One Man and His 30W Pram

 

 

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Lewis Floyd Henry? Who is this man? Well I leave you to find the answer to that question. Just simply log on to youtube and type in `Lewis Floyd Henry'. What you get come up is a large selection of video clips taken by admirers on their mobile phones of a busker who bore an uncanny resemblance of Jimi Hendrix making extraordinary music with his electric guitar.

I first saw Lewis Floyd Henry busking at Brick Lane Market some months back. He not only looked like Hendrix, he plays like him as well. There was large crowd of people gathered around him and he was sitting next to his guitar case which was overflowing with coins thrown by admiring passer-bys.

Most of what he played that day was cover versions of songs by popular rock artists such as Hendrix's `Purple Haze' but there was a few original songs too, most notably `Went to a Party' which was a heavy riff laden rock ditty. And boy what a performance! He really made that lump of wood with strings sing that day, so much so that it was unnatural. He was either possessed by the ghost of Hendrix or sold his soul to the devil for Clapton like fingers! He was soloing, fretting, tapping, playing with his teeth ... you name it he was doing it.

What made his performance more impressive was the fact that while he was riffing like a demon he was also playing a miniature drum kit with his feet at the same time. Unbelievable! (Even Rick Allen of Def Leppard had one arm and two feet!)

I saw him a few times since then but I made a point of not going to see him there ever again. This was solely because I knew that if I do go and see him I probably spend all day watching him - he is that good. I would have paid good money to see him.

On the strength of those performances I decided to purchase this CD when it became available. This disc consisted of 12 original songs. The first thing that I noticed when I heard the songs on this disc was that most of them were mellow soft rock numbers. In fact `Went to a Party' was the only solid hard rock number. This surprised me as the cover songs that Mr. Henry played at his `street concerts' were mostly of the hard rock variety - and I was expecting some hard rock numbers. But that's not to say that I didn't like the album - I adore it and I couldn't stop listening to it.

Upon listening to the soft tracks of this disc one get the feelings that Mr. Henry is heavily influenced by Bob Dylan. Each track is either nothing short of brilliant at the very most or very listenable at the very least. Particular highlights include `Sacred Gardens' the melodic opening track, the jolly almost country ditty `Rickety ol' Rollercoaster', the uplifting `Good News', the smooth relaxing ballad of `Magic Carpet' and the aforementioned `Went to a Party' - a rock party number that is catchy and sparkles with humour and contains riffs that every heavy metalist would love to head bang to and every hard rocker would love to imitate in the form of air guitar.

As a final footnote, I have this to say: If you want to hear something new, different and exciting then get this album. If you are not sure of parting with your hard earned money and taking a chance on something you have never heard before then check out the Lewis Floyd Henry clips on youtube ... and then get this album! Because once you have heard Lewis Floyd Henry on your computer screen, you will want to hear his music blaring out of your CD speakers and iPod headphones. It will be the best 6 pounds you will ever spend...

... with producing an audio CD of an artist who has to be appreciated playing live is that the immediacy of the performance is lost. Thus it is with LFH - I love the performances available on YouTube, but to be honest the CD is a little underwhelming. It would have been far better to have made a DVD of all those filmed vignettes and put them on the market - the man demands to be watched, as well as listened to.

One of his best songs - and I assume it is an original - is about communication with extraterrestrials. It is not on this collection, which is a pity. If you have watched LFH play, then you will find the lack of visuals with this CD leaves a void aching to be filled ....

A great vibe album recorded live n rocking. Seen this guy a couple time an he is the real deal.

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3.0 out of 5 stars one man etc
Purchased on behalf of A N Other, so I haven't heard it & therefore can't rate it (Ignore star rating given as the site insisted on some rating!!. Read more

Published 9 months ago by ferret

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