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Notes Magazine (Germany), November 1996
Gary Lucas—"Evangeline" (Zensor ZS 152)
GARY LUCAS—THE PREACHER OF THE GUITAR-GOSPEL
The name of Gary Lucas is not necessarily known to everybody in our latitudes, but it actually should...
...because this man has played with yet a countless number of musicians, has written songs for them, has produced their albums, and has released quite a number of his own. The tireless workaholic—tenderly called 'guitarist of 1,000 ideas' by the New York Times and 'a true axe god' by the Melody Maker—the Yale graduate quickly became a music maniac, and his live performances were frenetically celebrated by the audiences, his albums were praised to the skies by the critics. Over the course of his career he performed with Leonard Bernstein, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, Matthew Sweet, Sophie B. Hawkins, Graham Parker, Dr. John, Adrian Sherwood, Mary Margaret O'Hara, the Woodentops, the Mekons, Jim Carroll, Bob Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Joan Osborne, Fred Schneider (B-52's) and Jeff Buckley.
In the first place, the New York citizen Gary Lucas is a guitarist. In this field he is a technical genius, a demon, a wizard on the strings, fast and sensitive, just as the situation requires; he is a master of all styles to elicit sounds out of the (acoustic) guitar. His musical horizon includes classical music as well as the music of the year 2000. This man masters his instrument with dexterity and superiority, which are hard to find again on this planet. Yet Gary ain't the deadly serious craftsman, but works on his musical creations with much humor and crankiness, which are no doubt unique in this intelligent-musical cosmos. This man tells stories without words and with touching vividness. For every guitarist, Gary Lucas is an inexhaustible fountain of inspiration, and he leaves far behind craftsmen like Aldi Meola (in this case "Aldi" is justified!) or Pace de Lucia; who swapped musical creativity for pure 'technicism' decades ago.
Gary is a miracle not only live on stage, but his albums were and always are so many-sided and, in the best sense, eccentric masterpieces; the music unique and with all his heart. From Bluegrass and Blues, classical music and homages to esteemed colleagues like Jimi Hendrix or Frank Zappa, he does not spare fantastic variations of Wagner themes, Kraftwerk, or he gives us the soundtrack to the (silent) movie Der Golem. And he is a splendid songwriter, too. Lucas once was guitarist with the legendary and of Captain Beefheart, and this once more verifies his musical open-mindedness and flexibility. The "Dresdener Neuste Nachrichten" said his art to be a "musical cruise upon the ocean of rock, free jazz, country, Klezmer, and Great Opera."
The reason I am talking so much about this man is given from the sense and motivation of this magazine: Gary Lucas recently released a new album called Evangeline. As his maxim never was "faster, higher, farther," and this virtuoso, is still unknown in this area for some inexplicable reason, his name meaning something only to insiders, little me wants to help changing this a little bit. Yes, everybody reasonably interested in music should take this fantastic album into bed and also put it into his row of records of the century. Partly, on this album Lucas acts like a Leo Kottke on hallucinogens, unbelievable picking instrumentals alternate with beautiful, sometimes droll songs, always arranged in a very unconventional way between hip keyboards and traditional Blues/Rock equipment.
The starting point and heart of the tracks is of course the magic guitar playing of the master himself, whether acoustically or on the electric guitar. Gary celebrates a timeless music with extravagant lyrics, he creates infinite spheres leaving space for mystical worlds full of pictures and associations—an imaginary movie in wide screen and Technicolor deluxe...attempts to categorize Gary Lucas' music (Pop music? Classical Music? Serious music? Light music?) are doomed to failure: Evangeline is one of those albums which even great musicians succeed with only once in their lifetime. Even an eloquent contemporary like me can hardly find the right words of enthusiasm and emotion. You ought to listen to this album yourselves. This strongly addictive tonal gospel (Evangelium) I praise as a God-given masterpiece of the century. jmm
Denni Telegraf (Prague), October 1996
PRAGUE'S GHOSTS ARE LEAVING DARK NOOKS
By Jan Hrbacek
There came out one of the new music works on Saturday which you should pay attention to. The group Urfaust had the christening of a new CD "The Ghosts of Prague" at the Roxy Club. Also American guitar genius Gary Lucas played a part in this CD. It's the first collaboration of magician Lucas and Richard Mader, owner of Prague's underground label Faust Records. Urfaust had followed with a new album on previous dark musical activities. The CD presents a heavy alternative approach to the figures of legendary Prague ghosts. There is a word from Mader in the booklet saying, these phantoms are creatures beyond time, who struggle for their deliverance—most of them still waiting for that moment.
