Keith Richards – Under ReviewThe intro of this documentary doesn’t bode well for things to come, with a Richards-esque – rather than genuine Keef – riff playing beneath the voice-over, giving the viewer the impression of a long two hours ahead. Luckily, it seems it’s a case of a small budget rather than lack of vision.
Refreshingly, the focus here isn’t so much interviews with Mick and the rest of the band, or ex-wives and girlfriends, or even with Keith himself, although they are present; it’s about how Keith affected change, first within the band, then with the band’s music, and ultimately within popular culture. Let’s face it – even today, at the height of elegantly-wasted couture, if the Toronto-bust-era Keef walked by, heads would still turn.
Having sat through and read many bios of the man, as well the Stones, I was surprised at the amount of knowledge I had gleaned by the time the credits rolled. The interviews in Under Review rely on those who were within Keith’s periphery during the Stones’ heyday; among them critics Anthony DeCurtis and Robert Christgau of Rolling Stone magazine. Christgau, in particular, makes some of his trademark laser-like insights throughout, and DeCurtis is just plain funny.
Other standouts include interviews with rock critic Chris Welch and biographer Kris Needs, who both offer insights that only people close to Richards could offer: Keith as a family man and a junkie, a musician and a husband, a man willing to live with his choices and their outcomes. Interviews with legend Bernie Worrell – P-Funk founder and member of Richards’ X-Pensive Winos – are alone worth the price of the DVD.
Oddly, some seemingly key points are conspicuously absent: a few major albums, Black and Blue, Ronnie Wood’s first Stones foray, and the last commercially and artistically well-received Stones album, Tattoo You, aren’t even mentioned. Additionally, Some Girls gets slagged pretty hard, whether deservedly so is debatable.
But despite its shortcomings, Under Review is thoroughly enjoyable, and easy to recommend to any Keith Richards aficionado, or anyone wanting to learn more about the man behind the legend. -JE
$19.95
mvddistribution.com
Strat MastersThis video opens upon the late Rory Gallagher playing some delicious slide on his workhorse Stratocaster. As the notes ring through your ears, there’s a distinct feeling of this is going to be good. And for the most part, Strat Masters, a two-disc epic of a documentary about the most famous instrument to emerge from Fullerton, California, doesn’t disappoint.
The bulk of the film consists of interviews with famous Strat aficionados – heavyweights like Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler and Robert Cray show up to pay their respects. While generally enlightening, this reliance on artist interviews is a real double-edged sword; there are some hilarious moments spent with Ry Cooder (When asked if the guitar changed the world: “The electric guitar made a huge difference to the world – Jesus!”) and some great stories from Bruce Welch, but there are equally as many longwinded interviews that slow the film’s pace and divert the focus. This film is at its best when it covers the guitar that ties all of these musicians together, not the other way around.
Commendably, the film spends a considerable amount of time exploring the technical side of the instrument. There are in-depth discussions, by the artists themselves, about the effects of string gauge on the instrument’s sound, the use of the classic 3-way switch to achieve different sounds and the defining traits of single coil pickups – culminating in an oddly-placed trip through Seymour Duncan’s factory. For the true gearheads among us who relish discussing scale length and winding techniques, this DVD will provide hours of amazement.
Inevitably, there were some production decisions made that might not vibe with viewers –while Jonah Sithole, an African guitarist with Blacks Unlimited, is featured and Richie Kotzen’s first signature model (actually a Telecaster!) is discussed at length, Eric Clapton’s Blackie is somehow lost in the mix and there’s even less mention of a Strat-toting bluesman known as SRV. The narrow focus and considerable length of this video may leave some players fidgeting in their seats, but for the Fender faithful, Strat Masters is definitely a ride worth taking. -AM
headstockmedia.com
All My LovingThe tone of this documentary of ‘60s pop culture, originally aired on BBC Television in 1968, is set perfectly by the first shot: the lyrics to the Beatle’s “Yellow Submarine” on screen juxtaposed against an ominous Vaughan Williams piece playing underneath, then cutting to an out-of-focus Donovan, walking around aimlessly, evidently unable to comprehend he’s being filmed. The remainder of the film continues as a pastiche of seemingly unrelated clips, giving the film an odd sense of cohesion while relentlessly making the viewer feel ill at ease.
Director Tony Palmer successfully keeps the viewer on edge by mixing not only disparate images but disparate sounds as well, never fully revealing whether he’s intending to show the importance of the era’s pop music or to show how little it mattered compared to a society set on its ear during the height of the Vietnam War. What we do know is that All My Loving is a powerful and often harrowing look at society, pop music, sex, drugs, war, violence and revolution.
