Glenn Kaiser
Blues Heaven: The Best of Glenn Kaiser's Blues
Reviewed by A Girl Called Gordon
Imagine you are in a darkened jazz / blues club. The echos of good heart-wrenching blues is seeped into the walls and the air. This is your favorite place to go to get that feeling of completeness, musically. You are expecting to listen to the best of the best. The next act on the bill is Glenn Kaiser. Your heart and mind could hardly be ready to experience something this good. Kaiser returns to what comes naturally on this album. This is a compilation of the best songs he has written with Darrell Mansfield, Larry Howard and Rez Band (Resurrection Band). The production of this disk captures his abilities accurately, what a relief! This 15-song CD begins with a performance, complete with back-up singers, of "Ain't Much Difference" recorded live at Cornerstone '94. The third song, "Raindance," has a bit of that 80's blues that can be heard in the beat and rhythm guitar chords. Kaiser also has a Glenn Fry feel to his vocals in this tune. The music of "Spontaneous Combustion" left me with a feeling of eerie danger in a ghost town. Go figure that one. In "My Jesus is All" Kaiser's guitar playing has - dare I say it - Stevie Ray Vaughn feel to it. Very moving. Finally, my favorite song on the CD, "Long Way From Home." If you find yourself raising your hands and giving praise to the One who inspired this song, then you have caught the vibe that Glenn Kaiser meant to give. "Hallelujah by and by, I will meet you in the sky; still a long, long way from my home." The lyrics on Blues Heaven are true to the way Kaiser lives his life, for God. From the hippie of the 60's and 70's to the hippest Christian leader of today, this man knows the blues and can portray it well. The only thing that can top this CD, is if he were playing it for you live in your own living room.