"Although the miserable ghosts' souls long for timeless peace, a lot of them increase the town's 'genus loci', and it would be a pity in some way if they get their deliverance. But it isn't so easy too," says a spiritual father of the project with a mysterious smile.
The Urfaust music is dark in a Gothic style. It's not the rock endeavor to only be more visible, but a new musical trend, which probably is the way for the underground in the future. It seems that there's now everything essential about underground music and it's impossible to find anything in principle new. "The Ghosts of Prague" proves the opposite. There's a classical rook instrument, guitar, human voice and the other standard components in the balance, but above all, there's a new idea, how to work with sounds which pursue us daily. Although the first Urfaust project was very interesting, only this record shows what. Mader and co. point at. The album isn't a typical project, but a struggle for a discovery of new dimensions. It's really ultramodern.
Special guest Gary Lucas was in the best condition on the christening of the new record. He did his most brilliant songs as additions, tirelessly, including "daddy" Zappa. His vitality and bravura was admirable. Lucas has proved again that we can place him next to those musical heroes as Jimi Hendrix and others.
Denni Telegraf (Prague), 7/12/96
HIS COSMIC MAJESTY GARY LUCAS
American guitarist GARY LUCAS once again convinces us of his extraordinary qualities. During the last few days, he showed up twice in the Prague club Roxy with his performance of "The Golem," and Tuesday evening in the rock club Bunker he let the music gourmets taste his many excellent melodies from his albums "GODS AND MONSTERS" and "BAD BOYS OF THE ARCTIC." The star of a guitar heaven brings R&R music to Prague.
Lucas' Saturday show in the Roxy, where eager spectators listened to his integral parts for the German movie from the 1920s "The Golem" (directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese), could only be described in superlatives. The famous instrumentalist played with an epic psychedelic sensibility which brought the Czech earthly man to Lucas' cosmic kingdom. "The Golem" is overloaded with motifs, a hundredfold specific sounds, gloomy tremolos and background structures. You feel this music in your innermost core, with shivers cool down your back, a special feeling of disturbance which comes with a certain message from the Universe that you slowly feel in your brain. Lucas' imagination is unreal, his performance hits the heart and you enjoy it as a medicine for your whole body.
"The Golem" is stuff of unique quality which I'd recommend to everyone who likes unusual and fascinating things. Those really interested in Lucas' "Golem" don't have to wait too long because the famous guitarist is coming back to Prague in the fall season to baptize the new album from the Urfaust band, "Ghosts of Prague," which he performed on.
Tuesday's performance in the Bunker took place in a different setting. Right from the beginning it wasn't heard properly because of painful things played by the Bunker Rock Club soundman. At the time when Gary was ready to play we only heard music from a tape, and they could not find the sound engineer for half an hour. But afterwards Lucas gradually brought about 200 fans to their feet. Alongside his own music he didn't forget to pay respects to the late Zappa and even Captain Beefheart. Over many magic melodies you can feel from Gary Lucas' playing optimism and hidden pleasure. Gary's intermezzo on the dobro reminded us of the best of Southern country music. After two and a half hours of his concert, Lucas, even though he was very tired, had to add some more songs. Gary will be heading back to the United States very soon. But nobody had to push him very hard to play more of his beautiful music in that lovely evening.
by JAN HRBACEK
photo caption: GARY LUCAS, who performed twice in the Roxy club and once in the rock club Bunker, probably even sleeps with his guitar.
Toronto Now Magazine, May 1996
CELEBRITY SPINS
WHO'S PLAYING WHAT RIGHT NOW
GARY LUCAS
Beefheartian guitar magician who will accompany the 1920 German expressionist film "The Golem" with his solo guitar score at the Bloor Cinema on Sunday, May 5.
