GEORGE KELLY: Lucid Intervals

George Kelly

Lucid Intervals

© 2003 George S. Kelly (783707787329)

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Stirring mix of original blues, funk & soul. American music, made in Detroit.

notes

Four star review by All Music Guide:
http://www.allmusic.com

"Massachusetts native George Kelly has made his home in the Detroit area since 1995, which may account for the strong blues and soul base he brings to the songs on Lucid Intervals, his debut album. A fine slide guitarist, Kelly is also a careful and literate songwriter, somewhat in the John Hiatt vein, and his straight, unaffected vocals on these tracks allows each song room to breathe. The ensemble playing is crisp and full, and the overall tone and sound of the album is a bit like Steely Dan playing the blues. The standout track here is the six minute 'Otis Spann', which unfolds as an intimate homage to the great blues pianist. The concluding cut, 'Pyrrhic Victory', is also strong, and has an historic and epic reach that marks Kelly as an artist and writer to watch."
- Steve Leggett, AMG, 11/03

From Blues On Stage
http://www.mnblues.com/cdreview/2004/georgekelly-lucid-ja.html

"...Lucid Intervals, strictly speaking, is not a blues album, but it's a great album: a record of bluesy, heartland rock with serious songwriting aspiration. Intervals is Kelly's first album, and it serves notice that he's after big game. The opening track, "Get What U Pay For"... wearily recounts the price you pay to get to the top, and Kelly's slide guitar adds a dimension of resignation to the song's unfolding. The following tracks prove Kelly adept at love-lost balladry ("Bad memories of days gone by/Waste the present, God knows why"), but the album truly finds its groove midway through. "Bluesman" is the only 12-bar number on the album, and it's an effortless, gritty blues. The following cut, "Otis Spann," sounds like the long-lost cousin of "Sultans of Swing," as Kelly bemoans that the Muddy Waters pianist is "buried in an unmarked grave". The final three album tracks, "Love Interest", "Desert Island" and "Pyrrhic Victory" demonstrate just how powerful a base blues and jazz can be to writing pop songs; the jazzy arrangements here elevate the songs far above typical AOR fare, and the lyrics hold their own. Try to imagine what Dire Straits would sound like if Mark Knopfler played slide guitar, and you're on the right track.

Over the course of Lucid Intervals, we've heard, in addition to your basic band lineup, horns, congas, accordion, flute, Uillean pipes, and bodhran-and none of it sounds forced or scattershot. Vocally, Kelly possesses a worn croon that suits his music well. He's equally comfortable singing slower and faster songs. The coarse edge to his voice imparts credibility to his song subjects, but the gentle vocal baseline that he sets ensures that his welcome doesn't wear out by album's end. On the slide guitar, Kelly combines dexterity and buttery tone with a knack for knowing when and when not to play. Finally, in his songwriting he tackles themes of loss, frustration, aging, and other heavy subjects with aplomb. Lucid Intervals is a serious album from a serious talent, and satisfying from beginning to end."
- Jim Angehr, August 2004

reviews

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  • author: Stu

    Lucid Intervals takes the listener through various canals of R&B, county and classic blues. Kelly displays his musicality on Lucid through his smooth slide guitar work and Robert Johnson sounding vocals. A must buy for any true blues lover.

  • Very Wonderful!!!!!!!
    author: Joyce Mase

    George has amazing talent. This is a GREAT CD. I'm going to introduce my favorite local DJ, who plays The Blues on Sun. nights, to this CD.

  • Fantastic music
    author: Archetype

    The other review pretty much sums it up, I just wanted to verify everything on the other review because it's all true. George Kelly is an incredibly talented musician and also a great songwriter. Believe me when I say this cd is worth the buy and so much more.

  • Lucid; bright with the radiance of intellect, as a lucid interval
    author: slow dancer

    When Detroit singer/guitarist George Kelly asks you "Where the Blues Are", he need only direct you to his new CD, Lucid Intervals on Mixter Records. As he sings his words, it's obvious that he's been there, In an era of cover versions and collaborative writing, it's refreshing to note that Kelly proves to be an accomplished songwriter as well as performer, penning the lyrics and music for all ten songs on his CD. His compositions are steeped in the traditions of rhythm and blues but are performed with the fire and desire of the day. From the dark depths of "Desert Island" to the beat cool rhythms of "Love Interest" to the rockin', foot shufflin' "Bluesman", we are taken on a journey through a musical landscape of low valleys and high mountaintops, seemingly bathed in the warmth of your lover's breath and chilled by the winter wind off of Lake St. Clair. Kelly and his band deliver on every level. It's clear that each musician has been hand-picked because of their first-rate talents and collaborative capacity. Russ Miller's saxophone blasts and brassy fills leap and bound confidently about the arrangements, Dave Taylor's drums and Paul Finazzo's bass ask no more than to be the heartbeat of the music and Mark McCoy and Mike Mackey's guitars provide a warm rhythm underlying Kelly's voice and guitar. Co-producer Bill Gaff is on keyboards, playing a B3 organ through most of the tracks, complimenting the flavor of the sound with its rich chords. Most importantly, the sound and mix quality of the recordings presents each performer in a distinctive manner, while allowing the whole to come together in assured balance. Rising above this skilled backing swells George Kelly's vocals and slide guitar. When you hear his rich, strong voice, full of character and passion, you can't help but compare it to others. I think of David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) and Bill Champlin (Sons of Champlin, Chicago). Kelly holds his words to their meaning, inflicting a character that only one who wrote them can impose. Kelly's slide guitar technique also affords comparisons, reaching as far back as Elmore James, as current as Derek Trucks and sometimes as fluid as Duane Allman. This guy can play! The roller coaster of emotions evoked by his songwriting are often born on the strings of his slide guitar, full of lament or soaring with joy. It's one thing to be a good songwriter, and another to be a proficient slide guitarist, and yet another to bring it all forth with such a cultivated voice. With Lucid Intervals you get all three in one individual, served up over a group of nearly perfect musicians. All things said, I'm not yet familiar enough with this album. Like a new romance, I look forward to getting better acquainted. Skip Moore Albany, CA

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