson's "Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes"), The Cypress Grove (Based on the words from the Skip James recording), Down South (Based on R.L. Burnside's "Going Down South"), Death (Based on Son Houses's "Death Letter/My Black Mama" with a "bit of Willie Brown and Charley Patton thrown in for good measure"), and Heaven (Based on a song he first heard played by Fred McDowell "Wished I Was In Heaven Sitting Down"). Songs of which were versions of others included Blind Lemon Jefferson's "Jack Of Diamonds", Bukka White's "Po' Boy", and Skip James's "The Devil", in the style of Bentonia, "a sub-genre of blues music or a style of playing it ". Three of the songs on this album are Phoenix originals and included "Morning Train", "Hobo", and "Streets Of Lohan". One thing is an absolute certainty when it comes to L.R. Phoenix and the music he plays, and that is, it is simply drenched in pure honest to goodness blues authenticity, both in lyrics and in the style of the music played. It is a type of blues that takes you back, way back, to when blues was simple. "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" keeps that simplicity and authenticity throughout which each Track only featuring the minimum number of artists to get the point across, whether it be Track 3 "Cryin'", which has only L.R. Phoenix, Track 6 "Cypress Grove", which has only L.R. Phoenix and Andres Roots, or Track 5 "Morning Train" which has 5 performers playing on it. Another example of Pure Authenticity comes across on several of the Tracks in which he plays with a Pocket Knife, for Slide affect, as did the original artists. In addition to the songs on "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe", L.R. Phoenix also offered up great descriptions of how he came to choose those songs in the CD Booklet and those are not just little snippets of info, most of the info on each song is 3 or 4 paragraphs long, and a very interesting read. Picking 3 favorites off of "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" was not easy because the whole album comes across as a cohesive journey instead of a bunch of unconnected songs, but a few that were slightly more interesting to me than the others, were, Track 1 "Hollow Log", Track 4 "Jack Of Diamonds", and Track 5 "Morning Train". "Hollow Log" got my attention right of the bat with it's hypnotic Guitar Riff throughout. I loved "Jack Of Diamonds" with the great Banjo work of Martin Eessalu and once again the great Guitar work from Phoenix who uses a Pocket Knife for a great Slide feel. "Morning Train" was my favorite Track and really felt like you were on a train with the help of Indrek Tiisel's superb playing of Harmonica and Jew's Harp. This song is loosely familiar to Johnny Cash's Orange Blossom Special, one of my favorites. Every now and then, and mind you not to often, an album crosses my path that really deserves to be in the Must Have category, "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" is such an album. "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe" is Old Style Blues played with immense authenticity, in the tradition of L.R. Burnside and beyond. All in all, "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe", was and will be for the foreseeable future, a great addition to the CD's I play regularly. 5***** For "The Hollow Log Of Capt. Richard Wolfe"... This one gets better every time I listen to it... Review by John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Listen To Samples Here... http://lrphoenix.com/music.html Additional Artist Info... http://lrphoenix.com/
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