OPTICAL 8 - "ALL OVER"
"This is an astonishing live document of Hoppy Kamiyama's seminal punk/jazz/noisecore freakouts under the aegis of Optical 8. It cuts anything I've heard in a similar approach in the West."
KEVIN COYNE - "THE ADVENTURES OF CRAZY FRANK"
"Kevin Coyne has a rich, whiskey-soaked R&B baritone and a delightfully askew worldview. 'Crazy Frank' is a triumphant return to form."
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS - "SERENADE TO MUSIC"
"A great introduction to my favorite classical composer. Williams' transcendental take on English/Celtic music is the most sublime expression of the purest emotion I know."
The Japan Times, April 14, 1996
BLINI, BEEFHEART AND THE BLUES—WHAT A COMBO
By STEVE McCLURE
Somebody once pointed out that Jimi Hendrix's music was based on the Delta blues—only the delta was on Mars. That same extraterrestrial sensibility informs the music of Gary Lucas. Playing at Tokyo's Volga restaurant until April 20, Lucas isn't afraid to take the guitar, in both its acoustic and electric incarnations, where no axman has gone before. His music contains elements of funk, folk, heavy metal, psychedelia and the blues, and besides being a technical whiz with faster-than-light fingers, Lucas manages to make listenable, even humorous music, unlike some of the more "avant" denizens of the avant-garde.
"I would say I'm fundamentally based in the blues," says New York-based Lucas. "But because my background was with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, the No. 1 avant-garde rock band, anything I do is a cross between a very traditional and bluesy style of guitar playing, to very free-jazz/progressive rock. "I've described my music as 21st-century blues, but it's not so way-out that it's not accessible music." Lucas says seeing a Beefheart show in New York in 1971 inspired him to choose music as a career. "I was just blown away, and I said to myself, 'If I ever do anything in music, I want to play with this man.' He had that impact on me. I just thought it was killer, how he was arranging music for guitars." After getting an English literature degree from Yale, budding guitarist Lucas immersed himself in the fingerpicking style and unorthodox tunings that characterized Beefheart's music. "This is the hallmark of my music. There aren't that many people who can fingerpick—it's kind of a lost art," Lucas says. "And I think I've really taken it a step further—I'm very proud of my technique."
Back In the mid-'70s, though, Lucas wasn't nearly so sure of his musical skills. So it was with some trepidation that he approached the Captain with the idea of his someday joining the Magic Band. Beefheart reacted favorably to the idea, and after a couple of years working for his family's import/export business in Taipei and a stint at CBS Records writing ad copy, Lucas joined the Magic Band in 1980. He recorded two albums with Beefheart before the Captain abandoned music to concentrate full time on painting in 1984. Lucas then found work as a producer for musicians coming out of New York's downtown scene such as saxophonist/composers Tim Berne and Peter Gordon as well as the Woodentops, a British pop group.
"Then I got the bug, and I said, 'Boy, I really love playing. I should have been doing this all along.' So in 1988 I approached the people at the Knitting Factory in New York and said I'd like to do a solo guitar show and they were receptive and said OK." Lucas' shows at the Knitting Factory earned him the accolade "Guitarist of 1,000 ideas" from The New York Times. Lucas' music was still a bit too avant-garde for American audiences, however, and he found that Europeans were more willing to accept his unorthodox guitar style. "It seems that it's a lot easier for American artists who are playing music that's not top 40 music to get acceptance in Europe," he notes ruefully. Much of Lucas' first solo album, "Skeleton at the Feast," was recorded live in Amsterdam. It lends new meaning to the term tour de force, as Lucas takes his '63 vintage Fender Strat deep into Hendrix's Martian delta on pieces such as "Hard Werken F***ed Over Man," as well as showing off his brilliant fingerpicking skills on the National steel guitar on "Robert's Johnson."
Other highlights of "Skeleton at the Feast" include Lucas' moody and atmospheric reading of "Aguirre (Lacrime Di Re)," by German progressive band Popul Vuh, and the totally surreal "Christmas in Space Medley," which manages to combine "The Little Drummer Boy" a schlock standard, with Hendrix's "Are You Experienced?" Besides playing solo, Lucas works with "free-floating collective" Gods and Monsters, whose members have included Jeff Buckley and Matthew Sweet. Lucas' recent projects include doing an original live score for the 1921 German Expressionist film "The Golem," as well as contributing songs and guitar to Jeff Buckley's "Grace" album and Joan Osborne's "Relish."
