Doggy

Want to know how to see whether this is a winner? Check how many used ones are available, and at what price. As I write this ther are 24, starting at $... Clearly, the market says this CD is not among his best. And I agree. Weak, limp, flaccid, dull, and boring.

Leo Kottke has recorded two of the finest CDs I own. And he has many other lovely ones. But this is a shame. I found it after hearing nothing new in many years, and regretted both the purchase and the knowledge. What a step down. What a decline from absolute greatness. Like the once feared hitter who's lost a half-second, it is painful to listen to after such beauty, joy and majesty.

Great music, period.

I have heard some Kottke fans express disappointment over this album. All I can say is, ease up on the wacky tabacky, fellas. "Peculiaroso" is delightful to the rest of us who aren't cursed with your tragic hipness. Every one of the cuts is highly enjoyable, and both his guitar-playing and rumbling vocals are dead solid perfect. Buy this CD -- it's a keeper.

Leo Kottke + Rickie Lee Jones = Peculiar

Peculiaroso is a bittersweet combination of humor and sorrow. It's hard to tell how Leo Kottke and producer Rickie Lee Jones were able to nail the formula, but it takes the vibrant yet gloomy atmosphere in stride.

The instrumentals are standard Kottke with a few twists: Peg Leg hops along with a percussive acoustic riff while the drums "kind-of" keep a beat. Poor Boy shows the man gliding up and down the fretboard with his slide on the John Fahey original, sure enough to please the fans of the Mudlark-era of Leo Kottke. Big Situation is another rhythmic pattern that loops itself with a semi-participant band.

Wonderland By Night and Twilight Time show you just how seamless the melodies of these golden oldies translate to solo acoustic guitar.

Although the man's voice can be rough to listen to at times, his original compisitions with lyrics paint all kinds of intruiging pictures. Turning Into Randolph Scott is pretty loopy as the album is bound to get. Kottke is describing a girl's limbs as being vegetable-like to achieve some sort of metaphore. What that would be is beyond me. On the other end is the somber Parade. Kottke's rubato-based guitar accompanies a lonesome narrative about a town that's about to be visited by both a parade and a thunderstorm at the same time. His rendition of Room at the Top of the Stairs is another solitary romp through his tightly rhythmic fingerpicking technique. The live version, believe it or not, is even better.

Few people can use ambiguity to their advantage like Kottke. And Peculiaroso is a fine example of that. It's not the greatest Leo Kottke CD out there, but it is as deverse as it is engaging.