Grant-Lee Phillips' latest album, Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff, is a turbulent and highly musical rumination that finds the veteran singer-songwriter at his most inspired. His tenth solo release bears the markings of his prolific output, a melodic prowess and an ear for lyric in everyday conversation. The album is grown from the same rich soil that Phillip's long career, from Grant Lee Buffalo to his solo work has sprang from. The result is a beautifully human musical tapestry. The warm, live on the floor, instrumental bed is the perfect support for Phillips' inimitable voice. This spontaneous approach has become a tradition among his solo works. This record is supported by peerless drummer, Jay Bellerose (whose many credits include Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant) and bassist Jennifer Condos (heard on Bruce Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad and other classics).
Plaisance is an album by musician Eddy Grant. The title of this album is a reference to the city of Plaisance, Guyana, where Eddy Grant was born in 1948. Edmond Montague Grant is a Guyanese-British vocalist and musician. He was a founding member of the Equals, one of the United Kingdom's first racially integrated pop groups. He is also known for a successful solo career that includes the platinum single "Electric Avenue". He also pioneered the genre ringbang.
Grant Green's debut album, Grant's First Stand, still ranks as one of his greatest pure soul-jazz outings, a set of killer grooves laid down by a hard-swinging organ trio. For having such a small lineup - just organist Baby Face Willette and drummer Ben Dixon - the group cooks up quite a bit of power, really sinking its teeth into the storming up-tempo numbers, and swinging loose and easy on the ballads. The influence of the blues on both Green and Willette is strong and, while that's far and away the dominant flavor of the session, Green also displays his unique bop phrasing (learned by studying horn players' lines, rather than other guitarists) to fine effect on his high-octane opener, "Miss Ann's Tempo," and Willette's "Baby's Minor Lope"…
Here's the guy everybody knows for his monster rock/reggae/electro hit "Electric Avenue." What did he ever do after that? Almost nobody knows, and that's what this Music Club collection attempts to inform the world of for a budget price. Personally, I love Music Club reissues; they are priced super reasonably, they have lovely packages that feature enough tracks to give a representative sample with a few rarities tossed in, and they offer an adequate set of liner notes to educate the listener. This is helpful in the case of Grant, who, at least in the U.S., is a one-hit MTV wonder. Eddy Grant had an awesome band of rockers and soulsters together in the 1960s called the Equals who had a string of modest British hits – including "Police on My Back" – that everybody identifies with the Clash.
This is a great album with the classic synergy of Green and pianist Sonny Clark, who along with Sam Jones on bass and Art Blakey complete the quartet. This album was also released on The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Grant Green and Sonny Clark. Just classic Green.
Grant-Lee Phillips’ new album, All That You Can Dream, is a turbulent and highly musical rumination that finds the veteran singer-songwriter addressing the strange fragility of life. The collection of songs bears the markings of his prolific output, a melodic prowess and an ear for lyric in everyday conversation. Comparable to the works Low or Duster, Phillips offers a salve to a wounded world, struggling to regain equilibrium. This is Grant-Lee Phillips at his most reflective, wrestling with the most pertinent of questions. Focusing on life in quarantine ("A Sudden Place," "Cruel Trick") and the ever-shifting political landscape ("Rats in a Barrel," "Cut to the Ending"), this collection shows that Phillips remains one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time.