Lucas' Volga dates are his first-ever shows in Japan. "I've met some really cool progressive musicians, such as Hoppy Kamiyama, with whom I hope to work in the future," he says. In the relatively restrained atmosphere of Volga, Lucas concentrates on playing acoustic guitar instead of giving unleashing his full sonic assault. Lucas plays Monday through Wednesday from 9:30 p.m. with keyboardist Misako Kanno. Thursday to Saturday bassist Loyd Love and drummer David Leytze [now Shu Yamichi —T.] join Lucas and Kanno for two sets at 9 and 11 p.m. April 19 promises to be a busy day for Lucas. After playing an in-store gig at Tower Records' Shibuya store at 5 p.m., he heads off to Volga, and then it's on to Milk in Ebisu for another show starting sometime after midnight. "At Milk, we're going to pull out all the stops," he promises.
The Music Paper, April 1996
Strawberry Fields Tomorrow?
by Sal Cataldi
It's a frigid Tuesday night at that Yankee Stadium of the avant-garde, the Knitting Factory. The occasion? Something called Knit Classical Mutations—an event where Downtown's most provacative jazz bastards and noise assassins have been invited to "do and undo" the works of their favorite classical composers.
In the old-school "long-hair" idiom, there's nothing quite as heavy as the works of Wagner, that crotchety German whose titanic overtures have as much to do with the birth of heavy metal as Sabbath's iron-fingered Iommi. If you're Michael Dorf, the Knit's elfin genius/owner, there's no doubt who you call to reproduce Wagner's ominous operas and subtle melodies with just a solo guitar. It's Gary Lucas.
Since he emerged as Captain Beefheart's featured solist in the early '80s, Lucas has been one of the most original, inspiring and productive voices in the stringed universe, a critic's fave who has been labeled "The Gutiarist of 1,000 Ideas" by The New York Times and "A True Axe God" bye Melody Maker. Over the course of his pro career (which started with Lucas doing music for a documentary featuring the voice of Rod "Twilight Zone" Serling!), he's played with the eclectic likes of Leonard Bernstein, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Iggy Pop, Jim Carroll, Allen Ginsburg, Dr. John, Sophie B. Hawkins and Matthew Sweet, to name but a few.
His long-standing band, Gods and Monsters, is a loosely-based all-star collective which has helped further the cool and careers of vocalists like Jeff Buckley and Matthew Sweet, making Lucas a sort of John Mayall or Art Blakey of the Downtown Scene. His second Enemy Records release, 1992's "Gods and Monsters," is one of the quintessential showcases of how exceptional guitar work and great songsmithery can co-exist (the other is Jimi's "Are You Experienced?"). The CD—which includes everything from John Fahey-meets-Jimmy Page fingerpicking on countrified acoustic ballads to psychedelically-fired instrumental covers of Miles Davis' "Jack Johnson" and the Syd-era Floyd's "Astronomy Domine"—is simply indispensable: something that should join your Robert Johnson box, Charlie Christian sides and Jimi's "Experienced" on that short list of guitarists' desert island favorites. (Note: If you have a few extra bucks, pick up Jean-Paul Bourelly's incredible "Trippin'," another godly guitar disc that Enemy somehow bobbled on the way to the platinum circle!)
But when the cognoscenti think of Lucas, they think of his masterful and hypnotic solo performances, the first of which took place at the Knitting Factory in 1988. Armed with only a battered Stratocaster, a 1940 Gibson acoustic, a National steel guitar and a jerry-rigged low-tech effects system (featuring two ancient 16-second delays and assorted ocatavers, phasers and fuzz tones), Lucas generates nothing less than pure magic. His clever manipulations of loops on the solo album "Skeleton at the Feast" make Frippertronics look like an inbred country cousin strumming rubber bands on a cigar box!
Lucas' latest solo excursions have found him providing live soundtracks to screenings of silent films, most notably "The Golem," the Geman impressionist classic. "It's like they said in the movie 'JFK,' 'a triangulation of fire,'" jokes Lucas, referring to the three-way dynamic of performer, audience and film in these live soundtrack shows. "It's a real juggling act, pulling music and themes out of thin air to complement the mood."
