The Essential Gary Lucas
Knitting Factory, 2021
10/10
Listen to The Essential Gary Lucas
The legendary guitarist Gary Lucas plants himself in fine company across this double disc that spans four decades of original music, where Jeff Buckley, Jerry Harrison, and Adrian Sherwood, among many more, contribute their talents to the very diverse collection.
Lucas starts the effort with his work from Gods and Monsters, his seminal psyche-jazz band, and leads with “Fata Morgana”, where frisky percussion and plenty of energy enters the busy, rhythmic opener as Lucas’ robust pipes impress, and “Evangeline” follows with fluid guitar work and breathy vocals.
Other highlights from this disc include the horn filled “Climb The Highest Mountain”, while “Poison Tree” uses both acoustic and electric guitar well alongside Mary Margaret O’Hara’s smooth pipes in the prog-rock setting. “After Strange Gods”, the highlight from this portion, then gets louder and more abrasive and is guided by Dina Emerson’s versatile singing.
Disc 2, which assembles solo work, rarities and collaborations, opens with “All Along The Watchtower”, where Lucas’ acoustic guitar is aligned with FeiFei Yang’s expressive singing, and later on Nona Hendryx lends her soulful pipes to the bluesy “Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles”. Further on, “Fool’s Cap” illustrates acrobatic guitar playing that few people could replicate, and “Largo”, from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (from the New World), exits the listen on a 7 minute instrumental that’s so meticulous it never out welcomes its stay.
Lucas made a name for himself with his work with Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley, and in his lengthy career he’s played everything from Chinese pop to electronic to even Hungarian folk music. On this compendium, he collects his own favorite work, and in a career that includes 30+ albums, this is likely to be everyone’s favorite record of his, too.
Travels well with: Matthew Sweet- Catspaw; Peter Stampfel & The Bottle Caps- Demo ‘84