New Eric Johnson

[Mr. Poon]

Anyone listened to the Eric Johnson CD, Bloom? I picked it up last night and it's pretty good. A couple of the first songs are sort of lame, with that intense overdriven sound he used in Venus Isle, but the intrumentals are great and he has some older-style, Tones era, vocal tracks as well. No major tunes like Zap or Cliffs of Dover, sadly. I've only listened to the CD once through so far but I like it. As a longtime EJ fan, it's always great to hear some of his new stuff. Interesting to see him thank Steve Vai in the credits section- must have struck up a friendship with him from the G3 shows. No mention of Steve Morse this time. Anyway, go pick it up if you're an EJ fan.

[Mr. Poon]

Re: New Eric Johnson

Guess I overestimated the popularity of EJ on the board... [img]/images/graemlins/brow.gif[/img]

[Joe_Steeler]

Re: New Eric Johnson

I like EJ, but I find myself enjoying it more when I am in the mood.
Don't know what is, but for me it is not every day listening.
I don't like when he sings either.
Cliffs of Dover is about one of my favorite tunes.

BTW, his new Sig Strat is a must have. A players axe. Very well done.
Maybe I will give his new CD a try.

[the_enigmatic]

Re: New Eric Johnson

I am a huge Eric Johnson fan. He is on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label...that's probably why he mentions Vai's name in the credits section.

I think one of the reasons why he doesn't have any crazy extended solos is because he has been doing them for the past 20+ years. He is trying something new...something different. Now he seems to be concentrating on playing for the songs. It seems that he carefully chooses every note played on the album and every note fits perfectly. The feelings I have when I listen to his new album are amazing. If the song doesn't call for a 32nd note pentatonic frenzy then he isn't going to do it. Bloom is more of an experimental album for him. It has so many elements to it. Hope this helps...this is just my opinion so don't be too hard on me...

[MBreinin]

Re: New Eric Johnson

I love Eric and I have seen him at least 7 times. The first time I saw him he was about 2 feet in front of me on a non-elevated stage. He is amazing, and an incredibly nice guy. A friend of mine tried to get going in Austin and Eric tried to help him all he could. This was probably a decade ago.

I will check out the CD for sure.

Last time I saw EJ he did let me down though. Alot of singing and quite some time dedicated to playing the piano. He hit the majors, but "Cliffs" was his encore and he was tired by then....it was the only time I have seen him get sloppy. The crowd was full of guys that had obviously had come just to hear "Cliffs" as the there were many pissed murmurs in the crowd until he did his encore....then there were mucho cheers. I did get "Trademark", so I was very happy.

Mike

[Mr. Poon]

Re: New Eric Johnson

One of the times I saw him was when he opened for Steve Miller at Old Orchard Beach. He was awesome- played all the usual stuff, plus Wind Cries Mary. During Steve Miller's encore, EJ came back out and helped him with Serenade- he totally ripped an extended solo and Steve Miller knelt in front of him and bowed exaggeratedly. Great stuff.

[MBreinin]

Re: New Eric Johnson

That time that I was so close to him, it was at Manny's on Broadway in Baltimore. He did a 15 minute version of Third Stone from the Sun...and played all the backwards stuff. It was simply incredible.

Mike

[jazzman]

Re: New Eric Johnson

I've always liked Eric Johnson. He does have a few lame tunes, but still has good ones. Plus, he RIPS!!! I want to check out his new signature strat. 57' reissue with 12" radius and thinner finish. I have two 57' reissues and I love them. A flatter board would be even better. Anyone got one yet?

[pro-fusion]

Re: New Eric Johnson

The new album is very mellow. It's got a lot of great music on it, but it's definitely not a rocker. I, for one, have always loved Eric's vocal music and wished he would do more of it--but some of 'Bloom' gets into easy-listening territory, and the last half of the album drags a bit.

The guy's definitely a guitar god, though, and a big influence on me. I never learned any of his material, but every now and then when I'm noodling around, I'll find myself veering into obvious EJ territory.

[hunter1970]

Re: New Eric Johnson

He coming to Oklahoma City sometime soon opening up for The Steve Miller band ,him and Kenny Wayne Shepard(is that how its spelled)I might have to go see Eric Johnson and have a few cold ones.
[img]/images/graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[guitarsjb]

Re: New Eric Johnson

Really Delano?? Count me in...

[hunter1970]

Re: New Eric Johnson

Yep at the zoo.

[MBreinin]

Re: New Eric Johnson

Kenny Wayne is good...but he is the only guitar slinger I have ever walked out of a show on. He had the chops down cold, but he was such an SRV rip-off that it sickened me. I could literally identify every lick that he stole from SRV. Hell SRV "borrowed" many of his licks from the greats. I say "borrowed" because he idloized the masters and paid tribute to them whenever he could...as well as doing anything he could for them. Kenny was just a thief.

However, I have heard that he has a new sound and is trying to shake the label of SRV copy.

Mike

[pro-fusion]

Re: New Eric Johnson

I missed EJ here in the DC area a few nights ago--just fukkin' forgot about it. I'm tellin' ya, it sucks to get old... [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]