Hellbound Train: An Anthology

アメリカのギタリスト、スティーブ・ティベッツがECMに残した40年間のレコーディングから選曲した2枚組の回顧録。

エレクトリックの1枚目とアコースティックの2枚目ににきちんと分けられたこのアンソロジーは、もともとアルバム『Northern Song』『Safe Journey』『Exploded View』『Big Map Idea』『The Fall Of Us All』『A Man About A Horse』『Natural Causes』『Life Of』に収録されていた曲を並列に収録。この作品は、様々な文化の音楽から微妙に影響を受けた流動的なメロディとテクスチャー、催眠的なパターンと脈動で、ユニークな作品群を紹介する理想的なもの。また、ミニマリズムやオルタネート・ロック、アンビエント・ミュージックに近いと思われることもあるが、彼の芸術的な特徴は紛れもない本物の才能だということが納得できる作品。

【パーソネル】Steve Tibbetts (Guitars, Dobro, Kalimba, Piano, Percussion) Marc Anderson (Congas, Percussion, Steeldrum, Gongs, Handpan)
Jim Anton (b) Eric Anderson (b) Bob Hughes (b) Mike Olson (synth) Marcus Wise (tabla) Claudia Schmidt (voice) Rhea Valentine (voice) Michelle Kinney (cello, Drones) Tim Weinhold (Vase, Bongos)

Hellbound Train is a two-disc, 28-track retrospective collection assembled by guitarist/percussionist/composer Steve Tibbetts surveying his four-decade (non-exclusive) tenure with ECM. The guitarist calls it "not so much a best of" as "The Best Steve Could Do." It cuts across albums from 1982s Northern Song to 2018s Life Of in non-chronological order. Tibbetts was looking for aesthetic consistency here. He took the first and last ten seconds of all his ECM compositions, mapped them out across three keyboards, and made label names with them. He played the ending of every song with the beginning of every other song until a plot began to reveal itself. He considered his pre-ECM classic Yr its own thing, and didnt include it here; likewise his two 90s/early-2000s collaborations with Tibetan vocalist Choying Drolma and A, his 1998 duo offering with Knut Hamre. The lions share of these cuts are drawn from the three mid-period albums Big Map Idea (1989), The Fall of Us All (1994), and A Man About a Horse (2002). The subdued, labyrinthine "Full Moon Dogs" finds Tibbetts and percussionist Marc Anderson buoyed by two additional bassists as congas and kalimbas meet acoustic and electric guitars, with wordless vocals from Claudia Schmidt and Rhea Valentine hovering in the mix. Added are five tracks from A Man About a Horse, wherein Tibbetts juxtaposes the opening ringing tones of his acoustic 12-string with swirling, overdriven yet controlled feedback on his electric guitar and organic, processional percussion -- check "Black Temple" and "Glass Everywhere." Following this immersion, Tibbetts returns to music from The Fall of Us All. The title track showcases how the guitarist inverts sounds using more layers of percussion, added basses, tabla, and episodic, bluesy 12-string runs. He expands on that palette with "You Cat," from 1986s Exploded View, as Andersons layers of hand drums fall atop and around his shapeshifting multi-string drones and chord patterns. Disc twos opener is "Chandogra" from 2010s Natural Causes. Warm reverb and percussion frame Tibbetts flamenco- and blues-tinged acoustic runs complete with drones and multi-string octave shifts. The five tracks making up the discs centerpiece were drawn from Big Map Idea -- arguably, Tibbetts most intimate album -- beginning with an inverted, impressionistic reading of Jimmy Pages theft of Bert Janschs version of the traditional "Black Mountain Side." Excerpts from "100 Moons" and "Mile 234" underscore Tibbetts nocturnal, blurry approach to these compositions as steel drums, vibes, congas, tablas, and more exchange lines and silvery polyrhythms under the guitars. The two tracks from Northern Song, his 1982 ECM debut, dont appear until later in disc two. "The Big Wind" and "Aerial View" showcase the guitarist at his quietest and most inquisitive, exploring modes, scales, and drones as devices for melodic invention. That exploration of interiority continues throughout the rest of the disc with tracks from Safe Journey, Life Of, and Natural Causes. In sum, Hellbound Train serves as an excellent introduction for newcomers and a sublime mixtape for fans. ~ Thom Jurek