Up Close

by Eric Johnson

Overview

By Eric Johnson's standards, the five-year gap between 2005's Bloom and 2010's Up Close is swift. It's the shortest time between albums since Ah Via Musicom followed Tones by a mere four years and although Up Close could hardly be called spontaneous, it does have a looseness that's often absent in Johnson's work, perhaps because it trades so heavily on the guitarist's Texas roots, a point he underscores by having songs called "Texas" and "Austin." Naturally, this means there's a bunch of blues on Up Close, which finds room for cameos by Steve Miller, Jimmie Vaughan, Jonny Lang, and Sonny Landreth, but even these moments don't bear much grit because dirt is not part of Johnson's repertoire. He prefers clean and sculpted, an aesthetic that runs from his tone to his rhythms. He remains indebted to the fusion etched out by Jeff Beck on Blow by Blow but he no longer is taking it to the extremes, as when he divided Bloom into movements. Up Close is merely Eric Johnson served straight-up: it is not far removed from the feel of Ah Via Musicom, lacking only the major melodies that sucked in crossover listeners, but Johnson's journey is not one of innovation, it's of refinement and he continues to find interesting ways to hone his specific craft on Up Close. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	04/19/2011
Label:	Vortexan Music
UPC:	0828527777317
Rank:	58428

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Eric Johnson   Primary Artist,Bass,Piano,Radio,Guitar,Vocals,Percussion,Coral Sitar,6-String Bass,Lap Steel Guitar,Piano (Electric),Guitar (Acoustic)
Steve Miller   Vocals,Featured Artist
Sonny Landreth   Guitar,Featured Artist
Brad Evilsizer   Percussion
Kevin Hall   Drums
Jason Eskridge   Vocals (Background)
Jonny Lang   Vocals,Featured Artist
Roscoe Beck   Bass
Chris Maresh   Bass
Jimmie Vaughan   Guitar,Featured Artist
Tommy Taylor   Drums,Percussion
Malford Milligan   Vocals,Featured Artist
James Fenner   Percussion
Oliver Rajamani   Sarod,Sitar,Tabla,Vocals
Kyle Brock   Bass
Tom Burritt   Percussion
Steven Hennig   Guitar,Guest Artist
Frosty Smith   Drums

Technical Credits

Kelly Donnelly   Mixing,Engineer
Eric Johnson   Mixing,Arranger,Composer,Producer
Roscoe Beck   Arranger
Richard Mullen   Mixing,Arranger,Engineer,Production Assistant
Andy Johns   Mixing
Gary Paczosa   Mixing
Michael Bloomfield   Composer
Tommy Taylor   Arranger
Buddy Miles   Composer
Park Street   Photography
Jim Wilson   Mastering
Kelley Ian Toombs   Package Design
Jim Gaines   Producer