**1/2 Peter Laughner & Friends
TAKE THE GUITAR PLAYER FOR A RIDE
(Tim Kerr)
Peter Laughner
is nearly as famous for the
touching eulogy written
for him by rock critic/gutter genius
Lester Bangs as he is for his
contributions to launching
Pere Ubu
(and the other legendary Cleveland art-punk band, Rocket from the Tombs) and writing
"Ain't It Fun," the song definitively
done on the Dead Boys' We Have Come for Your Children. This collection
of bootlegs, demos, and live tracks shows Laughner's breadth of influences. The
covers stretch from Brian Eno to the traditional
"Me & the Devil Blues,"
which is played on acoustic guitar with an obvious knowledge of its roots in
Bentonia, Mississippi. But what's best about this collection is that the live
recordings show Laughner's
grasp of musical texturing and dynamics, the demos
prove his talent as a lyricist as well as informed artiste (the opener's titled
"Baudelaire"),
and his guitar tracks display inventive minimalism. In short,
Take the Guitar Player for a Ride
is the answer to questions about who
Laughner was and why he was important. As you'd expect from such a collection
of rarities, the sound quality's poor. But this is not for the uninitiated.
-- Ted Drozdowski
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