| Sixty Six Steps | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 23, 2005 (US) | |||
| Recorded | Folk, Americana, new acoustic, American primitive guitar | |||
| Length | 50:08 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Producer | David Z | |||
| Leo Kottke chronology | ||||
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| Mike Gordon chronology | ||||
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Sixty Six Steps is the second studio album from Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon. It was released on August 23,2005.
Although the album was recorded in just a few months,it has been an idea in Gordon's mind for decades. Since Gordon went on a trip to the Bahamas with his family in his childhood,he has always been fascinated with the calypso band,The Mustangs. “Ya Mar,”one of the songs Gordon heard on the trip,eventually became a staple of Phish’s live shows.
Most of the songs were written and arranged in Costa Rica and were then recorded in Nassau,Bahamas. [1]
Percussionist Neil Symonette is also featured playing a multitude of percussion including caxixi,goats' hooves,talking drums,tire hub,djembe,thrasher,fish shakers,and uda drums.
The album also features a number of cover songs,ranging from Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" to Pete Seeger's "Living in the Country."
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [2] |
| Glide Magazine | [3] |
| JamBase | (no rating) [4] |
| Minor 7th | (not rated) [5] |
| PopMatters |   [6] |
| Sputnikmusic | (3.5) [7] |
Music critic Hal Horowitz,writing for Allmusic called the album "breezy" and singled out the musicianship over the songwriting and singing. "The musicians work wonderfully together,with Gordon's meaty yet malleable bass grounding and darting around Kottke's distinctive and agile fingerpicked lines." [2] Eric Ward of Glide magazine wrote favorably of the collaboration saying "You can bet a sand dollar this ends up on quite a few "Best of '05" lists." and like Horowitz,commented on the surprising cover songs. [3] For PopMatters,critic Nikki Tranter called the album "A calypso-laced stylish slice of wonderful,Sixty Six Steps uses jaunty island influences to create a tranquil,unaffected reminder of life’s quiet spaces... Sixty Six Steps doesn’t feel like a calypso record. It’s exactly as it’s meant to be—an experiment in flavors,perfectly blended." [6]
Writing for Minor 7th,Patrick Ragains felt the album was "... a few steps short" and praised Kottke's solo,"From Spink to Correctionville," as "a welcome respite from the rest of the program's bass and midrange clutter." He further commented "Gordon's bass playing is interesting and effective,but sometimes muddies things when competing for attention with Kottke's bass runs on the guitar. The original songs fall flat both musically and lyrically. This is also true of several covers... Gordon handles electric guitar on several tracks,but his playing is trite and fails to generate any fire in the treble register. Likewise,Kottke's accompaniments and unfocused comping fail to lend any energy to the arrangements." [5] Aaron Stein of Jambase commented on the musical relationship between Kottke and Gordon as "it seems that these musicians were made for each other" and "a quirky,amiable weirdness held down by a simple,cozy music." [4]
Andrew Kotick of Sputnikmusic compared the release to Clone and concluded "The results were in vain of the record's predecessor... The music is exactly what you would describe as a soundtrack to a Hawaiian honeymoon. It is as if the two took the music from Clone and put in a key change with different lyrics. This doesn't mean it's bad to any extent,but I would've enjoyed some originality." [7]
The album was awarded "Studio Album of the Year" at the 2006 Jammy Awards.
Leo Kottke is an American acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues,jazz,and folk music,and for syncopated,polyphonic melodies. He has overcome a series of personal obstacles,including partial loss of hearing and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage in his right hand,to emerge as a widely recognized master of his instrument. He resides in the Minneapolis area with his family.
Michael Eliot Gordon is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass,Gordon is an accomplished banjo player,and is proficient at piano and guitar. He is also a filmmaker and author. He has released six solo studio albums and three studio albums with acoustic guitar pioneer Leo Kottke.
The Blind Leading the Naked is the third album by Violent Femmes. It was produced by Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads and released in 1986. The title is a play on the figure of speech "the blind leading the blind."
Out of the Valley is a 1994 album by contemporary folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. This is Gorka's fifth album and unlike the previous four recorded in various places in the northeastern United States,Out of the Valley was recorded at Imagine Sound Studios in Nashville,Tennessee. This is also the first of several Gorka albums to employ the talents of guitarist/producer John Jennings.
Clone is the first studio album from Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon. It was released on October 8,2002,and features the duo performing acoustic originals and cover songs on a variety of instruments.
That's What is an album by the American steel-string guitar artist Leo Kottke. It is distinctive in its jazzy nature and "talking" songs. It reached No. 24 on Billboard's Top New Age Albums charts,Kottke's highest charting position on Billboard.
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Time Step is an album by American guitarist Leo Kottke,released in 1983.
Try And Stop Me is a 2004 album by guitarist Leo Kottke. It contains some of Kottke's first forays into improvisation. All songs are unaccompanied guitar solos with the exception of "Banks of Marble" in which Kottke is supported by the band Los Lobos.
My Feet Are Smiling is American guitarist Leo Kottke's sixth album,and his second album recorded live. It reached No. 108 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts.
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Joseph "Joe" Linitz is an American lyricist whose songs,co-written with Phish bassist Mike Gordon,include the title track from Phish's Round Room and Train Song from Billy Breathes.
Leo Kottke:1971–1976 is a compilation album of songs released on Capitol during Kottke's tenure with that label. It is sometimes referred to as Did You Hear Me? due to the handwritten caption on the photo on the cover. It peaked at #153 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts.
Casa Del Vecchio Ltda. is a traditional guitarmaking company headquartered in São Paulo,Brazil. Since its foundation by Angelo Del Vecchio in 1902,it has produced a wide range of acoustic stringed instruments. In the 1930s,Del Vecchio began producing resonator guitars,resulting in their most famous model:the Dinâmico,.
The Best is a compilation double album of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Capitol label. The liner notes were written by Dr. Demento.
Instrumentals:The Best of the Chrysalis Years is a 2003 compilation of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Chrysalis label. It includes previously unreleased tracks. The Chrysalis release Essential covers the same time period,presenting a different line up of tracks.
Instrumentals:The Best of the Capitol Years is a 2003 compilation of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Capitol label. It was released at the same time as Instrumentals:The Best of the Chrysalis Years.
The Leo Kottke Anthology is a two-disc compilation of American guitarist Leo Kottke's releases on the Takoma,Capitol and Chrysalis labels,covering the first 15 years of his career. It includes liner notes by Kottke himself for each song and an essay by Mark Humphrey.
Fred Gerlach was an American folk musician and luthier. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page credited his recording of the traditional song "Gallows Pole" with inspiring his own band's version.
