WOODEN SMOKE

I'm honoured to be the first person to give this record a review. I'll give a 4.7 star, overall (5). The music of this record is as different from any other Mike Keneally record, yet, we always feel the same invention, the same melodic inspiration, the same excelent playing. Wooden Smoke, as the title indicates is a sort of an acoustic record. Like Jethro Tull's "Songs From the Wood". The first theme is an harmonious arpeggio of guitars that leads into this record that echoes also "Trespass" of Genesis. I'd never heard anything more similar than this. If you're a fan of Genesis of the Peter Gabriel you'll love this. Mike Keneally piano playing is absolutely breathtaking in this well recorded album. Sounds of Soft Machine harmonies from "Soft's" or "Bundles" echo in the walls of our memories. "2001" is an almost pop song, the chorus is reminiscent of Beach Boys harmonies, but the playing is much more relaxed. There's a good, even if not enthusiastic, atmosphere. The little guitar solo is so sparse and shy that we almost don't recognize Keneally. "New England" is an excelent instrumental, only with acoustic guitars and bass. With "Nanny-Ass Crow" we arrive at the "normal" Keneally world. A Gentle Giant kind of melody unfolds with some great singing and doubling voices over an arrangement of saxophones, absolutely beautiful. "Dee 'n' A" starts on the acoustic guitar with a nice riff and a double recording of guitars until they are replaced by some background percussion with piano. Mike Keneally extends is feelings here. We feel as if the record is achieving its main goal. The ideas flow one after the other with musicality, nothing seems forced. Looped guitar leads then into the long guitar solo where we can hear the band leading Keneally into a controled frenzy (as Zappa would say). "Boom" is just a little melody with piano and nice vocals with a frog background. "5 legs" feels like Zappa from "200 Motels" enters the record to make more theatrical, the sung/talked melody makes it vibrate, although the acoustic guitars and slide makes us feel more at easy. On "Father's Day" Mike achieves a level of lyricism with his guitar solo and the basic riff that makes us think of the more harsh arrangements nad more dramatic movements. "Pantomime" is one of my favourite pieces of this beautiful recording, Piano and acoustic guitar. Keneally overdubbing, sounding Gentle Giant alone. The real Gentle Giant. "Machupicchu" is a kind of low profile song that is song common on Keneally catalogue. It looks the music is nothing, but as we listen closely we are instantly atracted to this sensitive way of composing. On "Wooden Smoke" it looks like Mike is trying to get us to understand that his record "it meant that they could give his best - but that was what was needed". It is an astonishing record. An excellent addition to any prog rock collection.

An album of lighter, mostly acoustic music from Mike Keneally? It sounds boring, doesn't it? Wrong!

This album is as good as any (mostly) acoustic I've heard. Keneally has a way of making just about any type of music echo his zany sense of humor, and Zappa-like sense of composition. It's a perfect album for listening to out on the back porch on a lazy summer night. Or just about any time for that matter.

If you can find a copy, look for the special edition version of the CD (unfortunately, it's not available at Keneally's web site these days). It has eighteen more track of Keneallified acousticment, all in a similar style of the standard version.

When I first visited this album several years ago I commented that when I hit maturity I will return to this album. Well, it hasn't happened yet apparently. If you don't know who Mike Keneally is, he is the guitarist Frank Zappa chose to replace Steve Vai as his stunt guitarist in the late eighties. Enough said right there. Mike has created many studio albums over the years that usually contain a lot of variety and humour. I mean he would have fit right in with Zappa and his band.

"Wooden Smoke" though from 2001is a different animal in the Keneally discography. Still a lot of tracks but not the variety this time around. Apparently a lot of these tracks were composed with Mike sitting on his living room floor with his acoustic guitar. And while this isn't completely an unplugged album, it's close. Even the humour is scaled back here a lot. Hence the maturity reference earlier. This comes across as folky, singer/songwriter material for the most part.

Some meaningful lyrics like on "Father's Day" and we do still get some poppy tunes. Light beats, strummed and picked acoustic and vocals often stand out. Piano leads the way on a couple of tracks like "Haugseth" and "Pantomime". "2001' is too poppy with harmonies adding to that and my least favourite. The most adventerous pieces are "Dee 'N' A" and "Thanksgiving". Sure you could say this is Keneally's most intimate record.

For a music fan like myself who detests unplugged albums, I knew this would be a challenge. I like that it's more uniform sounding sure, but prefer it was uniform in a different style. Like the followup "Dog" for example where we get some consistent energy, and Mike brought in Nick D'Virgilio on drums for that one.