I think I have a unique perspective on a one Victor Wooten's music. I say this because I am completely unfamiliar with his work, you see I listen primarily to music of the metal bent, although I venture outside those confines quite often to discover other styles and such that can expand my vision. A few years back a co-worker was playing something at his desk, it was a bass instrumental. I only heard some brief clips, but what I heard was incredible. I asked who it was and the response was "Victor Wooten." Victor who? Well, as hard as I tried, I could never remember his name. Then I saw this and suddenly it clicked, "Yeah, that incredible bass player I heard clips of many years ago." Anyway, I got the disk, Soul Circus, and I gave it a listen, and was initially disappointed, it was not what I expected.
While listening to it, I expected to hear a lot more lead bass work. What I wanted to hear was this bass virtuoso doing his thing front and center. I expected more bass jamming, I expected to hear some of the most unique bass playing ever recorded, well maybe not that extreme, but you get my meaning. If that is what you want to get from this album, you are sure to be disappointed. This is not to say this is a bad album, it is just not what I expected.
I have listened to it a few times now, each time is a little bit different. This is the kind of album that has layers. Each listen brings a new discovery, a little lick here, a fill there, maybe a quick riff in the back. It is not a pure bass soloing extravaganza, but it is an album where the participants are clearly having a blast making. Something else about this album is also very clear, it is catchy as hell.
Article comments
1 - Jon Sobel
"Bottomline." Heh.
So, coming at this from different directions, looks like we had pretty similar reactions. And it took a couple of listens for this CD to grow on me, too.
2 - Tom Johnson
Chris, do yourself a tremendous favor and pick up A Show Of Hands and maybe What Did He Say. Both feature Vic in a much more upfront way, especially Hands which is all solo, all live in the studio with no overdubs (other than vocals on a few tracks.) It is simply astounding. What Did He Say features him with other players, but it's a pretty big step down from his first (and I've found that all of his albums continue this step down from the previous one, unfortunately. To be fair, however, I have not heard this one yet, but the soundclips present nothing that indicates that trend has been changed.)
If you get a chance to see Victor with the Flecktones, GO! Not only do you get him, you also get Bela's incredible banjo playing, and Victor usually gets a very long solo segment in each show. Well worth every penny - the Flecktones are real showmen and make sure every show is incredible.