I HEART GUITAR – PEACE SIGN ALBUM REVIEW – May 6, 2010

CD REVIEW: Richie Kotzen – Peace Sign

May 6th, 2010 | Author: Peter Hodgson

Man, I hate Richie Kotzen. Oh don’t get me wrong – I’m a big fan. His guitar playing is awesome. His vocals are amazing (like, seriously, it’s utterly unfair for a guitar virtuoso to have such a big-league voice). I have most of his albums and I often daydream about owning one of his Fender signature Strats or Telecasters. I hear he’s a really nice guy, and he continues to release album after album of A-Grade material, all while lookin’ impossibly cool whether he tries to or not. And that’s just the problem. Dude can’t seem to put a foot wrong – don’t ya hate people like that! Kotzeeeeeen!

Kotzen’s latest cruel attempt to make me feel friggin’ miserable about myself is Peace Sign. One of the reasons I envy him so much for this record is because he played all of the instruments himself on most of the songs, yet somehow managed to capture a live band feel. I guess the secret is that the performances aren’t all tweezed and quantized – you can still hear the character behind every note. Another important key to this live feel is the orchestration: rarely do you hear multiple tracks of the same guitar part. Instead, the sonic landscape is quite bare, which of course means you can hear more of what’s going on because the nuance isn’t being smashed to smithereens.

One thing that really grabs me about this CD is the way it moves in cycles. The first five tracks have a bluesy rock edge reminiscent of Kotzen’s previous album, terrifyingly awesome Return of Mother Head’s Family Reunion (titled “Go Faster” in the US). The next four are funky and groovy, largely characterised by cleaner guitar tones and more fusiony guitar solos. The final three are more laid back, probably more reminiscent of something like ‘Chase it’ from Return of Mother Head’s Family Reunion.

My standout tracks are opener ‘My Messiah’ (a big, loud rocker with killer verse/chorus dynamics); ‘Paying Dues’ (check out that killer guitar solo – video below); the very LA-feeling ‘We’re All Famous,’ the celebratory ‘Your Entertainer’ and the groovy ‘You Got Me.’ But every song has a little highlight or gem somewhere, whether it’s a vocal hook, a guitar line, some cool interplay between instruments, or a lyric.

While I can’t wait to hear what Kotzen does next (after all, this CD follows the awesome ‘Return of the Mother Head’s Family Reunion,’ I hope he keeps promoting this album for quite a while yet so it gets the sustained attention it deserves.

Listen to tracks from Peace Sign for free on Richie’s site here.

2010 USA TOUR DATES & CLINICS
May 10 Sam Ash Guitar Clinic Orlando, FL
May 11 Skipper’s Smokehouse Tampa FL
May 12 Club 57 West Orlando FL
May 13 Freebird Live Jacksonville, FL
May 14 The Local Marietta, GA
May 15 Sam Ash Guitar Clinic Madison, TN
May 16 Mercy Lounge Nashville, TN
May 18 Jaxx Night Club West Springfield, VA
May 19 The North Star Bar Philadelphia, PA
May 20 Sam Ash Guitar Clinic King of Prussia, PA
May 21 The Works Reading, PA
May 22 Diesel Club Lounge Pittsburgh, PA
May 23 The Bayou  Mount Vernon, NY (Acoustic Show)
May 24 Sam Ash Guitar Clinic NYC, NY
May 25 Highline Ballroom New York, NY
May 26 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT
May 27 Showcase Live Foxboro, MA