The inspiration that made Lucas first want to pick up a guitar was a little less esoteric. "It was 'Dance With the Guitar Man' by Duane Eddy," says Lucas. "My first experience with the guitar wasn't too successful, though. I couldn't deal with the steel strings, so I gave up for a while. Then I got a nylon string guitar and became a real Peter, Paul and Mary-playing folkie. Then the Beatles hit and I got a Strat for my Bar Mitzvah and things haven't been the same since."
When it comes to guitar gods, acoustic guitar is their Waterloo, the thing that separates the one-trick ponies who hide behind a wall of fuzz from the greats. People who pigeonhole Lucas as a flailing, fuzz-toned maverick are missing the greater example of his artistry: his skill on acoustic guitar.
"John Fahey and Bert Jansch really shaped my acoustic playing, as well as the Delta blues guys like Blind Blake, who I really got into when playing with Beefheart," adds Lucas. "Acoustic is what I compose with. I just keep playing until I hit on something that makes me shiver."
Increasingly, this King Of Alternative Guitar is becoming known not for his shredding antics, but for his artistry as a composer, producer and sympathetic accompanier of the leading voices of the day. Two of his tunes (as well as his playing) are featured on Joan Osborne's mega-hit "Relish." He also played a major role in Jeff Buckley's debut disc and is currently co-writing with everyone from The B-52s' Fred Schneider to Daniel Cartier.
"What is my dream?" responds Lucas. "I always wanted to have an avant-garde song that was a #1 hit, just like the Beatles did with 'Strawberry Fields Forever.' All the rest of this is just a diversion, some good color for when I create that experimental classic that tops the charts."
Denni Telegraf (Prague), 2/12/96
LUCAS—THE FOURTH DIMENSION GUITARIST
Famous American blues guitarist Gary Lucas performed Saturday night in Prague for a second time in a cozy neighborhood, at the brand new Jazz Club in Zelesna street.
A former guitarist of the legendary Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Sophie B. Hawkins and Iggy Pop, Lucas was like a noble illusion who discovered the fourth dimension of space. He took his performance as a cross-section of all creation, which included compositions of Frank Zappa and pompus music of Richard Wagner (passage from opera Tannheuser). He did not forget his soundtrack of "The Golem," although there was no video accompaniment. That is a pity, but then again his last performance in Reduta two years ago he was with his video accompaniment.
All listeners who were present in his guitar exhibition were in ecstasy with Lucas in his traditional, successive, sometimes remembering his mother hood band "Captain Beefheart," soil blues which passed over in Oldfield variation and futuristic sonatas. Lucas' guitar playing combined the fiery Jimmy Hendrix with Wagner's meticulous compositions. The New York genius left the people enjoying his latest album "Bad Boys of the Arctic," as well as "Gods and Monsters" and "Skeleton at the Feast." The excellent climate of the Jazz Club in Zelezna street with its spacious, remembering warm family fireplace gave Lucas maximum contact with the public.
by Laddy Collins
Hamburg Morning Post, 2/14/96
MERCILESS MR. QUICKHAND
The spirits split themselves up within Gary Lucas. On the one hand he's a merciless demon who attacks the strings of his instrument and the complacency of his listeners. On the other hand, this American is a "super genius wonder guitarist." The guitar fire-man knows how to unfold the most varied range of styles. Amøng musicians he is in any case highly valued. Such a range of artists as Nick Cave, Sophie B. Hawkins and Captain Beefheart have worked with him. Mr. Quickhand will be presenting his own work at Marx at 9:30.
Essen Zeitung, 2/15/96
SIX STRINGS SOLO
EXCEPTIONAL GUITARIST GARY LUCAS ROCKED IN THE ROXY
The Roxy Club with its nostalgic charm was the setting for a marvelous show by the too little known guitarist Gary Lucas. The musician needed nothing more than 2 amps, 3 guitars, and a small number of effects boxes in order to cast a spell over his audience from the first note. In a humorous, playful reference to the late beginning of the concert the New Yorker opened with the classic German rock piece "Autobahn" in an infernal finger flurry. Lucas comes with ten fingers, six strings, and an overpowering sound. Joyfully, this exceptional guitarist who fits into no easy category changes style along with his guitars. Bluegrass in the finest cowboy manner on the dobro contrasts with songs written by him for Jeff Buckley and moves on to Western songs and Frank Zappa on a '63 Strat.
