Search - Harvey Mandel :: Baby Batter

Baby Batter
Harvey Mandel
Baby Batter
Genres: Blues, Pop, Rock, Classic Rock
 
  •  Track Listings (7) - Disc #1


     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: Harvey Mandel
Title: Baby Batter
Members Wishing: 6
Total Copies: 0
Label: Bgo - Beat Goes on
Release Date: 2/15/2002
Album Type: Import, Original recording remastered
Genres: Blues, Pop, Rock, Classic Rock
Styles: Electric Blues, Modern Blues, Blues Rock, Rock Guitarists, Psychedelic Rock
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 5017261202529
 

CD Reviews

Instrumental Goodies From Neglected Guitarist
J. E FELL | Carterville, Illinois United States | 03/31/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is my favorite Harvey Mandel album. It is entirely instrumental. Harvey Mandel played at the original Woodstock Festival with Canned Heat and on the Rolling Stones "Black and Blue" album among others. His music is a mixture of rock, blues and jazz. He has done sessions playing all of the types of music. He has much in common with such guitarists as Jeff Beck and Roy Buchanan who also play a similar type of music. All three of these guitarists are not good vocalists and are better suited for making instrumental albums. While his playing is not as technical as either Jeff Beck's or Roy Buchanan's styles, there is still much to enjoy. Harvey makes excellent use of the wah wah and other effects on this album. His playing is fluid and takes some interesting turns on occasion. Harvey Mandel was one of the first guitarists to utilize the "two-hand tapping" method of playing (Shangrenade album). This method became influential later in the seventies and eighties. My favorite cuts include the title track, "Freedom Ball" and "El Stinger" but every track is great. The band is very cohesive on this album and work well together. Larry Taylor a bandmate of Mandel's from his days in Canned Heat and John Mayall's band plays bass throughout this disk. It is hard to believe that Harvey Mandel's instrumental albums with the exception of the first album were not better sellers at the time they were released. Fans of progressive instrumental guitar music should purchase this album as soon as possible before it goes out of print again."
From the Chicago School of Guitar
Lee Atwaterite | 12/24/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)

"I had never heard of Harvey Mandel until I saw him in a small Philadelphia venue, called the Bijou Cafe, around 1978. He appeared with John Mayall.



Harvey really performed dutifully for the rock/blues legend, John Mayall...but there was a point where the crowd departed its attention from the headliner and was screaming HARVEY...HARVEY.....!!!!! Mayall relented and Mandel stepped up.



What a memorable moment.



While I enjoy this album very much, I depart with most of the praise found on this page. It is more in the Jeff Beck vein than the Roy Buchanan, Elvin Bishop, or Rory Gallagher style. I enjoy much more the rock/blues sound than the fuzzy, hard-guitar jazz of Beck's "Wired".



Technically, this album is fine, but just know what it is your buying. If you favor Beck over Bishop, then buy it. If you feel contrary to that, then go buy something else. If you are ambivalent, err on the side of saving your money for something you are more sure of.



All best. Lee"
Listening is like opening a time capsule
William R. Nicholas | 02/03/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Harvey Mandel speaks directly to listeners on Baby Batter, so it is improtant to listen. The songs are simple yet elegant. Nearly 30 years ago, a fuzz box and a Cry Baby were near the limit of what most players used, and rarely was a wah-wah used more artfully than on this album/disc. The lead lines and harmonies on Baby Batter should be heard by every amateur guitarist who is trying to get a feel for what soloists of the era were up to. Whereas it is easy to see why the all-instrumental Baby Batter is not everyone's cup of tea, it is hard to believe it doesn't have a larger cult following. Rock with a solid dose of blues and a tart pinch of jazz. Try it. You'll like it."