less intense, mainly instrumental Leo

I just picked up this collection, after years of curiosity. What we have here is 66 minutes, 22 tracks, 15 of them instrumental, from Leo's Chrysalis recordings (1976-1983). It's solid stuff, but not as awesomely brilliant as "6 & 12 STRING GUITAR" or the first 4 on Capitol (MUDLARK, GREENHOUSE, the live MY FEET ARE SMILING and ICE WATER). Those records, especially 6 & 12 and MUDLARK, are some of my favorites of all time. After I stopped buying Leo's records I often wondered what he was up to, and this is part of the answer.



The freshness, innocence and energy have faded by this time. (Of course his fingers were suffering -- you would not believe how he used to play! When I saw him live in Chicago and Albuquerque in '74 and '75 he would break strings, he played so hard, and just rip them out and keep going!) The vocal tracks are mainly in a mournful mode, without the earlier streak of humor. "Julie's House" (by Kottke) and "Here Comes That Rainbow Again" by Kris Kristofferson are great, both from the '83 record TIME STEP, on which T-Bone Burnett brought out Leo's country side. If you edit out the 7 vocal tracks, though, you've got 15 great instrumental tracks, and even if it's not as inspired as 6 & 12 or My FEET.. it's still fine.



If you're just getting into Leo, start with the earlier records. But this is an extensive selection from his "middle period" if you want to dig deeper.

Near perfect overview of the Chrysalis years

I am only familiar with Kotke's Chrysalis recordings, but it is uncanny how the packagers of this cd have consistently chosen the best and most representative work from that period, capturing the many facets of Leo Kotke's musical personality, by turns joyful, sardonic, and romantic. Some reviewers have complained about an overemphasis on vocal numbers, and there ARE a few too many (for which I'd dock this cd half a star), but again, the producers have chosen the best ones. Besides, without the vocal numbers, this portrait of Kotke's Chrysalis period would be incomplete. Other reviewers have pointed out that the fingerpicking on Kotke's Capitol recordings is more ferocious. That's hard to imagine. I should check it out.

Not quite his best work---but a pretty good deal...

Read the reviews posted earlier than mine for details on this CD and its strengths and flaws. I like his earlier work on Capitol Records better, especially when he vocalizes, but there are lots of great guitar moments preserved here from his time on the Chrysalis label, 1976-83. He still played uptempo, he still sounded like he was handling two guitars at once, and he still exhibited wide-ranging tastes, from Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game' to Santo and Johnny's "Sleepwalk" and the Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do is Dream." Here you get a Kris Kristofferson song, a Sons of the Pioneers tune, a song associated with Robert Earl Keen, although not written by him, and 13 Leo originals. Worth the dough, but if you can get the Capitol releases instead, go for them first.