Album Reviews

The nearly extinct art of the direct to disc recording got a small boost recently with two produced by Acoustic Sounds' (www.acousticsounds.com) Chad Kassem at his Salina, Kansas Blue Heaven Studios.

This one, by St. Louis based National ResoLectric steel guitar slide wiz Leroy Jodie Pierson will bowl you over more for the musical performance than the sound, but that's how it should be.

Not that the sound is bad. In fact it is very good: immediate, direct and pure but the close miking minimizes the fabulous acoustics of the former church in which the studio is located. “Minimized” and not “obscured” means you can sense the room way in the backdrop, especially when Pierson hits a string hard.

Pierson, who is a radio personality, teacher, entrepreneur (concert promoter and record label owner), and long-time reggae partisan along with playing a mesmerizing Steel slide, does 6 tunes on this short set including a curiously jaunty “Love in Vain” that won't have you abandoning either the original or The Stones' version, but his is a valid take nonetheless and his playing here and throughout is fluid yet tough and nothing short of remarkable.

Sonically, unfortunately there's nothing magical. None of the “you are there” magic some recordings can deliver. You're neither delivered into the church, nor is Pierson transported to your listening room. However, there is still that immediacy and purity only D2D can provide and Mr. Pierson's playing and to a lesser degree his vocalizing make up for whatever sonic magic may be lacking in the actual recording.