Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon, Leo Kottke, Mike Gordon - Sixty Six Steps

Sixty Six Steps--the second collaboration between guitarist Leo Kottke and erstwhile Phish bassist Mike Gordon--is both an homage to and an experiment loosely involving island rhythms. "There are these syncopations within Leo's guitar playing that twist around in a way that remind me of calypso," explains Gordon. "So this album took form as an experiment in my mind to see whether Leo's unique style of playing could be mixed with this kind of music I discovered and really loved when I was younger. And it worked far beyond my expectations." "Mike was the first to notice that aspect in my playing, and I think I'd forgotten it was in there," says Kottke. "No one else had done that. He's very intuitive that way."

The pair had already successfully tested the waters as collaborators with the album Clone, released in 2002. When they crossed paths in 2004 at a music festival, Gordon told Kottke that he really wanted to do an island experiment as his first project following the Phish era. Rehearsed in Costa Rica and recorded in the Bahamas, Sixty Six Steps is seasoned with the buoyant rhythms and freewheeling spirit of the tropics. It is not literally a calypso album but one that uses the calypso feel as a touchstone for a set of performances by two of the most imaginative and mold-breaking musicians on the planet.

Sixty Six Steps is a mixture of originals and interpretations performed in ways that are vaguely familiar yet largely without precedent. For instance, you'll find a cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" sung in a deadpan monotone and performed on baglama (a Turkish banjo/mandolin-type instrument), guitar and bass. Then there's a pastoral Pete Seeger composition ("Living in the Country") given a spritz of equatorial light and air. A twisted Mike Gordon original ("Stolen Quiet") professes mock gratitude for a partner's exodus from their shared abode: "The sheer amount of surface space increased around here/With your diet soda gone, there's more room for my beer." An equally offbeat Leo Kottke original ("Balloon") features such lines as "When the raccoon steals the cheese behind Pandora's other box/Or the one you love is shopping for a helmet made of rocks/Balloon, balloon, balloon..."

Incidentally, the title Sixty Six Steps is taken from a sign at the base of a staircase leading to what is reputedly the highest point on the island. The steps curve around and go to the top of the hill, which is a great spot from which to view the sunset. In its own way, Sixty Six Steps winds and ascends to a point from which the listener can savor some truly unique musical vistas. Album Description

It Copies on Mac OS X

Nice CD. The copy protection must be a PC only thing, as 10.4.10 copied it without incident. June 5, 2008

Great second album

I had to put in my two cents for this one. If you liked the first Mike Gordon/Leo Kottke album then you'll like this one too. Even more so if you're a big Leo fan. To hear Rings re-done and to hear beautiful words sung to Twice is worth the entire album! Then you've got the hilarious track Stolen Quiet that can't be missed.

Bottom line: One star, are you kidding me? Awesome album can't wait for a third! March 4, 2008

More Kottke than Gordon

What do you get when a legendary jam band bassist gets together with a legendary acoustic guitar virtuoso, and they go to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas with a percussionist and record an album?

You guessed it..."66 Steps".

I bought this after hearing the duo's cover of Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion". That song, along with maybe a couple of others, are the highlights of the record to this listener.

If you're a Kottke fan, you'll probably like it more than I did. If you expected a jammier record, chances are you'll be a little disappointed.

January 24, 2008

Leo Kottke a Fan's Homage

Every listen my memory gives me a glance at its past, this is what comes to mind. Great CD 5 stars!

Before you read this consider that I am not perfect. Some of this many may consider not to be politically correct. The truth is not always PC, this story is largely based on fact, really.
Sometime in the early 1970's I was in fifth grade, I was a wee lad; by wee I offer that while in sixth grade I weighed in at Fifty-five pounds. Who knows what I what I weighed in fifth grade, I doubt they had scales at this time to register my true weight. During this period of my life I was living in the country with my family and rode the school bus in the rural town of Lizton, Indiana, about a 45 minute bus ride from school. Down our gravel road about a mile there lived a young man named Smedley he was two years my senior, he out weighed me by around 10 lbs. and his height I cannot recall, this young man was also known to suffer from what is called dwarfism. My brother whose nickname is toilets is and was four years my senior, as are brothers we battled one another and to tell you the truth is the one of the two people I ever had a fist fight with, the other was Smedley. Toilets was always looking for entertainment, so one day on the long ride home Toilets whispers to me, take off Smedleys cap and laughs because it will be a riot. I did, Smedley did not like this, Toilets goaded me again, Smedley warned me to stop. Toilets rose to the occasion and convinced me that it would be hilarious if I took off Smedleys cap again, which I did because who does not like hilarity. Well Smedley turned and smacked me in the face and then I notice a blur in front of my eyes, it was Toilets jumping from my seat to the seat across the aisle, I looked over and he was laughing, it was hilarious. So now here I am with Smedley standing on the seat in front of me swinging wildly at me, so I had no choice but to punch back. I grabbed his head and he came over the seat while we both continued to duke it out. Now before you judge keep in mind Smedley was larger than I was and not only this raised on a farm, a tough life, baling hay, feeding cattle etc. Smedley was a farm dwarf and these are some of the most powerful you will ever run into. By the time Wayne our bus driver pulled over to stop our battle, Smedley had a bloody nose and eye and I had a bloody nose and lip, in my book a tie.
So we are separated and we are dropped off Toilets is laughing his are off, he reminded me how I was going to get the board the next day and so I had another worry. We entered our home and Toilets can hardly contain him self, "Josh got in a fight with Smedley and he's going to get the board". Fortunately I have supportive parents and they both saw the humor in the story. I did not get the board, however I should have learned.
December 24, 2007

NO WAY

I know the music is fantastic, but I will NEVER pay Sony to let them "expose security vulnerabilities" on my computer! When copy protection puts law-abiding, paying customers at risk, you know something has gone horribly wrong with the priorities of the Corporation. I hope all the various lawsuits still pending take Sony for millions. Or billions! November 26, 2007

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