 | | |  | Label:
Glitterhouse Records
VÖ: 18.12.2000
Format: CD
 |  | € 9,75 |
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Rainer
Live At The Performance Center
“This concert was recorded on June 6th 1997, the eve of Rainer´s 46th birthday. He was in full remission and was sitting on top of the world. I can´t remember a time where he was more alive than that night. He played to a full and gracious house in a beautiful old church that was converted into a performing arts center in downtown Tucson. He had the foresight to record the evening professionally by Chris Eager...”, erklärt Rainer´s Frau Patti in den Linernotes zu diesem Album.
Ein unglaubliches 75 Minuten Konzert gibt der zu dem Zeitpunkt todkranke Musiker hier, welches zudem noch in brillianter Soundqualität vorliegt. Der Gehirntumor hatte sein Gedächtnis zerstört und es gab eine Phase, da wusste er weder seine Songs zu spielen noch konnte er sich erinnern, wie man einen C-Akkord anschlägt. Im Prinzip hat er damals ein zweites Mal Gitarre spielen gelernt.
Einen 20 Song Überblick über sein Programm legt der Country/Folk-Bluesmann hier vor, mit den für den Fan bekannten Songs, einigen neuen und den Coverversionen, die ihn durch sein Leben begleitet haben - J.B. Lenoir, Billie Holiday, George Harrison, Greg Brown und Willie Nelson. Mit den für ihn typischen, schneidenden Vocals oder einfach nur instrumental und improvisiert.
Ich hatte das Glück, Rainer einmal live zu sehen und wie viele Zuschauer war ich gleichzeitig völlig begeistert, beeindruckt und erstaunt. “Was macht der da?” stand in vielen Gesichtern geschrieben, denn von der Bühne kam eine wahre Klangkaskade, die eigentlich kein normales menschliches Wesen aus einer Dobro herausholen konnte. Sicher, hier war ganz offensichtlich jemand am Werke, der zu den besten Dobro/ Akustikgitarristen gehörte, die es je gegeben hat (keine Übertreibung), aber hier laufen ja zwei Riffs und ein Solo gleichzeitig?!?
Das Geheimnis waren zwei altertümliche Bandschlaufengeräte, die er unscheinbar zwischen seinen Füßen positionierte. Mit denen nahm er das Anfangsriff auf, lies das laufen, spielte ein anderes Riff auf die andere Kiste und startete auch die. Er hätte jetzt die Hände in die Taschen stecken können, der Song war da, aber nichts lag ihm ferner. Über diesem Teppich spielte er seine Licks und Soli, stoppte und startete die verschiedenen Loops, ohne auch nur eine Sekunde daneben zu liegen. Einfach unglaublich.
Diese Technik kommt auch hier zum Einsatz, aber es geht auch anders. Bei “One Man Crusade” zum Beispiel wird die Dobro nur sachte gestreichelt, der Song auf das Skelett filetiert, sodass diese unheimlich eindringliche Stimme noch tiefer dringt.
Ich denke, viel mehr brauche ich hier nicht zu schreiben, denn Rainer CD´s haben bei uns im Mailorder schon immer zu den Topsellern gehört.
Rainer´s “inner flame” erstrahlt hier taghell.
„Verewigt Rainers überirdische Gabe, nur mit Gitarre und Gesang wie eine kleine Country-Blues Band zu klingen. God Bless Rainer!“ (Westzeit)
“This concert was recorded on June 6th 1997, the eve of Rainer´s 46th birthday. He was in full remission and was sitting on top of the world. I can´t remember a time where he was more alive than that night. He played to a full and gracious house in a beautiful old church that was converted into a performing arts center in downtown Tucson. He had the foresight to record the evening professionally by Chris Eager...”, writes Rainer´s wife Patti in the linernotes of this album.
“Live At The Performance Center” is an incredible 75-minute showcase of the man´s talent and craft. He plays 20 songs, old and new, original material and some of the cover-versions that are familiar to fans (J.B. Lenoir, Billie Holiday, George Harrison, Greg Brown and Willie Nelson). With his typically intense vocals or just improvised and instrumental.
I saw Rainer play live only once, but like so many other people in the audience I was surprised, stunned and puzzled at once. “What is this guy doing?” was a question that everybody seemed to ask themselves, because off the stage came a sound-cascade that no human being with just two hands could create. Sure, this guy obviously was a master of his instrument, but two riffs and a solo at the same time??
The secret were two small ancient tape loop-boxes in front of him. He samples a riff, sampled another one, let them both roll and played solos on top of them. Stopped and started those two loops without missing a beat. Just marvellous.
There are quite a few songs that showcase this incredible technique, but there are also a few that just feature a minimalist approach, like “One Man Crusade”, with just a gentle dobro and his piercing voice.
“…sitting on top of the world”. With his “inner flame” radiating brightly.
“The death of Rainer Ptacek in 1997 robbed the world of one of its most gifted musicians, a modern bluesman whose work spoke with the haunting authority of the original country-blues masters. Recording in June of that year, while in remission from the brain tumour that would shortly claim his life, Rainer is captured at somewhere near the peak of his powers, surrounded by friends in a converted church in his home town of Tucson. Songs such as "Sometimes It's Hard" seem like unflinching commentaries on his own situation, with lines like "The only reason why we're here is to live away the pain"; but there's a grace and elegance to his National steel guitar work that transcends that pain, whether he's improvising around a few arpeggios on the "Improv In E", or hammering out a hypnotic two-chord riff on "The Mountain", his setting of the story of Mary and Joseph's flight into Egypt. He's particularly potent on the explosive power of love - "Love comes in the room and blows out the walls", as he puts it in "Inner Flame" - while the other-worldly quality of his work is perhaps best evoked in "The Farm" - "I feel like I'm growing radar/Receiving messages from out in the plains of Kansas". His slow, elegaic version of Willie Nelson's "Time Slips Away", meanwhile, is almost too painful to listen to.” (Andy Gill/The Independent)
Tracks
1. Improv In E
2. Sometimes It’s Hard
3. Round And Round
4. Powder Keg
5. My Honey
6. Inner Flame
7. Di Lantin
8. Lament Of Love
9. One Man Crusade
10. The Farm
11. The Mountain
12. Loosin Ground
13. River Of Real Time
14. Time Slips Away
15. Within You Without You
16. One Wrong Turn
17. God Bless The Child
19. Cheer Down
20. Long Way
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