Reeves Gabrels

Posted by Moonage | Filed under The World Of David Bowie

I got an email the other day asking me to check out Reeves Gabrels new CD. I said sure, send it to me. Well, to my surprise, they did. They also asked me to do a write up on what I thought about it.

That’s a pretty ballsy thing to do. Here’s why. They know me as a David Bowie fan. Gabrels has played a LOT with Bowie. That’s the safe part. However, I don’t like what Gabrels did with Bowie. I didn’t tell them that part. I knew Gabrels was obviously an incredibly gifted guitar player and wanted to see what he could do on his own. I know from what I’ve read that playing for Bowie pretty much means you’re going to do what he wants, not what you want. The incessant screaching and sudden outbursts at the wrong moments that plagued Tin Machine was either a Bowie thing or a Gabrels thing. I figured listening to Rockonica would give me a better clue.

And you know what, it did.

The Tin Machine recordings all sounded to me like everyone was trying to upstage each other. Where a subtle single note would have set the mood right, we would get slapped in face with a whammied screach three octaves too high. The solos were more effect than guitar. They sounded like something I could on a computer using Cakewalk and nothing else. Rockonica doesn’t sound like that at all. It actually sounds like someone who loves playing guitar and understands how they fit into the mesh that makes a song what it can be. His solos are still not the simplest mix, but, they do fit a lot better. And, they do sound like a guitar. That is hard to find any more. There are so many guitarists with limited talent and imagination any more, listening to Rockonica was refreshing. One of the write-ups at Amazon compared this CD to Mountain in the 21st century. That’s a huge compliment. And, it’s one I agree with. Songs I particularly like are “Anywhere She Is”, “Tunnel”, and “Long Day”. None of these songs will get Gabrels on the same stage with Justin Timberlake. Quite frankly, Justin’s just not there yet. The bottom line feeling I get is Reeves has mellowed a little with age. GIven his penchant to go over the top when the top was a great place to be, this is a most excellent adjustment. I am surprised I am saying this here, but this is a good album. It’s not great, but it’s very good and very listenable. If you get it, you definitely won’t be disappointed. You won’t be raving how great it is, but, you’ll listen to it a lot more than once. It took me about three listens to figure what I was going to write. And, if I had to write this tomorrow, it would probably be somewhat different. Early Bowie albums ( pre-1980 ) took a while to grow on me as well. After a point, it all clicked and I realized that Bowie was a very unique musician. That’s the gut feeling I now have with Reeves Gabrels as well.

Both Bowie and Gabrels seem to give me the feeling with Tin Machine that they were scared to death of showing their age. Both the efforts of Gabrels with Rockonica and Bowie’s efforts with Heathen and Reality seems to have mellowed and become much more focused. Now is probably a much better time for them to jam than 10 years ago was. I really like the direction both are going in right now.

Sidenote: Gabrels recently finished up a recording session with Ozzy. Ozzy is getting ready to release a live recording of his most recent ( last? ) tour. I found it odd, in light of this post, that Ozzy performed “Mississippi Queen” ( Mountain orignal ), and “All the Young Dudes” and “Changes” ( you KNOW who made those! ). Given the tracks, I’m curious if Gabrels performed on that leg of the tour? ( Someone help me here? ). I’ll be getting that one as well. Ozzy and Gabrels doing Bowie is too much for me to pass up.

Thanks for the CD guys, I actually do enjoy it a lot!

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Permalink | March 12th, 2005

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    • One Squawk to “Reeves Gabrels”

    1. Big Swede Squawked:
      August 7th, 2006 at 2:51 am

      Reeves Gabrels is on a brand new CD - the project is called PROTECTO “Sonicnauts”. it’s a wild, crazy journey of sounds. Reeves on Normal & Abnormal Guitars - Big Swede on Drums, Samples, Loops, Programming.
      Check out:
      http://www.myspace.com/protecto
      Buy CD:
      http://bigswedestudios.com/musicstore.htm

    Squawk like a pink monkey bird!