Robben Ford Discussion

kirk95 · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:47 am Post subject: Man on a Mission - Garth Webber

Any of you guys have this CD?

How about a review?

http://www.garthwebber.com/manonamission.shtml

Where can we buy it? Question

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edpesco · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 8:59 am Post subject:

You can buy it directly from Garth, sorry no time for a review, just excellent Blues playing and it's sometimes hard to tell Garth from Robben. Garth is dangerous

elizabeth · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 9:53 am Post subject: Garth

Got 'em; LOVE em!

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frank0936 · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:29 am Post subject: man on a mission

I just listened to a couple of the mp3's on the website. Wow! He is dangerous. Okay, I gotta have it now.
Frank

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

You forgot to tell 'em that Robben plays a few tracks with Garth on the cd. I just thought they might want to know.

Aeolian · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2003 11:55 pm Post subject:

Rhythm section of Dwayne Pate on bass, John R. Burr on keys, (sound like someone we know?) Jimmy Sanchez, Robin Roth, and Pat Ford on drums and Tony Lufrano adding his impecable B3 voicings. A local singer named Mz. Dee kicks in a couple of vocals and New Orleans heavyweight John Lee Sanders contributes a couple of lyrics and vocals that kill. Garth and John Lee play together fairly often and John Lee plays keys and sax besides having an amazing voice.

Garth's tone evolves toward a more stinging almost Tele kind of bite. Live he's still using the blonde Fender RF. He said once that he reworked one of the controls into a balance control between the pickups. I'm not sure how this works. It's like a Tele with body and and almost woody tone underneath. He can really dig in and make it produce. The range of sounds is different than Robben but Garth does the same kind of thing with the dynamics and tone of the notes within a run. Each note has meaning. And is played with a deliberate tone for it's place in the phrase. There are no wrong notes and the look on his face is usually a smile.

Most of the songs have some twist if they're 12 bar based. The bluesiest to my ears is Can't Talk No More which isn't a 12 bar at all. The feel is totally blue, the lyrics reflect a real sense of a relationship sliding downhill, and the solo's by Mark Ford and Garth are so packed with emotion, it feels like they've both been there before. I've seen Garth play this live a couple of times and it makes you want to cry. All the lyrics sound personal, like he is pouring his guts out. Whether he's a rocking Man On A Mission, a regular Joe on a Sidestreet finding out what's important, or A Self Made Man, you believe it.

Then there's stuff like Can't Dance, a burning instrumental shuffle with an extra half bar tossed in. The drive behind his phrasing and tone just grabs you by the ears.

Robben gets in on the fun on a couple of songs and they trade fours lifting both higher. What it would have been like to be a fly on the wall watching the grins that must have been shining as they bounced ideas off each other.

Garth really has Red Rooster studios dialed in. The sound here gives up nothing to the big boys. Live drums are especially hard to get that big bucks sound. But experience and ears count big time as the drums sound professional and natural. Three different drummers on this album, but still there is a continuity from song to song. Maybe they used the same kit. The guitars don't sound over-compressed. They sound like they do live.

Another Garth note. On the local college jazz station, I once heard a big band arrangement of Tom Coster's Europa. Then this fluid overdriven guitar came in with such feeling that I thought they had brought in Carlos. Within a couple of bars though, there were notes being played that were outside Carlos's frame of reference. Incredible solo. Then the back announce came on and said the guitar was Garth Webber. Aha! That explained it.
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Garth Webber · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Posts: 6

Thanks Kirk 95 for mentioning the CD and aeolian for the comprehensive review. I'm pretty happy with the way "Mission" came out and I was very glad to have Robben and his bros on it as well as the rest of the band.

You are right about the mod to my RF guitar. I had volume #2 (bridge) changed to a pan pot which pans between the two pickups. That way I can set a ratio of neck to bridge pickups and change volume without changing that ratio. I have never been comfortable with the standard Gibson control set up. I think originally the idea was that one would use one pickup for rhythm and the other for lead but I have almost never done that. I almost always use some mixture of the two and almost never 50/50.

I sell the CD direct and if you'd like a copy you can email me at garthrr@aol.com.
thanks much,
Garth~

juspasinby2003 · Senior Member Joined: 18 Dec 2003 Posts: 255

Aeolian,
You really are an excellent writer - eloquent and cogent. I liked your description of a Garth solo in another thread: "Building and dropping, teasing and letting us have it, only to take it higher still. I was exhausted and elated at the same time." That perfectly describes the quintessential Garth joy ride, and it nails one of the finer attributes of Garth's work - his uncanny proficiency at building tension tempered by intermittent, disarming relief, which serves to set you up again for another, even more intense round of exhilaration. I can't count the number of times I had to pick my jaw up from the ground when he finishes a solo. The man is just brutal about it and always leaves me breathless.

edpesco · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 4:59 am Post subject:

Yes Aeolian, you are really a poet. I just wonder where do you guys take the time to write all those litary precious posts? I almost can't get through reading them, but go on Wink

Aeolian · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 9:04 am Post subject:

Bluelobster · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 9:23 am Post subject: at first

It seems Olaf is a naughty boy,

but you can hope , i remember when i suscribed to Univibes (i told u i am freaking on Jimi)
money was cashed , but it took 3 months for me to be sure.
In fact the guy did all by himself, traveling to get info's, writing, printing , selling, posting, and so on..........
I mailed him 50 times / Wink

/
By now i am an happy suscriber. Neutral

Blob.
Annnnnnnnd may be it's your punishment to seek the ultimate overdriven tone.

Blob

edpesco · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2003 2:34 pm Post subject:

oh what a lucky man I am!!!! I ordered my Banzai one year ago via my local guitar shop but didn't pay anything, also I didn't receive anything either...

Chas · Newbie Joined: 20 Dec 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Fremont, CA.

Hello all, I just registered after lurking a bit.

Saw this thread on Garth just after reading in the San Jose paper that he's playing Saturday 12/27 at JJ's Blues Club in San Jose.

The ad says the band's called Blue Monday, and includes Garth, Clifford Colter, Danny Hull and Ron E. Beck.

I've had the pleasure to see and hear Garth play live at The Baltic in Pt. Richmond, but not with this band. Not only is Garth a killer player and singer, he's a great showman on stage as well.

Hey Garth, are you out there? Where else are you playing?

-chas

Garth Webber · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Posts: 6