A few months ago, we had a look at the documentary called Gitaarjongens, or Guitar Dudes in my translation. It turned out to be the best read CaparSongs blog so far (see: casparcritique: gitaarjongens, guitar-dudes). In the blog, Caspar promissed to critique the accompanying live show. So, finally, here it is!
In the documentary we saw how initiator Henny Vrienten went on a road trip to visit Holland's most prominent guitar players, and had them talk about their passion for the six-string. Caspar was pleased with the result and gave the doc four stars. The same 12 players were united in the Royal Amsterdam theater called Carré to give a show totally dedicated to the guitar. This is a great idea, but when Caspar looked at the film he realized that no matter how good the idea, to make it work requires a lot more than just talent on stage.
The show starts off without much introduction, so why rootsrocker Daniël Lohues plays While my Guitar Gently Weeps, we don't have a clue. But remember Daniël, playing a Beatles song with Eric Clapton on solo guitar is one tough act to follow. After that, Anne Soldaat gets on stage. Lately Soldaat has produced a great solo CD aptly called 'Anne Soldaat', and Caspar and his family saw a nice show at Paradiso earlier this year. But what he produces on Guitar Dudes is just awful. He chose to play Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young. Great song, but I just wondered if anyone ever thought about arranging a little bit. Now we get three voices that do not sound comfortable together, with Soldaat twisting his voice into a high squeaking sound. Someone told the drummer to keep on using his toms throughout the song, which keeps the drive out of the song. The way the song ends is just embarrasing. Maybe a string broke, or something, and things like this can happen, but if I'd been Anne Soldaat, I'd have my contribution withdrawn from the production. One particular TV presenter keeps on calling Anne the best guitarist of the Netherlands, but this cannot be seriously considered.
Luckily the average age of the participants drops a little when Pablo van der Poel gets on stage. I saw Pablo play live last year with his teenage band DeWolff. In this case 'teenage' stands for the average age of the band members, and not their choice of inspiration. They play heavy rock, as played in the seventies by the likes of Led Zep. Absolutely great and highly recommended!! Anyway, Pablo says that he was asked to play the first song he knew how to play. And then we understand better why the first two players played the songs they did. Pablo decided to play Whole Lotta Love, with multi-instrumentalist Fay Lovsky on vocals. To be honest, they give a nice show, and make it difficult to decide who's best, which is in itself a little painful; shouldn't the guitar be the star of the show?
Lovsky stays on the stage for a duet with Jazz guitarist Anton Goudsmit. They give a great version of the song Ernesto, with Fay also using the mysterious Theremin instrument. But I don't think Goudsmit needs any company, he manages on his own. Great play!
Next is Harry Sacksioni. The man with four hands, or so it seems, when he plays solo. He used to do that a lot, but this time the band follows swiftly, and unfortunately Sacksioni's acoustic guitar sound is hardly heard anymore. Nice solo by the way of J.B. Meyers. Sacksioni also plays a song together with Jan Hendriks that is very funny, aparently, because all people on the stage laugh a lot!?
As you might have picked up already, Caspar is not too impressed so far. Luckily, we have some great names from the past ahead of us... First of them is Rudy de Queljoe. Maybe his name is not very well known, but he has played in some legendary bands in the sixties and seventies, such as Brainbox, and Massada. He plays a great rock song, and in the guitar parts he is accompanied by legendary Jan Akkerman. They manage to play the house down, and finally the band sounds like a true band. Akkerman stays on and plays a beautyful song solo, which I didn't recognize, nor was it's name mentioned in the film, or otherwise. It might very well have been an improvisation, which is far from the idea of playing your first song, of course. Just remember to tune your guitar next time before you start, Jan ;-).
As we saw in the documentary, it took Vrienten a long time and a lot of effort to get Eelco Gelling to participate in the project. But there he is, in Carré, with his old, dirty Gibson Les Paul around his neck. Together with his friend Akkerman, he plays a nice blues, and just to see him on stage again makes watching the show worthwile. Because, I'll be straight with you, even the appearance of George Kooymans as the last of the artists on stage, doesn't make the show legendary. George stays by the book and plays the first song he ever learned: Tom Dooley. Which is nice, because it was also Vrienten's first song, but it doesn't result in the mind blowing show Caspar would like to have seen when he heard about the line-up for the night.
So, all in all, Caspar thought it was nice, but kept on wondering why is wasn't as great as it might have been with such great artists around. I guess it was in the conceptual thinking. Having people play the first song they learned sounds nice, but it doens't work if not everyone sticks to it. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if one guitarist would have introduced the next one? Shouldn't Vrienten have strongly advised on what songs to play, to get a good play list? Or, why not make sections around types of guitar, and technique? A last point of critique from my part is that a lot more could have done in the arrangements. It looked a bit too much like friends getting together in a studio on a Saturday afternoon. But, you don't have to hire the Carré for that, would you? I must say, I had greater hopes for this production, but I can't make it more than two stars, out of five.
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