[Slowhand] road to escondido - nice but ultimately frustrating..

[Apurva Parikh]

Kudos to Eric for getting this project done with his longtime friend and 
'role' model i guess.

It's a nicely done cd, tasteful lyrics, harmless backing band, pristine 
sound and good guitar bits here and there, but some observations:


1. Who am I to complain, but too many guest artists, as with Back Home it 
gets too confusing, I want an Eric/JJ album, not one with all the other 
guys, give me Derek Trucks thats it.

2. Frustrating on at least 2 tracks, the track fades out right during Eric's 
solo or him playing some nice licks.. Why!!!

3. Eric's amazing vocals are just too in Lowness with JJ's.. Eric is great 
at playing himself down during these kinds of collaborations, like with BB. 
I understand his deference but it's frustrating for an Eric fan. there is a 
lot of room in these songs for more guitar, but ultimately it goes a little 
short for me.

4. The songs themselves are decent, some are ridiculuous - When the War is 
Over especially comes to mind..

5. the backing band is at times good, but often times harmless, blends in 
with the background to become dull but nothing terrible here, the drumming 
is improved greatly in places.

6. nice to see billy features in the liner notes and in the songs themselves 
- speaking of liner notes, why not tell me on which songs which guest 
players play!!! so maddening..

overall i give this 3 out of 5 stars. not as bland as back home, but just a 
little short in my opinion of what i was expecting.

aap

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