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Phil Keaggy CD Arrives

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On October 25th, 2007, I posted my impressions from the night before’s Kathy Mattea concert at Joe’s Pub. In that post, I highlighted my amazement at Bill Cooley’s guitar playing, stating that he was possibly the best acoustic guitar player I had ever heard.

That led to a comment by Eric Sink that he would likely disagree, based on his belief that Phil Keaggy was probably the best that he’s ever heard. Eric is rarely wrong, trust me on this one folks! Given the way he phrased his comment, he can’t really be wrong in this particular instance, no matter what I say here. Of course, I too phrased my observation as “probably”, giving myself some wiggle room. 😉

So, after hearing such praise from Eric, I went to Amazon.com and searched for Phil Keaggy. Yowzer! Tons of albums. In fact, I think he has over 50 solo albums! How to choose. So, I sampled the free 30 seconds that Amazon permits on roughly 20 songs, spread across four CDs. Some songs grabbed me in that brief listen, some didn’t. Unfortunately, on each of the CDs, at least one song didn’t, so I couldn’t settle on a specific CD to buy to get to know Phil.

So, I got on to the Phil Keaggy site (linked above), and found out that he was about to release a 30 year anniversary edition of one of his more famous albums, The Master & The Musician. If one pre-ordered on the site, it would come signed by Phil. Cool. I did. That was roughly six weeks ago, and today, the CD arrived (actually, a double CD).

If you’ve read this space before, you know I love classical guitar the most (though I’m really a guitar nut in general). The very first song grabbed me (Pilgrim’s Flight), so I was instantly happy with my purchase. Clearly, Phil is a master (though in this particular album, he means to be equated to “The Musician”, I’m sure). 😉

While the rest of the album is in general excellent, some of the cuts are strange, or even borderline boring. Wherever there is guitar playing, it’s flawless, so this isn’t a commentary on Phil’s abilities as a performer, but more so on either his writing or selecting, etc.

There are a number of other songs that are great, but some of the short ones (thankfully, they’re short!), are at best, silly (e.g., Mouthpiece).

So, how does it compare to Bill Cooley’s CDs? I wrote about them here. Obviously, I enjoyed the Bill Cooley CDs more. To be clear, I think they are (in general) better songs, which highlight his guitar playing, surrounded by complementary instruments.

Phil Keaggy is an amazing guitarist, and I don’t want to try and split hairs on which one of them has better technique, etc. For now, while I will definitely listen to most of the songs on The Master & The Musician many times (skipping the rest!), I will definitely listen to Bill Cooley more, and can’t wait for his new CD to hit my iPod sometime in 2008.

If anyone (Eric, hint, hint) wants to recommend one specific Phil Keaggy CD that I should try that you think will give me more of a thrill than this one, I’m happy to invest in at least one more.

Summary: Phil Keaggy is a brilliant guitarist, and like always, I have no reason to doubt anything that Eric Sink says. But, if I could only listen to one of them, I’d choose Bill Cooley. Thankfully, I can listen to both, even if I weight my listening more toward Bill. 😉

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6 responses to “Phil Keaggy CD Arrives”

  1. Eric Sink Avatar
    Eric Sink

    My favorite Keaggy CD is
    “Acoustic Sketches”, but before
    you rush out and buy it, let me
    say a bit more.

    I’m not too surprised at your
    reactions to the Keaggy CD you
    got. I won’t say I agree or
    disagree. I just haven’t really
    thought about Keaggy from your
    particular point of view.

    But now that I think about it, I
    would have to admit that my fan
    status with Keaggy is based
    almost entirely on his skill,
    not so much on his writing or
    song selection or even
    showmanship.

    And I daresay I should have
    mentioned that a classical
    guitar player Keaggy is not.
    🙂

    I’m an acoustic guitar player
    myself (and you may be as well),
    so I tend to listen to most
    guitarists through that
    perspective. I compare my
    guitar playing to Keaggy. I
    compare my golf game to Tiger
    Woods. Perhaps I should stop
    making things so difficult for
    myself. 😉

    I once had the opportunity to
    hear Phil Keaggy in person at a
    very small venue. It was, quite
    simply, awe inspiring. The
    man’s skill is just startling.
    And did I mention that he has
    only four fingers on his right
    hand?

