Les Paul & Friends Review

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Les Paul & Friends ReviewAn inoffensive listen, but a missed opportunity. That said, projects like this rarely achieve this level of consistent (if only mediocre) quality .. most cuts are respectable, some are solid B+ grade, and there are few clinkers.
Highlights include:
--The Sting/Stone cut is, surprisingly, quite good.
--Jeff Beck on "Ain't That Good News"
--A cover of Al Kooper's great "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know. Unfortunately, the vocal by Hucknall (who has a much strong voice, but no sense of phrasing or emotion) doesn't match Kooper's and he screws up the lyrics, and the guitar lead by Joe Perry is short and unremarkable. Was he on valium?
--Buddy Guy On "Schoolgirl"
--The 3 Sam Cooke cuts--especially Beck on "Ain't That Good News"--mostly because they feature his original, overdubbed vocals
My problems are several:
1) The music (mostly blues-rock, with vocals dominant, rather than guitar solos) bears no apparent stylistic or sonic relation to Les.
2) From a truth-in-billing standpoint, many of the billed star guests cannot be heard, since most cuts feature a ridiculous 3-5 guitarists, with only one soloist. And in most such cases, you can't tell which of the several players on a cut play the solo...most of which, incredibly for a tribute to one of the most creative, musical guitarists around, are either facile but empty, or just plain unremarkable.
3) Most of the chosen guests bear no stylisitic connection to Les. It is hard to understand why the slick, faceless likes of Neal Schon and Richie Sambora are here. Among the guest guitarists, only Jeff Beck sounds anything like Les (but he always was the most Les-like rock star guitarist).
3) Les solos (audibly, at least--hard to tell who's playing on some cuts) on only two cuts: "Caravan" (very brief) and "Ain't That Good News" (I think). Incredibly, they cut out his solo on his old hit "How High the Moon," which is a severely truncated (two minute-long) hip-hop-ish re-mix with an out-of-place R&B-melisma new vocal. And it's not like, despite serious infirmities in his hands, he can't play anymore...he still plays jazz clubs in NYC!!!
4) There is almost nothing in the way of collaboration between Les and the guest stars. The cut with Jeff Back is the one exception.
I can understand why the producers felt a need to feature high-profile rock-blues players, but they should have squeezed in people with some kind of connection to Les.
Names that come to mind include Van Halen and Jimmy Page (who, unlike most of these Fender-playing guys, usually plays a Les Paul Gibson). It's incredible that the CD didn't include Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny, who, like Les, are expert jazz players who transcened the genre and experiment with electronics.Les Paul & Friends OverviewAmerican Made World Played includes guest artist's Joss Stone, Eric Clapton, Sam Cooke, Peter Frampton, Jeff Beck, and many more all collaborating with Paul. Capitol. 2005.

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