Leo Kottke

Album Reviews:

1972: Greenhouse

Compilation Reviews:

1976: The Best [1970–1975]

Greenhouse

Feeling like an eagle losing motion

A folk guitar solo album on classical levels of articulacy – whether Kottke speeds through bluegrassy fingerpicking festivals like the opener “Bean Time” or shifts to slower, bluesier tempi on numbers inspired or even written by John Fahey (“The Song of the Swamp” and “In Christ”, respectively), the clarity and complexity of his fretwork are always stated as such: There’s a certain gravitas to how Kottke presents what is at its core folk tunes. The sound is always wonderful, ringing strings and well-rounded songs, like ripe apples and fresh water sprouting from a fountain. Besides the bluegrass and American primitivism à la Fahey, there is a certain singer-songwriter touch placing the album firmly in its time – Kottke’s vocals are never more than alright, he knows it, the audience knows it, they really don’t make or break the songs like the wistful “Tiny Islands” or the slightly wearier “From the Cradle to the Grave”. It is notable that the lyrics articulate subject matters of feeling lost and disoriented in a very literal sense – the album’s vibrantly comfortable, competent appeal discloses its slight dip in creativity – Kottke doesn’t quite know what to do if there are no technical challenges left for him on folk guitar.

The Best

Anthology: Recommended Collection, 8/10 | Recorded: 1970–1975 | Released: 1976 | Specific Genre: Progressive Folk, American Primitivism | Main Genre: Folk, Contemporary Folk | Undertones: Progressive Bluegrass, Folk Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Singer-Songwriter

Do you have any preference?

Kottke’s focused, innovative approach to folk floats somewhere between Western classical trained guitar and the reinvention of folk as the occult pseudo-primitivism of John Fahey, between progressive bluegrass and some jolly old singer-songwriter aspects. His piedmont-blues- and Appalachian-banjo-inspired fingerpicking is lightning fast and, from a technical point of view, almost incomprehensibly complex. He plays difficult bass lines and at the same times fingerpicks melodies with incredible prowess, adding a rhythm strumming somehow. A friend once told me that Kottke would play songs backwards in live settings, note-for-note, – just to show he could.

This technical virtuosity isn’t quite where the story ends with Kottke. He developed a soft spot for slightly psychedelic elements like the synths on „When Shrimps Learn to Whistle“ or the quite intricate guitar layers (no effects though) on the excellent cover of „Eight Miles High“ – he also heavily flirted with rock percussion quite a lot, settling into a steady folk or country rock groove on some tracks here. Throw in some straight Bach-quotes and you find yourself deep in progressive bluegrass and folk.

This collection is an early retrospective of his Columbia-career up to this point, drawing from six albums from 1971 to 1975, starting with his fourth album (his first three weren’t on Columbia). It gives you a very neat overview over his early 1970s output which found him maturing into a distinct artist identity, growing away from being the new hotshot folk picker. It’s the kind of compilation that might or might not be perfect for you: If you want to get only so much Kottke, this is the way to go. If this sets your interest on fire, you’ll assemble the albums faster than the 27-songs-running time of this thing. In both cases, The Best served you well.

A1, A2, A3, B7, D1, D2, D3: Mudlark (1971)
A4, A5, B4, B5: Dreams and All That Stuff (1974)
A6, A7, B1, B2: Greenhouse (1972)
B3, D4, D5: Ice Water (1974)
B6, D6, D7: Chewing Pine (1975)
C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6: My Feet Are Smiling (1973)

Greenhouse

The Best

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