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────┤ Info ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Artist | Harvey Mandel
Title | Snake Pit
Genre | Rock Format | Album
Source | CDDA Time | 37:46
Label | Tompkins Square Store | 2016
Catalog | TSQ 5296 Rip | 2017
Bitrate | 251 kbps Size | 71.35 MB
Freq | 44.1 kHz Encoder | Lame 3.98.4
┌────────┐
────┤ Tracks ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
01. Snake Pit 5:27
02. Space Monkeys 3:15
03. Nightingail 5:28
04. Baby Batter 4:01
05. Jackhammer 3:38
06. Buckaroo 6:06
07. Before Six 5:32
08. Ode To B.B. 4:19
┌────────┐
────┤ Notes ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘
Self-taught guitarist Harvey Mandel began his career in the black blues
clubs of Chicago, learning as much as he could from the masters of classic
urban blues. Mandel was born in Detroit on March 11, 1945 and raised in
Chicago. He began playing guitar while in his early teens and found his
inspiration in the sound of the Ventures. Whole new vistas in guitar
appreciation opened up for him once he had the chance to hear musicians
like Buddy Guy in the small blues clubs of Chicago's West and South sides.
Mandel learned from and performed with such greats as Guy, Albert King,
Muddy Waters, and Otis Rush. Mandel got his nickname, 'The Snake', from
master blues harp player Charlie Musselwhite, who admired the way Mandel's
left hand would effortlessly snake up and down the guitar neck. He later
took on the moniker 'The King Of Sustain', for the long, ringing tones he's
able to coax from his instrument.
It's impossible to weigh the depth of influence Mandel has had on guitar
players since recording the classic "Cristo Redentor" album in 1968. Though
he didnÆt invent the now widely used tapping technique, he was the first to
adapt it to electric Chicago blues, psychedelic rock, and groove-oriented
jazz, growing it out with his signature use of sustain. Mandel came up on
the Chicago scene in the early 60s with peers Steve Miller, Charlie
Musselwhite, Mike Bloomfield, and Barry Goldberg. A shortlist of the blues
legends he's played with is arresting: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy
Guy, Albert King, and Otis Rush.
He was a member of Canned Heat at Woodstock, and auditioned for the Rolling
Stones, playing on some tracks from 1975's "Black And Blue". "Snake Pit" is
his first widely distributed album in 20 years. It was recorded over two
days at Berkley's Fantasy Studios and co-produced by the guitarist and
Tompkins Square label boss Josh Rosenthal. Mandel's band is also from
Chicago - keyboardist Ben Boye, drummer Ryan Jewell, guitarist Brian
Sulpizio, and bassist Anton Hatwich - and have all have worked with Ryley
Walker. None had met Mandel before the sessions. The guitarist played them
sketches on his iPhone and the process happened organically. Strings and
overdubs were added later, but most tracks were cut live in one or two
takes.
These eight instrumentals run the style gamut. The opening title track and
"JackHammer" are snarling, unwieldy slices of funky, wrangling rock built
on single vamps. Mandel's sustain slices and cuts through his fills and
solo. "Space Monkeys" threads blurry surf to careening, distorted,
dirty-ass psych with some killer comping and fills from the impressive
Boye-Mandel's creative foil throughout. "Nightin Gail" is a dreamy ballad
with gorgeous Rhodes, droning Eastern modes, lithe strings, and a bubbling
bassline that Mandel builds up with lovely chord voicings. "Baby Batter"
uses a psych groove to spiral out into action film-style jazz.
The strings could have been arranged by Richard Evans or Johnny Pate. The
same goes for "Before Six", which draws more on jazz-rock with funky
overtones. The strings are swept into a maelstrom prompted by the rhythm
section and the guitarist's transcendent playing. No Mandel album would be
complete without blues. There are two excellent yet contrasting examples
here. The slow-burning "Buckaroo" comes straight from the vintage Chicago
lounge tradition, but is chock-full of nasty reverb, sustain, wah-wah, and
controlled distortion. "Ode To BB" is a show-closing rave-up stroll, a
grand finale of strut, swagger, and gutbucket boogie with jazzy interludes
from Boye and Sulpizio shining.
This young band pushes Mandel hard on "Snake Pit". There's no room for
noodling or hero worship, it's all red meat and bone. The boldness and
hunger in Mandel's playing not only achieves the hallmarks of his best
sides from the 60s and 70s, but at times reaches further. Not just a guitar
nerd's album, "Snake Pit" is a stone killer from top to bottom.
┌────────┐
────┤ Group ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
└────────┘