Five Stars of Twelve Strings

Absolutely fantastic Kottke compilation! This two-disc collection is divided into roughly equal fourths: acoustic, electric, live, and singing. I like the format--it's like having four different cd's with distinctly different moods.

One of America's Top 5 Guitarists

I purchased this album many years ago on vinyl. It has always been one of my favorites. Leo Kottke is a guitarist, par excellance. Except for a brief outing in the "New Age" genre Kottke is best known for his work in Folk music. What I like about this album is how he does some rock tunes, most notably The Byrds, Eight Miles High, and Procol Harum's Power Failure in that special Kottke style. And what is great about it is that the songs don't come off as hokey folksy, C&W, renditions of rock songs. The songs hold their original flavor while being enhanced by Leo Kottke's great guitar playing ability. But, there is great folk tunes on this CD, like Cripple Creek, and Kottke's classic Pamela Brown. There is acoustic music, electric music, and live music. Add to this Kottke's unique singing style and this CD is a treasure. There is just not a bad tune on this CD. If you can only own one Leo Kottke album, this should be it.

Yep, this is it....

Of course only people who have been amazed by Leo attend his concerts, listen to him, buy his music, and write about him. So, I'm no different. I want to say that I had not seen him live for 22 years until 2 nights ago when he played here in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Damn....I had forgotten how incredible he is live......so I bought this album for my guitar playing son so he can see that not all guitar gods are electric....or 6 string either....and that there is someone on this planet who can play slide while keeping a complex song rolling full blast and singing.....how the hell does he manage all that?

Now the other night he did 2 encores and I honestly believe he was as surprised by the intensity of the small crowd as he was by the antics of the bird that kept trying to fly into the bandshell and the bee that was working on the flowers right in front of him all evening.....of course he commented on all this while continuing to play.

This is an album that you play and then replay the track several times because you can't believe what you just heard.....even if 3 guys were playing you would do that much less when it's just Leo by himself. So if you want a great CD that will showcase most of the stuff Leo is famous for...this is probably your best bet.