David Ralston
The Lucidity of Insanity
© 2004 David Ralston (825346553429)
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A unique blend of R&B, blues, roots rock and pop.
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David Ralston is the new international music story, bar none. Take a pair of scissors and cut the words off the cover of his latest Album, The Lucidity of Insanity, and put it into the dictionary. David Ralston is the lucidity of insanity. In this album, Ralston's third, he shows us the working life and musical genius of the new international "established artist."
Ralston has steadily, chapter by chapter, album by album, created much more than just great music. He has evolved and created an entirely new type of "established international musician." The world of music is not just changing - it has changed. And many of the great artists from that previous established music world are flocking to Ralston to add their genius and chops as they shift toward the new international music world that Ralston is creating. I hear the word "family" more than I hear the word "band." And this is a big, diverse, growing family. There is a refreshing lack of the usual condescension and artistic rivalry among very different artists and their different styles - and even the continents they come from.
What exactly is this new type of stardom? Well, it is more honest, more genuine, and more subtle than your simplistic top-forty formula, because it comes onto the album from the heart, through the basement - not simply onto plastic, through a committee, and a promoter. But don't confuse this basement product with amateur stuff. This is NOT your dad's basement music. This basement is a warm Japanese home environment with beautiful smiling children riding around your feet on tricycles, the pungent smell of dinner mixing with the salt, musky air of the East China Sea, and the soft chatter of some of the best damned musicians on the planet perfecting their punches in a creative environment that most "mainstream musicians" will never experience - in the U.S. or elsewhere. I know you've heard this about almost every "established musician" you know, but listen to Lucidity of Inanity for yourself to see that without a doubt David Ralston absolutely defines his own product, and it is a whole new type of music product.
For him it's easy, because he is his own product - the songs flow out of him, as do the gritty guitar licks and the inspired vocal growl inflections. Sure, every musician on the planet is aware by now that Delaney Bramlett came out of retirement for the first and only time since his heyday to mentor Ralston and introduce him to (I should say knock him into) that distinctive open, soul-dumping, voice passion. But it is David Ralston, and no one else, that emerges in this music. And then there are the songs.
Who else on the planet could even imagine, let alone dare, lay the haunting gravelly-voiced traditional chants of a young Japanese girl over, under, and around a hard-core blues number? As her eerie and magical chant jumps in and slide in and out of conventional tune in a bed of drums and san-shin, and Ralston's serrated blues guitar rips suddenly right through the middle of it, I'm not wondering what song it is - I'm wondering what the hell just happened to me.
Friend, there's really no describing this. You just have to hear it. Click i-tunes. Click Amazon. Find Lucidity in Insanity. David Ralston is the poster child of the "new international establishment." And it is not a corporate endeavor. The new international music icon is a man with intense vocal chops, crisp and biting slide guitar licks that range from top-shelf smooth to house-special jagged (choose your poison), a heart the size of Texas, and a sibling-tight group of women and men musician friends from the popular music archives of any continent you can imagine.
Ralston and his international family of artists and fans form the company, the board, and the voting membership. Welcome to the new music industry. Check your inhibitions at the door. And you should expect them at your door soon. The world tour is underway. Prepare your imagination for the Lucidity of Insanity.
Barry Adams, Old Dam Productions
reviews
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Outstanding 3rd Album from a student of the blues
author: Chris HeimAs someone who has expeienced the man and his music live and in person, I can truly say Dave Ralston is a great musician. He has grown musically with this lastest CD. His songwriting and guitar playing are top notch. Dave's infusion of Okinawan music and his love of the blues are perfectly blended on this CD. The standouts are The One, We Were All Wrong and the dark but awesome Back to Hell. The production is top notch and is a great addition to anyone's blues collection.