The first band we see is Cream, with Jack Bruce’s mic continually falling out of the stand during an amazing rendition of “I’m Glad,” his mic problems adding to the movie’s unrelenting tension. Cream pops up in the film from time to time playing the part of redeemer, with these being among the few times the viewer is given even a partial reprieve from the film’s edge.
All My Loving contains an incredible collection of interviews ranging from a fairly lightweight but insightful interview with Sir Paul McCartney to a moresardonic- than-usual Frank Zappa, recalling a run-in with some U.S. Marines during a Mothers’ show. Other highlights include an almost surreal interview with George Harrison’s mom and Eric Burdon’s surprisingly eloquent take on post-LSD ‘60s culture.
Typical of the film is a shot of a concentration camp prisoner having his head shaved, fading out to a soft-focus image of an opulent chandelier, with that then coming into focus and the camera panning down to A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess, appropriately discussing the disposable nature of both pop music and youth culture at a society gathering.
All My Loving is hard-hitting, edgy, and at times nearly unwatchable, ending up a remarkable movie, with its powerful imagery perfectly underlying both the passion and pretense of the late ‘60s. –JE
$19.98
mvddistribution.com
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Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard, EGC Chessie in hands, coaxing some nasty tones from his Hiwatt.
The Jesus Lizard’s sixth album, Blue, served as the band’s final statement from the frontlines of noisy rock for the next 26 years. By the time of their dissolution in 1999, they’d earned a reputation for extreme performances chock full of hard-hitting, machine-like grooves delivered by bassist David Wm. Sims and, at their conclusion, drummer Mac McNeilly, at times aided and at other times punctured by the frontline of guitarist Duane Denison’s incisive, dissonant riffing, and presided over by the cantankerous howl of vocalist David Yow. In the years since, performative, thrilling bands such as Pissed Jeans, METZ, and Idles have built upon the Lizard’s musical foundation.
Denison has kept himself plenty busy over the last couple decades, forming the avant-rock supergroup Tomahawk—with vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Trevor Dunn (both from Mr. Bungle), and drummer John Stanier of Helmet—and alongside various other projects including Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank Williams III. The Jesus Lizard eventually reunited, but until now have only celebrated their catalog, never releasing new jams.
The Jesus Lizard, from left: bassist David Wm. Sims, singer David Yow, drummer Mac McNeilly, and guitarist Duane Denison.
Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins
Back in 2018, Denison, hanging in a hotel room with Yow, played a riff on his unplugged electric guitar that caught the singer’s ear. That song, called “West Side,” will remain unreleased for now, but Denison explains: “He said, ‘Wow, that’s really good. What is that?’ And I said, ‘It’s just some new thing. Why don’t we do an album?’” From those unassuming beginnings, the Jesus Lizard’s creative juices started flowing.
So, how does a band—especially one who so indelibly captured the ineffable energy of live rock performance—prepare to get a new record together 26 years after their last? Back in their earlier days, the members all lived together in a band house, collectively tending to the creative fire when inspiration struck. All these years later, they reside in different cities, so their process requires sending files back and forth and only meeting up for occasional demo sessions over the course of “three or four years.”
“When the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.” —Duane Denison
the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"
Distance creates an obstacle to striking while the proverbial iron is hot, but Denison has a method to keep things energized: “Practice loud.” The guitarist professes the importance of practice, in general, and especially with a metronome. “We keep very detailed records of what the beats per minute of these songs are,” he explains. “To me, the way to do it is to run it to a Bluetooth speaker and crank it, and then crank your amp. I play a little at home, but when the time comes to get more in performance mode, I have a practice space. I go there by myself and crank it up. I turn that amp up and turn the metronome up and play loud.”
It’s a proven solution. On Rack—recorded at Patrick Carney’s Audio Eagle studio with producer Paul Allen—the band sound as vigorous as ever, proving they’ve not only remained in step with their younger selves, but they may have surpassed it with faders cranked. “Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style,” explains Allen. “The conviction in his playing that he is known for from his recordings in the ’80s and ’90s is still 100-percent intact and still driving full throttle today.”
“I try to be really, really precise,” he says. “I think we all do when it comes to the basic tracks, especially the rhythm parts. The band has always been this machine-like thing.” Together, they build a tension with Yow’s careening voice. “The vocals tend to be all over the place—in and out of tune, in and out of time,” he points out. “You’ve got this very free thing moving around in the foreground, and then you’ve got this very precise, detailed band playing behind it. That’s why it works.”
