Doug Ottke
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Brilliant CD
First, take a few deep breaths. Mr. John, the opening, like so many great Michael Blake songs, music of vast landscape, opening up a place to you, best experienced I think driving across a high valley in the Rockies. Then the tuba and drums drive the song ahead, transitioning into Hellbent, the surrealistic opening of which quickly takes off to places unknown. The audience’s appreciation at the end of the second song, 16.5 minutes into the album is a shocking recognition that this is a particular place, an event. Like Father, Like Son is so heartfelt, so expressive, so on target, fathers and sons are us. The Two Step lightens the mood with Marcus Rojas’ tuba perfectly establishing baseline. Flipper is otherworldly, perhaps the vast landscape of underwater this time. The song never misses a beat, Steven Bernstein solos terrifically on the trumpet. When Michael Blake comes in, with Calvin Weston and his powerhouse drums and the audience loving it, it does sound like 1991 in Berlin a little bit, doesn’t it? And what a brilliant, relentless continuation of that jam. Wigwise doesn’t let up. I Want You Back finishes out the work, speaking repetitively from and hopefully to the band, saying keep it going, great work.
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