Plateros-Hang On CD Review

I anticipate nothing less than brilliance in this new effort titled Hang On and most certainly nothing more than a legendary blues bike ride to go with it.  I’m diggin’ the Saturday night of life.  The doctor just gave me a clean bill of health so I ride tonight full of myself and breath of gratitude to the creator for giving me parents with the good stuff.  Pop, thanks man for a body that is my chapel of desires and thanks for teaching me to ride that little red Schwinn with the training wheels strung high so I could balance the dream of riding roads in Italy.

As I move into the second track Where Would I Be it seems the production quality has improved, there’s some delay on the vocals, and generally a good layout on the CD itself with tighter vocal harmonies.  The rhythm section is not being overshadowed by the brilliant guitar work but they are providing the foundation from which Levi can work and work it he does.  Do I hear an organ in there under the guitar break?

The song Latter Rain has the sound and feel of 40’s jazz boogie.  Reminds me somewhat of Brian Setzer’s stuff a little.  An interesting shift for a guitar player so young yet.  A strong experiment in styles.  Tasteful use of effects pedals is always a point with my assessment of an artist’s playing.  Please don’t over do it and Levi doesn’t.

When The Night Falls is a good solid slow blues shuffle with an interesting chord progression.  Levi is stretching out vocally as well and I can feel this young man pushing the envelope on all levels of his performance and playing.  “Don’t be afraid when the night falls on you” is good advice.  The organ is an excellent addition to the sound.  We thank Bronson Begay for his excellent organ work.  I would also like to mention Jack Howell who assisted with much of the song writing and added some guitar work and D. Davis who added further drums and percussion to Hang On.

The title song of the CD Hang On starts out with a hard rockin’ guitar lick and a sentiment of encouragement to not lose the faith.  All of these songs are basically dance material.  This band has that bar band sensibility in their choice of material.  Again brilliant guitar solo work.

Forever I’m With You features an intricate and complex arrangement.  The Plateros are throwing every thing but the kitchen sink at us in this one.  Vocal harmony, organ, brilliant solo and fill work on the guitar in a song with a very romantic sentiment.  This is a top-notch effort.

The eleventh track, Changin’ is a song about how life can work for you.  As uncomfortable as the notion of change is, it is unavoidable. “I was angry, I was mean and now a calm has fallen over me”  “The sweet voice of victory has come to me and now I see, I’m changin’, rearrangin’,” sings Levi in a more Baritone voice than I’ve heard him in before.  A smooth maple sugar voice akin to Lou Rawls.

The song Oh But Why has an acoustic guitar intro and using the acoustic styling shows good taste.  Also sung in Navajo.  I think that this is going to be a trend in Native music the more language revitalization takes hold singing our traditional languages becomes stronger and more prevalent.

One of the things that I look for in prodigy players, young people born with extraordinary talent is that as they progress and grow they acquire the element they aren’t’ born with, maturity.  To hear them down and dirty in the pocket, functioning as a unit not as a star with back up.  This CD has that going for it in a big way.

I go burning down Hennepin Avenue deeper into the Rezz Dogg legend and salvation wrought of sweat and glory of rubber and steel, I ride this horse in a vision of great warriors and house to house, hand to hand combat.  This is my land, this is my home and I never forget that.

I love the fact that Levi’s playing tells me that he’s grief stricken over how hard life is but he’s never unhappy.  It’s always up from here in anticipation of the down hill side of the mountain. I predicted in that first review that you would be hearing good things from this young man and if I were you I would continue to pay attention.



For Further Info:  www.theplateros.com