Before Rack, the Jesus Lizard hadn’t released a new record since 1998’s Blue.
Denison’s guitar also serves as the foreground foil to Yow’s unhinged raving, as on “Alexis Feels Sick,” where they form a demented harmony, or on the midnight creep of “What If,” where his vibrato-laden melodies bolster the singer’s unsettled, maniacal display. As precise as his riffs might be, his playing doesn’t stay strictly on the grid. On the slow, skulking “Armistice Day,” his percussive chording goes off the rails, giving way to a solo that slices that groove like a chef’s knife through warm butter as he reorganizes rock ’n’ roll histrionics into his own cut-up vocabulary.
“During recording sessions, his first solo takes are usually what we decide to keep,” explains Allen. “Listen to Duane’s guitar solos on Jack White’s ‘Morning, Noon, and Night,’ Tomahawk’s ‘Fatback,’ and ‘Grind’ off Rack. There’s a common ‘contained chaos’ thread among them that sounds like a harmonic Rubik’s cube that could only be solved by Duane.”
“Duane’s approach, both as a guitarist and writer, has an angular and menacing fingerprint that is his own unique style.” —Rack producer Paul Allen
To encapsulate just the right amount of intensity, “I don’t over practice everything,” the guitarist says. Instead, once he’s created a part, “I set it aside and don’t wear it out.” On Rack, it’s obvious not a single kilowatt of musical energy was lost in the rehearsal process.
Denison issues his noisy masterclass with assertive, overdriven tones supporting his dissonant voicings like barbed wire on top of an electric fence. The occasional application of slapback delay adds a threatening aura to his exacting riffage. His tones were just as carefully crafted as the parts he plays, and he relied mostly on his signature Electrical Guitar Company Chessie for the sessions, though a Fender Uptown Strat also appears, as well as a Taylor T5Z, which he chose for its “cleaner, hyper-articulated sound” on “Swan the Dog.” Though he’s been spotted at recent Jesus Lizard shows with a brand-new Powers Electric—he points out he played a demo model and says, “I just couldn’t let go of it,” so he ordered his own—that wasn’t until tracking was complete.
Duane Denison's Gear
Denison wields his Powers Electric at the Blue Room in Nashville last June.
Photo by Doug Coombe
Guitars
- Electrical Guitar Company Chessie
- Fender Uptown Strat
- Taylor T5Z
- Gibson ES-135
- Powers Electric
Amps
- Hiwatt Little J
- Hiwatt 2x12 cab with Fane F75 speakers
- Fender Super-Sonic combo
- Early ’60s Fender Bassman
- Marshall 1987X Plexi Reissue
- Victory Super Sheriff head
- Blackstar HT Stage 60—2 combos in stereo with Celestion Neo Creamback speakers and Mullard tubes
Effects
- Line 6 Helix
- Mantic Flex Pro
- TC Electronic G-Force
- Menatone Red Snapper
Strings and Picks
- Stringjoy Orbiters .0105 and .011 sets
- Dunlop celluloid white medium
- Sun Studios yellow picks
He ran through various amps—Marshalls, a Fender Bassman, two Fender Super-Sonic combos, and a Hiwatt Little J—at Audio Eagle. Live, if he’s not on backline gear, you’ll catch him mostly using 60-watt Blackstar HT Stage 60s loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. And while some boxes were stomped, he got most of his effects from a Line 6 Helix. “All of those sounds [in the Helix] are modeled on analog sounds, and you can tweak them endlessly,” he explains. “It’s just so practical and easy.”
The tools have only changed slightly since the band’s earlier days, when he favored Travis Beans and Hiwatts. Though he’s started to prefer higher gain sounds, Allen points out that “his guitar sound has always had teeth with a slightly bright sheen, and still does.”
“Honestly, I don’t think my tone has changed much over the past 30-something years,” Denison says. “I tend to favor a brighter, sharper sound with articulation. Someone sent me a video I had never seen of myself playing in the ’80s. I had a band called Cargo Cult in Austin, Texas. What struck me about it is it didn’t sound terribly different than what I sound like right now as far as the guitar sound and the approach. I don’t know what that tells you—I’m consistent?”
YouTube It
The Jesus Lizard take off at Nashville’s Blue Room this past June with “Hide & Seek” from Rack.
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”
