2008

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CD-Rezension, November 2008

Markus Rill - Bag Of Tricks

Many cover records are carefully considered beforehand. Everything must be just so to fit into the predeterminded concept. That however was certainly not the case with this album by Markus Rill which came about following a spontaneous idea. "The album happened by accident", Rill writes in the liner notes.
Material that for several reasons had been left unreleased was - after consultation with his right-hand man Andi Obieglo - combined with contributions to several projects and - voila - "Bag Of Tricks" arose out of the blue. Among the album's songs are a bunch of recordings made with Rill's erstwhile band Los Solitary Men, "Tender Mercies", a duet of Rill with labelmate Todd Thibaud for a Rich Hopkins-tribute CD, "Fade Away", recorded for a CD full of Michael Weston King songs, and "If I Were A Carpenter", a terrific recording of the old Tim Hardin hit as a duet with rising country star Sunny Sweeney.

It makes for a nice varied album for which no stylistical restrictions seem to apply. You'll find practically anything from R&B to rockabilly, rock&roll to country music, Americana and folk on this album. Particularly intriguing is Rill's atmospheric rendition of the Elvis Presley hit "Can't Help Falling In Love", an ingenious amalgam of Johnny Cash's "Understand Your Man" with Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice", a deliciously sparse reading of Dylan's "Not Dark Yet", and Rill's tribute to one of his idols, Johnny Cash, on "I Still Miss Someone". In fact, with Rill's rough-hewn voice, even classics of the genre such as "Ghost Riders In The Sky", "Six Days On The Road", Chuck Berry's "Nadine" & "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man", or Steve Earle's "Guitar Town" are a joy to listen to. Over here, we've been longtime fans of this extremely talented German artist - now it's your turn!
Benny Metten