ENTRANCE
Wandering Stranger
Fat Possum Records
· Jack White would probably sound like this if he ditched the ex and dove headlong into traditional blues-roots
Entrance is a guy named Guy. Guy Blakeslee, specifically, and his debut features three traditional bluesy folk songs, a Townes Van Zandt cover and five originals that acknowledge their debt to such bygone greats as Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson and Tampa Red. Blakeslee sings in a high, passion-drenched voice and his wonderfully messy guitar playing is presented with minimal adornment – violin on a couple of songs, a dash or two of drums and percussion and some fairly effective overdubs of his guitar.
It should be really great, but it’s only a lot of great potential. The lack of solid rhythm backing, while appropriate to the material, becomes monotonous after the first few songs, and with several of the cuts hovering around the 10-minute mark, indulgence is definitely an issue here. To be sure, there are some gorgeous moments and occasional glimmers of greatness, but not nearly enough to add up to a great album.
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