    It’s also somewhat peculiar to
    me that even though Keaggy
    identifies himself as a
    Christian musician and even
    though I appreciate some other
    artists in that genre, I don’t
    think of him that way. To me
    he’s just a guy who does amazing
    things with a guitar.

    Bottom line: Like I said,
    Acoustic Sketches is my favorite
    album from Phil Keaggy, but the
    remarks above might help you
    decide if you want any more of
    his music or if you’ve already
    got more than enough. 🙂

    Now, dare I mention another
    artist or two?

    I don’t remember seeing you blog
    about Michael Hedges.

    Or if you’re quite daring, have
    you listened to any of Kaki
    King’s stuff?

  2. Eric Sink Avatar
    Eric Sink

    My favorite Keaggy CD is
    “Acoustic Sketches”, but before
    you rush out and buy it, let me
    say a bit more.

    I’m not too surprised at your
    reactions to the Keaggy CD you
    got. I won’t say I agree or
    disagree. I just haven’t really
    thought about Keaggy from your
    particular point of view.

    But now that I think about it, I
    would have to admit that my fan
    status with Keaggy is based
    almost entirely on his skill,
    not so much on his writing or
    song selection or even
    showmanship.

    And I daresay I should have
    mentioned that a classical
    guitar player Keaggy is not.
    🙂

    I’m an acoustic guitar player
    myself (and you may be as well),
    so I tend to listen to most
    guitarists through that
    perspective. I compare my
    guitar playing to Keaggy. I
    compare my golf game to Tiger
    Woods. Perhaps I should stop
    making things so difficult for
    myself. 😉

    I once had the opportunity to
    hear Phil Keaggy in person at a
    very small venue. It was, quite
    simply, awe inspiring. The
    man’s skill is just startling.
    And did I mention that he has
    only four fingers on his right
    hand?

    It’s also somewhat peculiar to
    me that even though Keaggy
    identifies himself as a
    Christian musician and even
    though I appreciate some other
    artists in that genre, I don’t
    think of him that way. To me
    he’s just a guy who does amazing
    things with a guitar.

    Bottom line: Like I said,
    Acoustic Sketches is my favorite
    album from Phil Keaggy, but the
    remarks above might help you
    decide if you want any more of
    his music or if you’ve already
    got more than enough. 🙂

    Now, dare I mention another
    artist or two?

    I don’t remember seeing you blog
    about Michael Hedges.

    Or if you’re quite daring, have
    you listened to any of Kaki
    King’s stuff?

  3. hadar Avatar
    hadar

    Eric, thank you very much for the detailed response!

    I had no idea about the 4 fingers on the right hand. Amazing!

    I definitely like the album, and I think he’s amazing, so we’re not disagreeing there. I just find some other “compositions” more interesting, at least when considering the entire album.

    I am interested in hearing more of him, so I’ll check out Acoustic Sketches.

    Also, I never heard of Michael Hedges and Kaki King, so I have some more research to do now. 🙂

    Thanks again!

  4. hadar Avatar
    hadar

    Eric, thank you very much for the detailed response!

    I had no idea about the 4 fingers on the right hand. Amazing!

    I definitely like the album, and I think he’s amazing, so we’re not disagreeing there. I just find some other “compositions” more interesting, at least when considering the entire album.

    I am interested in hearing more of him, so I’ll check out Acoustic Sketches.

    Also, I never heard of Michael Hedges and Kaki King, so I have some more research to do now. 🙂

    Thanks again!

  5. Hadar Pedhazur Avatar
    Hadar Pedhazur

    In addition to Acoustic Sketches (which I posted about), I’ve now ordered both Freehand – Acoustic Sketches II and Beyond Nature. I’ll report back when they arrive…

  6. Hadar Pedhazur Avatar
    Hadar Pedhazur

    In addition to Acoustic Sketches (which I posted about), I’ve now ordered both Freehand – Acoustic Sketches II and Beyond Nature. I’ll report back when they arrive…

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