George Winston: Night Divides the Day/The Music of the Doors
I was quite surprised a few months ago when I picked up the 20th anniversary reissue of George Winston's AUTUMN album and read in the liner notes that one of his biggest influences was The Doors. You would never know that, from listening to any of his previous piano albums.
According to Winston (in the liner notes for NIGHT DIVIDES THE DAY), this is the hardest album he's ever recorded, and it's been gestating since he first heard the Doors, in 1967. This is abundantly clear from listening to the album. It is truly a labor of love.
The album tries to capture the Doors' mystique. Sometimes it succeeds, while other times it falls on its well-recorded face. Some of the sounds Winston pulls out of his piano are downright amazing. Thankfully, he doesn't just do replays of the famous Ray Manzarek keyboard solos, but gives the tunes their own stamp. Sometimes he does this by plucking the strings with his fingers; pounding on the keys like your mom always told you not to do; and pulling off seemingly-impossible riffs that make it sound like you're listening to at least two pianos playing in unison.
The opening song "Spanish Caravan" sets the tone but stands alone, with its Spanish influences being like nothing else heard on the album. The pounding bass notes played with the left hand, combined with swirling delicate filigrees from the right hand, are simply amazing listening.
Quite a few of the tracks have the left hand playing in the rolling jazzy style that Winston has featured in his recent recordings, which he says is inspired by James Booker. The style serves to propel the arrangements along nicely, but when Winston gets too busy with his cascading right hand, it's easy to get tired just listening to some of these piano workouts.
The best tracks are, not surprisingly, the slow ones. "The Crystal Ship," in particular, is at least as haunting as the Doors' original. "Riders On The Storm" is effective too; along with "Love Me Two Times," it sounds quite a bit like the Doors' original arrangments (albeit with a lot more improvisation).
At the other end of the scale is the interminable "Light My Fire," which comes in at 9:55, or about five minutes too long. It includes a meandering improvisational sequence (meant to evoke Robby Krieger's guitar solo on the original record) and concludes with a disappointing reprise of the Doors' epic "The End."
In fact, the album as a whole tends to go on a bit long, and calls out for a bit of judicious editing, or at least to be taken in small doses for the casual listener.
Some Winston fans will declare this album a masterpiece, but not all of them are going to like it, for it steps wide of his beaten path in any number of ways. But if you want to hear the piano make sounds you never thought it could make, or want to hear the Doors' music as seen through a completely different lens, then this is your CD.
Mike B.
Posted on Jan 11, 2004 at 12:52 am by Rudy.
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