Detailed Reviews [Jeremy - 2011 - "Guitar Heaven"]

Prolusion. US composer and musician JEREMY (Morris) has been an active and prolific artist since the early 80's, releasing dozens of albums as a solo artist in addition to a vast array of collaborative productions and side projects, spanning a number of different stylistic expressions. "Guitar Heaven" dates back to 2011, and was released through Jeremy's own label Jam Recordings.

Analysis. Jeremy Morris is a well established artist these days following more than three decades as a recording musician, and with a back catalog of releases that is rather impressive. And while he does tend to alternate between power pop and psychedelic rock first and foremost, he does release the occasional odd one out that takes on a rather different style as well. "Guitar Heaven" is such a production, although it does revisit landscapes familiar to his most avid fans: purebred instrumental music, powered by acoustic guitar live in studio. Clean and fresh just as it was recorded, if I interpret the liner notes correctly. And I'll have to admit that I'm once again positively surprised by Jeremy's knack for producing enticing music. The fourteen tracks on this disc, of which four have been made with some outside sources of inspiration and the remaining ten purebred Jeremy originals, are all fine displays of an able and talented composer and musician. Slow, delicate affairs utilizing resonating single notes to emphasize the mood and melody of the patterns that make of the lead motif, intense displays with little room for individual note resonances, but with enticing melodies created by the patterns explored, excursions alternating between these two modes. Circulating minimalistic patterns as well as fluctuating wandering journeys revisiting purebred or alternate versions of a motif previously explored, songs that shift from a gentle and frail character to a more intense one. The differences may often be subtle in tempo, melody, mood and atmosphere alike, but all of them are enticing and intriguing experiences for a select audience, of which I'll readily admit to being a part of. Music for the mind and the soul, and for my sake at least well suited to inner reflections and introspective journeys. Elegantly performed, and again from a personal point of view, I found most of the song names to be fairly representative for the moods conveyed as well. Glory Road is a jubilant and positive creation, Reflection inspiring in a more introspective manner, Lullaby a piece that would work very well as just that, to mention but a few. In the more curious department I found final track Jesus Loves Me to contain a few details that gave me instant associations to Bon Jovi's mega hit Wanted Dead Or Alive, although I suspect that bit to be an accidental one more than anything else. Still, a curious little detail that gave this composition a strong feeling of recognition for me personally.

Conclusion. Among Jeremy's many studio albums over the years, "Guitar Heaven" represents those among them with arguably more of a limited appeal. It is a very well made and performed production, there's no doubt about that, but it's overall appeal will be to a finite crowd. If you love guitar albums in general and emotional, fairly gentle ones, only featuring acoustic guitars in particular, then chances are good that this is a CD that should intrigue you from the get go.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: October 6, 2013
The Rating Room