Sixty Six Steps
Encyclopedia
Sixty Six Steps is the second studio album from Leo Kottke
and Mike Gordon
. It was released on August 23, 2005.
band, The Mustangs. “Ya Mar,” one of the songs Gordon heard on the trip, eventually became a staple of Phish
’s live shows.
Most of the songs were written and arranged in Costa Rica
and were then recorded in Nassau, Bahamas.
Percussionist Neil Symonette is also featured playing a multitude of percussion including caxixi
, goat
s' hooves, talking drums, tire
hub, djembe
, thrasher, fish shakers, and uda drums.
The album also features a number of cover songs, ranging from Fleetwood Mac
's "Oh Well" to Pete Seeger
's "Living in the Country."
, critic Nikki Tranter called the album "A calypso-laced stylish slice of wonderful, Sixty Six Steps uses jaunty island influences to create a tranquil, unaffected reminder of life’s quiet spaces... Sixty Six Steps doesn’t feel like a calypso record. It’s exactly as it’s meant to be—an experiment in flavors, perfectly blended."
Writing for Minor 7th
, Patrick Ragains felt the album was "... a few steps short" and praised Kottke's solo, "From Spink to Correctionville," as "a welcome respite from the rest of the program's bass and midrange clutter." He further commented "Gordon's bass playing is interesting and effective, but sometimes muddies things when competing for attention with Kottke's bass runs on the guitar. The original songs fall flat both musically and lyrically. This is also true of several covers... Gordon handles electric guitar on several tracks, but his playing is trite and fails to generate any fire in the treble register. Likewise, Kottke's accompaniments and unfocused comping fail to lend any energy to the arrangements." Aaron Stein of Jambase commented on the musical relationship between Kottke and Gordon as "it seems that these musicians were made for each other" and "a quirky, amiable weirdness held down by a simple, cozy music."
Andrew Kotick of Sputnikmusic
compared the release to Clone and concluded "The results were in vain of the record's predecessor... The music is exactly what you would describe as a soundtrack to a Hawaiian honeymoon. It is as if the two took the music from Clone and put in a key change with different lyrics. This doesn't mean it's bad to any extent, but I would've enjoyed some originality."
The album was awarded "Studio Album of the Year" at the 2006 Jammy Awards.
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
and Mike Gordon
Mike Gordon
Mike Gordon is a bass guitar player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion...
. It was released on August 23, 2005.
History
Although the album was recorded in just a few months, it has been an idea in Gordon's mind for decades. Since Gordon went on a trip to the Bahamas with his family in his childhood, he has always been fascinated with the calypsoCalypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
band, The Mustangs. “Ya Mar,” one of the songs Gordon heard on the trip, eventually became a staple of Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
’s live shows.
Most of the songs were written and arranged in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and were then recorded in Nassau, Bahamas.
Percussionist Neil Symonette is also featured playing a multitude of percussion including caxixi
Caxixi
A caxixi is a percussion instrument consisting of a closed basket with a flat-bottom filled with seeds or other small particles. The caxixi is an indirectly struck idiophone. Like the maraca, it is sounded by shaking. It is found across Africa and South America, but mainly in Brazil...
, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s' hooves, talking drums, tire
Tire
A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped covering that fits around a wheel rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance by providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock while keeping the wheel in close contact with the ground...
hub, djembe
Djembe
A djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands....
, thrasher, fish shakers, and uda drums.
The album also features a number of cover songs, ranging from Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
's "Oh Well" to Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
's "Living in the Country."
Reception
Music critic Hal Horowitz, writing for Allmusic called the album "breezy" and singled out the musicianship over the songwriting and singing. "The musicians work wonderfully together, with Gordon's meaty yet malleable bass grounding and darting around Kottke's distinctive and agile fingerpicked lines." Eric Ward of Glide magazine wrote favorably of the collaboration saying "You can bet a sand dollar this ends up on quite a few "Best of '05" lists." and like Horowitz, commented on the surprising cover songs. For PopMattersPopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
, critic Nikki Tranter called the album "A calypso-laced stylish slice of wonderful, Sixty Six Steps uses jaunty island influences to create a tranquil, unaffected reminder of life’s quiet spaces... Sixty Six Steps doesn’t feel like a calypso record. It’s exactly as it’s meant to be—an experiment in flavors, perfectly blended."
Writing for Minor 7th
Minor 7th
Minor 7th is an online magazine that reviews non-mainstream acoustic guitar music. It was founded in November 1999 by Alan Fark, who claims to have created the magazine with the goal of "enabling independent or under-recognized acoustic guitarists to receive more wide-spread publicity." The website...
, Patrick Ragains felt the album was "... a few steps short" and praised Kottke's solo, "From Spink to Correctionville," as "a welcome respite from the rest of the program's bass and midrange clutter." He further commented "Gordon's bass playing is interesting and effective, but sometimes muddies things when competing for attention with Kottke's bass runs on the guitar. The original songs fall flat both musically and lyrically. This is also true of several covers... Gordon handles electric guitar on several tracks, but his playing is trite and fails to generate any fire in the treble register. Likewise, Kottke's accompaniments and unfocused comping fail to lend any energy to the arrangements." Aaron Stein of Jambase commented on the musical relationship between Kottke and Gordon as "it seems that these musicians were made for each other" and "a quirky, amiable weirdness held down by a simple, cozy music."
Andrew Kotick of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
compared the release to Clone and concluded "The results were in vain of the record's predecessor... The music is exactly what you would describe as a soundtrack to a Hawaiian honeymoon. It is as if the two took the music from Clone and put in a key change with different lyrics. This doesn't mean it's bad to any extent, but I would've enjoyed some originality."
The album was awarded "Studio Album of the Year" at the 2006 Jammy Awards.
Track listing
- "Living In The Country" (Pete SeegerPete SeegerPeter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
) – 3:51 - "The Grid" (Gordon) – 3:17
- "Oh Well" (Peter GreenPeter Green (musician)Peter Green is a British blues-rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac...
) – 3:22 - "Rings' (Harvey, Reeves) – 4:30
- "Cherry County" (Kottke) – 2:30
- "Sweet EmotionSweet Emotion"Sweet Emotion" is a song by American rock band Aerosmith, released by Columbia Records in April 1975 on the album Toys in the Attic and was released as a single a month later on May 19th . The song began a string of pop hits and large-scale mainstream success for the band that would continue for...
" (Tom Hamilton, Steven TylerSteven TylerSteven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...
) – 5:32 - "The Stolen Quiet" (Gordon) – 3:06
- "Balloon" (Kottke) – 3:26
- "Over The Dam" (Gordon, Linitz) – 3:40
- "Can't Hang" (Gordon) – 1:54
- "From Spink to Correctionville" (Kottke) – 2:28
- "Ya Mar" (Cyril Ferguson) – 5:01
- "Twice" (Kottke) – 4:10
- "Invisible" (Gordon, Linitz) – 6:35
Personnel
- Leo Kottke – guitar, vocals
- Mike Gordon – bass, guitar, vocals
- Neil Symonette – drums, percussion
External links
- Mike hyphen Gordon's official site
- Leo Kottke's official site
- "Kottke and Gordon: Calypso-Brushed Guitars" (interview and performance) by David Dye, from NPR's World CafeWorld CafeWorld Cafe is a two-hour long, nationally syndicated music radio program that originates from WXPN, a non-commercial station licensed to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The program began in 1991 and was originally distributed by Public Radio...
November 24, 2005 - The Music Player interview by Anil Prasad