And then a surprising revelation—he loves Richard Wagner. Then the Jewish sound magician rocked into a silently pleasing "Tannhauser" overture followed by the equally well known "Ride of the Valkyries" and Wedding March.
By the end there was no doubt that we had heard one of the best guitarists of our time.
by Sven Thielmann
TAGESSPIEGEL, Berlin, 2/8/96
THE BEAST IN THE MASTER
A MUSIC-MANIAC, THE GUITARIST GARY LUCAS IN TACHELES
How many guitars can a normal person carry? Investigations into this question are unlikely to be carried out. Gary Lucas, guitar-maniac from New York, would provide a very interesting study. He barely passes two minutes without his guitar. Already an hour before he's scheduled to appear at the Tacheles, he's nervously rubbing his palms against his thighs. This is not stagefright but, as quickly becomes clear from the smile at the corner of his mouth, this is because he can't wait to play. Every 15 minutes he crosses the room and fingers his instrument. Finally at 10:15 its time. The cage is opened and the tiger is allowed into the arena.
A three hour guitar avalanche breaks over the audience. No sooner has Lucas strapped on one of his three guitars, then it is no longer possible to distinguish where skin, flesh and fingernails stop and wood and metal begin. The strings of hie electric and acoustic guitar appear to grow directly into the nerves and blood vessels of the musician, the amplifiers become giant gateways that give the listener direct access to Lucas' soul. And already the question arises—who is really the master here? Does Lucas command his instrument or is the instrument tickling the beast in its master?
Not only the musical motifs but also the thematic range of the echoing guitar wizard is overpowering. He plays bluegrass and blues, he pays respects to Frank Zappa, Kraftwerk and Jimi Hendrix, brings in select excerpts from his soundtrack to the old German silent film "The Golem" and plays pieces he wrote for the singer Jeff Buckley, and moves on to a cycle of Richard Wagner compositions. "I'm Jewish, and I play Wagner, although he was an anti-semite", Lucas announces with a grin. "But I always already as a young child loved Wagner, and I believe that music and politics should not go together." This is a strong statement in view of the current Radical Jewish Culture euphoria.
For every piece, Lucas has a dark story to relate. But he also listens to the voice of his public, he plays requests and does not force them to beg for encores for long. On the contrary, they only need to call out and already he's jumping back on the stage, bringing his sound machines back on to the boards, and plays further—a possessed soul, a Pied Piper who could have his way with with his audience if he were a master of his own will.
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, 2/6/96
GUITAR EXPLODES LIKE A WHOLE ORCHESTRA
GARY LUCAS PLAYS WITH LOADS OF FANTASY IN TURM
by Remco Ubbels
HALLE/MZ On Sunday, Underground guitar player Gary Lucas was playing in Turm Jazzklub. The Manhattan inhabitant virtuoso started his career in the band of Zappa's rival Captain Beefheart. "He told me to play 3 piano voices at the same time on one guitar! That's why I came up with the idea to use my effects as a second voice". This became Lucas' characteristic point. Solo, he plays on prehistoric guitars. The sound he sends through a tangle of cables and floor effects to imitate a complete orchestra.
Almost endlessly he comes up with spontaneous ideas. The more the audience reacts enthusiastically on his genius ideas, the crazier he treats the ears of the listeners with beautiful/wonderful soundscapes. Lucas' slide guitar version brings life to Kraftwerk's "Autobahn". And even the opening of Wagner's "Tannhauser" gets a new dimension on the acoustic guitar.
Lucas, of Jewish/Polish/Czech origin (the reason a newspaper out of Hamburg called him the semitic reincarnation of Jimi Hendrix) proudly told that his Wagner version found acceptance even in Israel.
In concert in Turm Lucas mixed, in a perfect way which is seldom found, big city sounds with old fashioned blues pickin'. A kind of experimental music which doesn't fascinate only guitar fanatics.