Opium Musick [LP]

Limited vinyl LP pressing of this 2003 album. Part of a collaboration with Jack Rose's estate and Three Lobed Records to restore all of his LPs to print, VHF presents a new vinyl edition of the celebrated guitarist's solo album, newly cut by John Golden Mastering from the original source material. This release charts an eclectic, more experimental approach left behind as his technique and compositions became more refined and deliberate on later works. Recorded and originally released in 2003, Opium Musick is an eclectic collection with pieces for 12-string (the percussive and dark "Black Pearls"), 6-string, and lap guitar. The lovely raga-ish "Yaman Blues" features Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on tanpura, and echoes the extended modal work on Pelt's contemporaneous Pearls From The River. The near-ragtime of "Linden Ave Stomp" showcases Glenn Jones on his vintage Gibson in a jumping duet with Rose's lap steel. "Linden Ave" charted a path that Rose would determinedly pursue-short ragtime and old-time influenced pieces (originals and classics), with all phrasing worked out to a perfectionist standard. The lovely "Mountaintop Lamento" was memorably used in Catherine Pancake's film about coal mining in Appalachia, Black Diamonds: Mountaintop Removal and the Fight for Coalfield Justice.