Robben Ford Discussion

Rob MacKillop · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:34 am Post subject: Acoustic RF?

Has Robben recorded on acoustic guitar? If so, what make/model, recording etc?

Rob
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ropiyas · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject:

http://www.robbenford.com/BootlegCD.html
I don't know what year though....

AlChuck · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:28 pm Post subject:

Let's see.. from memory, there's some acoustic guitar along with mostly electric, on the first Jing Chi album, notably on "Going Nowhere;" strictly acoustic on a song called "Sueno," I think, from the second LA Express record that he was on (one without Tom Scott); some really nice acoustic guitar work - no solo but lots of tasty fills -- on Billy Payne's "Gringo" from Little Feat's Hoy-Hoy!... there are many others through his career where there's acoustic guitar mixed in... and of course the "official bootleg" unplugged-type CD that was already mentioned.

As to what guitars, though, I have no idea...

BlueRunner · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:52 pm Post subject:

As ropiyas mentions, there's the "Authorized Bootleg" album, which is a fine one, recorded during a lunch-hour concert at Yoshi's in Oakland. Robben used a Carvin thin-body acoustic-electric for it, and gets a really different sound.

As for other acoustic work, I still think about the evening some years ago at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood (named after 1940's L.A. County Supervisor John Anson Ford, not Robben or Anne) when Robben accompanied Anne and pianist Roger Kellaway on a classical guitar. Very, very cool.
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PierreL · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 11:47 pm Post subject:

He plays only nylon strings guitar on Rickie Lee Jones' "Pop Pop".

roadwarriorfortheblues · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 7:41 am Post subject:

I've read that the new DVD, "Autour du Blues - La Rencontre au New Morning," which was filmed last December, has an unplugged version of "Hand in Hand with the Blues" by Larry Carlton and Robben. Maybe PierreL knows more about this. It's a French release.
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PierreL · Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject:

Should be out on Monday. As soon as I get it I'll let you know.

PierreL · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:02 am Post subject:

My wife bought the DVD for me today...I'll check that tonight.

PierreL · Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:16 pm Post subject:

So I could not watch the entire DVD due to a lack of time, but I skipped to the parts where Robben and Larry are featured. Yes, featured. Because this is not really a "Larry and Robben" DVD. It's a DVD of the "Autour du Blues" collective, mostly made up of French session players, and Larry and Robben are the guests.
To be honest, most of the time while watching the DVD I was thinking "What the hell are they doing here ?", because I feel that the environment is not really up to the quality we expect from guitars greats like Larry and Robben.
There are a couple of nice moments, but most of the time that really sounds like a big jam session, with 3 or 4 guitars, two keyboards etc... and it does not really take off in my opinion (there are even some embarassing moments, but that might just be me...)
So unfortunatly that's not the Larry and Robben DVD we were expecting. To make it even more cruel, there is in the bonus section an acoustic version of "Hand in hand with the blues" which is great, just the two guitarists backed by a rythm section, which gives you a glimpse of what might have been a DVD based on their acoustic concerts.
Overall, I think that's a DVD that Robben die hard fans (like me Smile

) will certainly find necessary to own, but I'm afraid there won't be much to be enjoyed in the end.

roadwarriorfortheblues · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:47 am Post subject:

Thanks for info Pierre. Can this DVD be played on most DVD players? I didn't find it available from any U.S. distributors, and wasn't sure if it has restricted zoning.
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PierreL · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:30 am Post subject:

I think that it's a Zone 2 DVD, so unless you have a region free DVD player you won't be able to play it. Of course they may release an international version as well.

alan47 · Member Joined: 25 Sep 2007 Posts: 21 Location: El Cerrito

There is a small amount of acoustic on the Tom Scott & LA Express -Tom Cat CD. Love Poem and Refried both have acoustic solos albeit brief. Don't know if its worth getting it for just that. I first heard Tom Cat on an LP back in high school and I still like to listen to it now and then.

telefunk1 · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:36 am Post subject:

Tom Cat is worth getting in general because it is a damn good record and a good indicator of where RF was at that point in time - just coming off the Witherspoon gig, learning to be an LA session dude, adding new toys and tones and guitars. And, the band as a whole is top notch - John Guerin on drums?!?!? Great stuff - and RF just burns through this material, very raw and agressive. One of my favorites and well worth it. Yeah, and he does play acoustic on a few cuts, too...

frank0936 · Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 8:45 am Post subject: Tom Cat

Thanks for the suggestion, Telefunk. I ordered it from Amazon this morning.
Frank