ANDERS OSBORNE
''PEACE''
OCTOBER 7 2013
50:45
1 /Peace/6:47
2 /47/4:44
3 /Let It Go/4:35
4 /Windows/4:59
5 /Five Bullets/3:10
6 /Brush Up Against Me
Anders Osborne / Warren Riker/2:36
7 /Sentimental Times/4:53
8 /Dream Girl/4:23
9 /Sarah Anne/5:43
10 /I'm Ready/4:08
11 /My Son/4:47
Tracks By Osborne, Except 6
Brady Blade /Drums
Eric Bolivar /Drums
Susan Cowsill /Vocals (Background)
Carl Dufrene /Bass, Vocals
John Gros /French Horn, Hammond B3, Piano
Jason Mingledorff /Baritone, Clarinet, Sax (Tenor)
Anders Osborne /Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Warren Riker /Percussion
Justin Tocket /Vocals (Background)
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Since signing to Alligator Records in 2010, Anders Osborne has assembled a truly iconic body of work that builds on the rootsy rock and blues strengths he's displayed since his debut in 1989. Despite its arresting cover image, Peace completes a trilogy of sorts that began with his embrace of harder guitar rock and acoustic fare on American Patchwork and 2012's Black Eye Galaxy. Both records depicted his struggles with resettlement after Hurricane Katrina and his drug addiction and recovery. While the excellent Three Free Amigos EP appeared between those records and this one, it was a collection Osborne simply had to cut in order to get here. Peace ties together the guitar virtuoso, the poetic songwriter, and the struggling human being trying to look at life soberly and squarely. He accomplishes it all without preaching. The title track juxtaposes his autobiography with sobriety's desire for equanimity. The music reveals the tension between them. A guitar, bass, and drum attack reminiscent of Neil Young's and Crazy Horse's, layers in drifting acoustic guitars for balance and adds a stinging solo as an exclamation point. "Windows" employs driving acoustic guitars to look back at Osborne's journey of self-discovery through the lens of various encounters with the dark side of his nature. It's underscored by hypnotic drums, the textured backing chorus of Susan Cowsill and Justin Tocket, and a snaky guitar break. "Five Bullets" is chugging, unhinged, funky hard rock with inverted grooves courtesy of whomping drums by Carl Dufrene and a humming bass throb by Eric Bolivar. A brief, psychedelic, improvisational, sonic pastiche called "Brush Up Against Me" acts as a hinge-piece, dividing the set's front and back halves. Osborne delivers the bittersweet "Sentimental Times" with a B-3, French horn, piano, and a slow, shuffling drumkit framing his electric guitar. In the narrative, he recalls the significant events in his past with a sense of wonder, and tries to make sense of them. A second melody that recalls "Whiter Shade of Pale" adds to the sense of reverie. The choogling, lyrical, "Dream Girl," the slippery, rockist reggae of "Sarah Anne," and the silvery tenderness in "My Son," are all heartfelt love songs to his family (in the same way that much of 2007's Coming Down was one to New Orleans itself). The dynamic, acoustic-electric testimonial "I'm Ready" reveals a depth of understanding of the present moment as the gateway to forever. Peace is, insofar as any record album is capable, a multi-dimensional portrait of Osborne as man and musician. It addresses the raw, often confused emotions explored on American Patchwork and Black Eye Galaxy; it also answers many of their questions, while posing new ones.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
"Up and coming" may have been a good way to describe guitarist, singer, and songwriter Anders Osborne earlier in his career, but Osborne's fame has certainly spread beyond the borders of New Orleans, a city where he first cut his teeth and developed a reputation for incendiary live shows. Osborne was born in Sweden in 1966. His father was a professional drummer and a jazz fan whose early-'60s jazz combo played clubs throughout Europe. At a young age, he became fascinated with the singer/songwriters of the '60s and '70s, but then traced those artists' roots back to more basic blues. He traveled around the world, earning money from shows, and settled in New Orleans, which became his home base after 1990.
Osborne artfully blends blues, funk, soul, and classic R&B to create his own distinctive synthesis of styles. Osborne's most widely available early album is 1995's Which Way To Here, recorded for OKeh/Sony; two other independent label releases from the late '90s and early 2000s may still be around for those willing to search: Live at Tipitina's appeared on Shanachie in 1998, followed by Living Room the next year. The introspective Ash Wednesday Blues was issued in early 2001. In 2002, Osborne cut his final two albums for Shanachie, the wonderfully raucous, enigmatic collaboration Bury the Hatchet with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Mardi Gras Indian Tribe the Golden Eagles, and the blues- and Americana-drenched Break the Chain.
He didn't record again until 2006, when he released the larger band session Osborne Orchestra. Osborne was playing nonstop in New Orleans and occasionally in Europe during this period. His 2007 recording, Coming Down, issued on the M.C. imprint, was the most intimate collection of songs he released to date, and walked the line between the nakedly confessional and his observations about living in N.O. after Hurricane Katrina. Live at Jazz Fest 2008, featuring Osborne's killer road band, appeared that year.
In 2009 he signed with Chicago's Alligator label. His first offering for the imprint was the driving, boisterous American Patchwork, issued in 2010. Osborne toured nearly nonstop after the album and produced recordings for Johnny Sansone, Tab Benoit, and Mike Zito. He released Black Eye Galaxy in the spring of 2012; he co-produced the album with Galactic's Stanton Moore and Warren Riker. During relentless touring to celebrate what was his most critically acclaimed album, Osborne took a break late in the year to record the uncharacteristically casual Three Free Amigos, a semi-acoustic, six-track EP, which was released in Feburary of the following year. Later that fall he returned with the full-length Peace.
