Here are some of the instruments utilized in the crafting of these songs: Drum set, Fender Rhodes, piano, Vibraphone, Electric, Acoustic, and Classical Guitars, Indonesian Gamelans, African Drums, steel drums, Japanese koto, hand percussion, and synthesizer - and those are just the instruments Martin plays himself. Also present on the album is upright bass, African drums, tenor saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, gamelans, and frame drum. These are not the sounds you would expect to hear on album by a guy who used to drum for Screaming Trees, but there is a place for them and Martin has again done a wonderful job of incorporating all of them.
The good news, for those of you who might find a group of strange, unfamiliar instruments daunting or a turnoff, is that these compositions are not difficult listening. Martin's work on Earthspeaker, and The Painted Desert before it, is a great juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern, world and 'American,' the exotic and the accessible. Think of it as an American approach to world-jazz music.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i've only heard snippets of this music on some podcast i found in a gutter somewhere.
still, it was great stuff. i think i need both of these records.
2 - DJRadiohead
I think you need them, too. EO would love it if you clicked those Amazon links and bought two copies of each.
Cool that someone was spinning them on a podcast. Awesome. Nice to know somebody knows where it's at.
Thanks for checking out the review. Two excellent albums.
3 - Mark Saleski
...EO would love it if you clicked those Amazon links and bought two copies of each.
ya, so would i. except that my recent acquisition of the "big box 'o bob" has certain repercussions.
4 - DJRadiohead
I understand repercussions. I am treading lightly at my house, too. Compromise- make it one copy of each disc. Really good music.