[.ca] Tailspin Headwhack

From Amazon.com:
It's pretty hard for Chris Duarte to escape comparisons to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. After all, Duarte is also a Texas blues-rock guitarist with overwhelming instrumental technique and underwhelming vocals. Duarte even uses Vaughan's former keyboardist, Reese Wynans. On his 1997 album, Tailspin Headwhack, Duarte tries to put some distance between himself and Vaughan by adding more funk and fusion flavors to the blues-rock recipe. He adds more effects to his guitar sound, boosts the bass tracks in the mix, trades in shuffles for on-the-one funk, multiplies the chord changes, and enlists David Z of Prince & the Revolution as producer. The results go a long way toward dispelling the Vaughan cloud that has always hung over Duarte's career, but fails to solve the artist's more fundamental problems. He remains a prodigious picker, able to rip through notes at breathless speeds, even as he smoothly changes chords as if he had an automatic transmission. These performances will surely please those who think guitar solos are an athletic event, but they won't do much for listeners who expect such solos to deliver an emotion deeper than bravado. It doesn't help that Duarte's voice is thin and cramped, nor that a conspicuous gulf yawns between the blandness of the originals and the tunefulness of the songs borrowed from B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and the Meters. --Geoffrey Himes

promising, yet dissapointing 3.5:
Without a doubt, the production raises the level of this cd several notches above his first yet ironicaly, he doesnt match the kind of pyrotechnics he showed on "shelo" on that same disc, with his rendition here of "driving south" a huge dissapointment and his vocal range still woefully short of adequate, in most places, the only redeeming factor here is the sense that wonderful things are possible from this guy, on a few of the songs i can start to hear the beginnings of a signature sound that is quite inspiring.it could be that no album has yet captured the fullness of the chris duarte experience for I hear only great things from anyone who has seen him live and he plays,at times, with a wonderful recklessness that would be a joy to see and is a pleasure to listen to. i will buy his third cd also,in due time,as the guy has my keen attention about where he is going to take his considerable talent. worth a listen or three, leave the expectations for greatness in the store and enjoy the presence of great potential, id love to see a concert......

Second Stellar Outing by CDG:
To paraphrase my brother, who is a both a devoted guitarist and a devoted student of many playing styles (from D'Jango to Jimi), Chris Duarte manages to combine influences from many, many other fine artists and yet retains his own unique style. His music ranges from straight-ahead kick-... rock to liquid, buttery-smooth jazz, blues and soul. If you expect ANY of his albums to be consistent and uneclectic, forget it. If, however, you delight in amazing, incindiary, surprising and listenable ear-candy, ALL of Duarte's work is a treat. While you're at it, look him up on the Web and plan on seeing him in concert. I did, at some little biker dive in Topeka, KS. Spent most of the time there in slack-jawed amazement at him and his band. God only knows how Duarte wrenches so of the music he gets out of that strat, but it's well worth hearing. This album and it's predecessors are more polished versions of the Duarte magic. I highly recommend you spend a few $$$ and buy them. Your ears will thank you.

Raw blues funk!:
Four words: the man can wail! Simple as that. Chris Duarte adds some funk to the blues, and proves to us that the guy can flat out wail. Cleopatra is a strong cut. He may not be Stevie, but he doesn't have to be. He's Chris. He proves on Tailspin Headwhack that the he can play that guitar his own way! I have yet to listen to his new release, but this one is a good buy. He may not be the best guitarist, but he's up there. One great blues player for the future. Chris Duarte, Tommy Castro, Walter Trout, Scott Holt-the future of blues is lookin' pretty good to me.

His Most Original & Probably His Best:
This may be the best Chris Duarte Group album - it's certainly the most original. Chris spent a ton of studio time on this one experimenting with tape loops and rhythms - basically he wanted to do something FRESH in a world of tired old blues trios. He offers up an unbelievable cover of 'Thrill Is Gone' with looped drumbeats and nasty-funky-tasty guitar. Cleopatra got quite a bit of air play as the first single from this album, but look to 'People Say' and 'Crimino' for the albums real strength of the CD - they sound like, well, no one - they sound like Chris Duarte. There are sprinkles of Stevie in here... .32 blues is definitely in that vein. 'Drvin South' is the closest thing you'll ever get to seeing Chris live - relentless, in-your-face, over-the-top, make your ears bleed guitar explosion. Well worth the purchase price.

Catchy Title:
This guy owes a heck of a lot to Jimi Hendrix and even more so to Stevie Ray Vaughn's take on Hendrix. But, hey, you could have worse influences...right ? On his second recording "Tailspin Headwhack" (what a great name) Chris Duarte plays some incindiary and inspired stuff.On his first release, Austin ,Texas native Duarte managed to meld Stevie Ray and the Red Hot Chili Peppers into a great, funky album.Though generally danceable this one's not quite as funked up, opting for a more soul searching,brooding sound. It comes off quite well indeed,and I think this one's better. The poppish "Cleopatra" leads off with distortion laden guitar over a nice groove. Chris does the lead vocals here as well and his voice matches his music perfectly.At this point the show start's to ignite. Ther'es a soulful rendition of B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone" and an excellent update of the Meter's "People Say". The rest are mostly originals and run from the rockin' "Drivin' South" to the the more introspective and psychedelic sounding "Walls". Also noteworthy is the title cut which also sounds like something from the "Electric Ladyland" sessions. Ditto for the sultry".32 Blues", with superlative Hammond work from former SRV bandmate Reese Winans. The band is always right on the mark, confident and rock solid. A solid offering, "Tailspin Headwhack", is an easy disc to throw on almost anytime and I can't think how anybody couldn't get caught up in this swamp- rocker groove.

• Cleopatra
• Crimino
• Thrill Is Gone
• Drivin' South
• Catch the Next Line
• Tailspin Headwhack
• People Say
• Crazy
• .32 Blues
• Walls