Monday, August 2, 2021

Psychfan's Trip O' Th' Week Dept. - Jonathan Wilson

Gentle Spirit, the debut album from Jonathan Wilson was released a decade ago and I have had it on my list of things I want to listen to for almost that long. I finally got around to it a few months back and it was a bit of a surprise. Wilson has been described as a throwback to the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters of the early 70's, and there's some truth in that.  He's good at it too. 

What I didn't anticipate was the trippy sounding lead guitar and creatively multitracked vocals that feature on several tracks. This one feels more like a psych album with acoustic rhythm guitar. Guests include Barry Goldberg (60's blues keyboardist) and Chris Robinson (from The Black Crowes). 

An artist worth discovering.















8 comments:

  1. Here's Mr. Fan's linkage du jour of th' day:

    https://www.mediafire.com/file/4wm525wcnaidno9/G@ntle+Sp!r!t.rar/file

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  2. Oh, Jonathan Wilson, nice. Also: Something from my own life time, not a guarantee avec cette abondance des vieux schnocks autour de moi.

    I picked up "Fanfare" in 2013, thinking *that* was his debut album. It's also very good, and it sounds like you describe "Gentle Spirit". Early 70s singer-songwriter stuff with a bunch of psychedelic bells and whistles. Granted, it can be a little annoying that every song has a three to four minute coda which sometimes doesn't have much to do with the main songs but it's an interesting and rewarding listen if you're in the mood.

    It seems on his last album(s?) he made a detour into 80s pastiche instead of the 70s and went synthwave/synthpop. Which also doesn't sound too shabby as an idea...

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  3. This sounds great -- thank you psychfan!

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  4. I didn't know about the artistic detour on the later LPs but I've seen it happen before. Contemporary artists working with older genres get bored with one and switch to another. It makes perfect sense from their point of view but, if they were good at it, is disappointing from mine.
    Thanks to Farq for the additional links.

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    1. Thanks Psychfan, I've not heard this first album, I look forward to listening. He's no slouch Mr Jonathan Wilson, producer for hire (Roy Harper) and guitar and vocalist on a recent Roger Waters world tour.

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    2. Really enjoying this, thanks.

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