''PEACE''
OCTOBER 7 2013
50:45
1 /Peace/6:47
2 /47/4:44
3 /Let It Go/4:35
4 /Windows/4:59
5 /Five Bullets/3:10
6 /Brush Up Against Me
Anders Osborne / Warren Riker/2:36
7 /Sentimental Times/4:53
8 /Dream Girl/4:23
9 /Sarah Anne/5:43
10 /I'm Ready/4:08
11 /My Son/4:47
Tracks By Osborne, Except 6
Brady Blade /Drums
Eric Bolivar /Drums
Susan Cowsill /Vocals (Background)
Carl Dufrene /Bass, Vocals
John Gros /French Horn, Hammond B3, Piano
Jason Mingledorff /Baritone, Clarinet, Sax (Tenor)
Anders Osborne /Guitar, Piano, Vocals
Warren Riker /Percussion
Justin Tocket /Vocals (Background)
REVIEW
by Thom Jurek
Since signing to Alligator Records in 2010, Anders Osborne has assembled a truly iconic body of work that builds on the rootsy rock and blues strengths he's displayed since his debut in 1989. Despite its arresting cover image, Peace completes a trilogy of sorts that began with his embrace of harder guitar rock and acoustic fare on American Patchwork and 2012's Black Eye Galaxy. Both records depicted his struggles with resettlement after Hurricane Katrina and his drug addiction and recovery. While the excellent Three Free Amigos EP appeared between those records and this one, it was a collection Osborne simply had to cut in order to get here. Peace ties together the guitar virtuoso, the poetic songwriter, and the struggling human being trying to look at life soberly and squarely. He accomplishes it all without preaching. The title track juxtaposes his autobiography with sobriety's desire for equanimity. The music reveals the tension between them. A guitar, bass, and drum attack reminiscent of Neil Young's and Crazy Horse's, layers in drifting acoustic guitars for balance and adds a stinging solo as an exclamation point. "Windows" employs driving acoustic guitars to look back at Osborne's journey of self-discovery through the lens of various encounters with the dark side of his nature. It's underscored by hypnotic drums, the textured backing chorus of Susan Cowsill and Justin Tocket, and a snaky guitar break. "Five Bullets" is chugging, unhinged, funky hard rock with inverted grooves courtesy of whomping drums by Carl Dufrene and a humming bass throb by Eric Bolivar. A brief, psychedelic, improvisational, sonic pastiche called "Brush Up Against Me" acts as a hinge-piece, dividing the set's front and back halves. Osborne delivers the bittersweet "Sentimental Times" with a B-3, French horn, piano, and a slow, shuffling drumkit framing his electric guitar. In the narrative, he recalls the significant events in his past with a sense of wonder, and tries to make sense of them. A second melody that recalls "Whiter Shade of Pale" adds to the sense of reverie. The choogling, lyrical, "Dream Girl," the slippery, rockist reggae of "Sarah Anne," and the silvery tenderness in "My Son," are all heartfelt love songs to his family (in the same way that much of 2007's Coming Down was one to New Orleans itself). The dynamic, acoustic-electric testimonial "I'm Ready" reveals a depth of understanding of the present moment as the gateway to forever. Peace is, insofar as any record album is capable, a multi-dimensional portrait of Osborne as man and musician. It addresses the raw, often confused emotions explored on American Patchwork and Black Eye Galaxy; it also answers many of their questions, while posing new ones.
BIOGRAPHY
by Richard Skelly
"Up and coming" may have been a good way to describe guitarist, singer, and songwriter Anders Osborne earlier in his career, but Osborne's fame has certainly spread beyond the borders of New Orleans, a city where he first cut his teeth and developed a reputation for incendiary live shows. Osborne was born in Sweden in 1966. His father was a professional drummer and a jazz fan whose early-'60s jazz combo played clubs throughout Europe. At a young age, he became fascinated with the singer/songwriters of the '60s and '70s, but then traced those artists' roots back to more basic blues. He traveled around the world, earning money from shows, and settled in New Orleans, which became his home base after 1990.
Osborne artfully blends blues, funk, soul, and classic R&B to create his own distinctive synthesis of styles. Osborne's most widely available early album is 1995's Which Way To Here, recorded for OKeh/Sony; two other independent label releases from the late '90s and early 2000s may still be around for those willing to search: Live at Tipitina's appeared on Shanachie in 1998, followed by Living Room the next year. The introspective Ash Wednesday Blues was issued in early 2001. In 2002, Osborne cut his final two albums for Shanachie, the wonderfully raucous, enigmatic collaboration Bury the Hatchet with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Mardi Gras Indian Tribe the Golden Eagles, and the blues- and Americana-drenched Break the Chain.
He didn't record again until 2006, when he released the larger band session Osborne Orchestra. Osborne was playing nonstop in New Orleans and occasionally in Europe during this period. His 2007 recording, Coming Down, issued on the M.C. imprint, was the most intimate collection of songs he released to date, and walked the line between the nakedly confessional and his observations about living in N.O. after Hurricane Katrina. Live at Jazz Fest 2008, featuring Osborne's killer road band, appeared that year.
In 2009 he signed with Chicago's Alligator label. His first offering for the imprint was the driving, boisterous American Patchwork, issued in 2010. Osborne toured nearly nonstop after the album and produced recordings for Johnny Sansone, Tab Benoit, and Mike Zito. He released Black Eye Galaxy in the spring of 2012; he co-produced the album with Galactic's Stanton Moore and Warren Riker. During relentless touring to celebrate what was his most critically acclaimed album, Osborne took a break late in the year to record the uncharacteristically casual Three Free Amigos, a semi-acoustic, six-track EP, which was released in Feburary of the following year. Later that fall he returned with the full-length Peace.
1 comment :
Are you able to re-up this disc, much appreciated Oldrocker...
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