djhawley@wateng.UUCP (David J. Hawley) (03/08/85)
[programmers eat at lineeater-stops]
Kicking Mule is a California operation that publishes (albums,books)
"folk and blues music" in the Celtic, American, etc. styles. I've recently
obtained one album (Under the Volcano, Stefan Grossman & John Renbourne)
that I've fallen in love with - at least half of the tracks. I'm contemplating
buying about $60 worth of material from them, esp. the Renbourne stuff.
Is anyone out there familiar with Kicking Mule's instructional books ?
Or their tablature books of their albums ? For example, are they complete
[containing each part for duets, "improv" sections, ...] ? Pressing/recording
quality ? I must confess the pressing I obtained is poor. But I LOVE it anyway.
Anyone got any comments ?
David John Hawley University of Waterloo
{allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4,linus}!watmath!wateng!djhawley
The opinions expressed herein are not those of my employers,
or of the University of Waterloo,
and although I've probably borrowed them from someone else
I've thought about them a bit.
--
David John Hawley University of Waterloo
{allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4,linus}!watmath!wateng!djhawley
The opinions expressed herein are not those of my employers,
or of the University of Waterloo,
and although I've probably borrowed them from someone else
I've thought about them a bit.omsi@reed.UUCP (OMSI) (03/18/85)
I just picked up a new John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman album the
other day. It's a live album consisting of concerts from here
(Portland, OR) and Sydney Australia. The Portland concert was about
2 years ago. It's a double album, and the second album must be about
1 hour in length! All in all a most enjoyable album. It's distributed
on Shanachie records (Dalebrook Park, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423 for a catalog
and newsletter).
Also picked up a new release by the Pentangle called "Open the Door".
Unfortunately, no Renbourn this time. Consists of Bert Jansch, Jacqui
McShee, Mike Piggot, Terry Cox and Danny Thompson. Haven't had a chance
to listen much to it, but seems quite good from first impressions.
Bob Ankeney
tektronix!reed!omsibarnett@ut-sally.UUCP (Lewis Barnett) (03/19/85)
> > Is anyone out there familiar with Kicking Mule's instructional books ? > Or their tablature books of their albums ? For example, are they complete > [containing each part for duets, "improv" sections, ...] ? Pressing/recording > quality ? I must confess the pressing I obtained is poor. But I LOVE it anyway > > David John Hawley University of Waterloo > {allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4,linus}!watmath!wateng!djhawley > I recently bought a few albums from Kicking Mule, and I was favorably impressed. The recording quality seemed to be pretty good, and I fell immediately in love with an album of Irish music for the hammer dulcimer called "Timpan" by a fellow named Denis Murphy which was in the batch. My one complaint? The seemingly inevitable mail-order warp. My turntable tracks slightly warped records just fine, but then there's that gut-rending screech when the tonearm returns to the rest... Guess I'll just keep taping, as this problem seems unavoidable. Anyway, I'm kind of fond of KM - they've let some rather unusual people record, and I'm all for that. Lewis Barnett,CS Dept, Painter Hall 3.28, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 -- barnett@ut-sally.ARPA, barnett@ut-sally.UUCP, {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!barnett
diamant@wanginst.UUCP (Ira Diamant) (03/22/85)
> > > > Is anyone out there familiar with Kicking Mule's instructional books ? > > Or their tablature books of their albums ? For example, are they complete > > [containing each part for duets, "improv" sections, ...] ? Pressing/recording > > quality ? I must confess the pressing I obtained is poor. But I LOVE it anyway > > > > David John Hawley University of Waterloo > > {allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4,linus}!watmath!wateng!djhawley > > Alright, I admit it. I a KM junkie. I have 13 of their albums and 11 of their Guitar transcriptions. The music is almost uniformly excellent but the care and thought that goes into their transcriptions is not consistent. Generally, the transcriptions are 12 or 24 bars out of the entire piece. Sometimes its the intro, and sometimes its just a part of the improvisation. They are for the most part fairly advanced material, even in the "how to play albums". They are wonderful because, once you learn one or two of the songs in a given style , say Rev Gary Davis, or Blind Blake, (after a LOT of agony), then other songs in the genre become easy to play. My favorite tab books are: David Bennett Cohns "Acoustic Rock Guitar. He spent a good deal of time with his transcriptions, trying to get them right. There are songs "in the style of" Santana garcia and others. I learned my first "Johnny B. Goode" intro from this several years ago, and after that, Chuck Berry was easy. How to play the Blues Guitar This is a wonderful blues album, much more advanced than the title would lead you to believe. Many of these tunes are in different tunings and for duets. Again, they are not generally "complete". They are 12-36 bar transcriptions. The transcription of Davis's Candyman in a duet (SIGH) is very good, and "You Got the Pocketbook I got the key" is excellent. Advanced-- How to play Ragtime Guitar Excellent pieces by Blind Blake and others. Unfortunately the transcriptions are mostly of the improvisations. It There is an excellent version of Blakes "you Gonna Quit me Baby" that is easy to learn. The transcription is 12 bars of the improv. I was very dissapointed with the Baker Jazz transcriptions, as well as the Bergerak(spelling) Acoustic Jazz. The famous pieces that are on the latter album are all copywrited, so the transcription just has the obscure ones. A ripoff.
diamant@wanginst.UUCP (Ira Diamant) (03/23/85)
> > > > Is anyone out there familiar with Kicking Mule's instructional books ? > > Or their tablature books of their albums ? For example, are they complete > > [containing each part for duets, "improv" sections, ...] ? Pressing/recording > > quality ? I must confess the pressing I obtained is poor. But I LOVE it anyway > > > > David John Hawley University of Waterloo > > {allegra,clyde,decvax,ihnp4,linus}!watmath!wateng!djhawley I made one mistake on the last article I sent about KM transcriptions and records. The book by David Bennett Cohn is on "Rock and Roll Guitar", not Acoustic Rock Guitar, which is by Finger. Sorry