Michael Hedges
Live On the Double Planet (Windham Hill 1066)

This is a very rare case when I can honestly say an album would have been even better as a double album (not just because "double" appears in the title, either – I'm not that obsessed with puns). Perhaps Windham Hill will get on a huge reissue kick and do an expanded Live On the Double Planet much like Elton John's Here and Now, unearthing some other great performances from the same period as a testament to Hedges' immense talent.

This album was a staple of mine from like '88 to '91 or so, and was the place where the Venn diagram of my high school classic rock and new age phases intersected – a fusion of rock appreciation and musicianship with new age sound and sensibility. Yes, the album includes both "All Along the Watchtower" and "Come Together," but in both cases they are the only versions of those songs I'd want to hear, because they are performed so sincerely and interestingly.

But the album goes far beyond the somewhat granola approach to rock idioms evident on those songs, and is best defined by Hedges' introduction to "The Funky Avocado": "It sort of starts off with a medium R&B tempo, then eases out into hard rock, and ends in a fit of disco fury."

There has never been a musician quite like Michael Hedges, whose death in a car accident in '97 went almost entirely unnoticed (well, except by the police at the scene, I suppose) – he had a truly unique ability to fuse disparate styles into a coherent guitar attack that never overwhelmed or got too cheesy (like, say, Eric Johnson or Joe Satriani).

I'd go as far as to say that Michael Hedges is one of the only people to significantly advance the possibilities for guitar playing in the last 30 years – he saw the instrument in a much different way than, say Carlos Santana or Eric Clapton, closer in spirit to Jimi Hendrix but with a style totally his own. I'd rank him way above virtually any rock guitarist you can name, and in terms of individuality he can only be compared to a person like Glenn Gould, another great talent that died too soon.

Double Planet is probably the best first Hedges album to get, as he was arguably at his best outside of the studio, and also because of the balance struck between showiness and self-deprecation, and between 80s musical seriousness and stage humor. The tracks are all performed by Hedges solo (with the exception of "Rikki's Shuffle," which features extra-smooth Michael Manring on fretless bass: very 80s), mixing instrumentals and vocals, originals and covers.

The original instrumentals are amazing, sounding very much like there are two or three people playing: "Because It's There," which sort of sounds like a sports documentary about a crippled football player on the road to recovery (well, most songs sound like that to me), with Hedges weaving hammered-on rhythm with tapped bass lines, but never sounding virtuostic for the sake of it (a la Stanley Clarke).

Some of the tracks are pretty ("Silent Anticipations," "The Double Planet"), others are ponderous ("Breakfast in the Field"), and a lot of it gets into the folky funk territory that Ani Difranco now owns ("The Funky Avocado," "Come Together," and a fantastic cover of "A Love Bizarre") – in fact, I would be surprised if Ani isn't a Michael Hedges fan, although I've never seen that said anywhere.

The best tracks are two of the vocal originals: "Woman of the World" and "Ready or Not," both evidencing a very 80s new-age optimism and the slightly naïve lack of cynicism that you'll find in aromatherapists and artisans at craft fairs. This sort of music represents the 80s to me more than the usual references to the Go-Go's and Michael Jackson – back in the day when new age was something cutting edge and progressive radio stations would actually feature this sort of music on after-midnight programs.

And while the music on Live on the Double Planet does sound very 80s to me, it's not 80s in the expected way, and most people probably wouldn't hear it that way. I'm referring to the 80s dominated by Dianne Schurr, Kiri Te Kanawa, and George Winston, not the one with Fun Boy Three, Men Without Hats, and U2.

It's a mellow album, pristine like most Windham Hill releases, but with much more heart and musical merit. Hedges was a great live performer (one of the best shows I ever saw was him playing solo around 1991), and this album captures him in his many different aspects – impressive, witty, thought-provoking, sincere, spacey, and in some places, simply awe-inspiring.

It's really a shame that he never found an audience beyond the loyal fan base that supported him from the get-go, and even more of a shame that his death sealed his fate as a footnote. But then, what might greater popularity have engendered for his integrity? Hard to say. I would definitely put this one high on the "new age without shame" list, and recommend it especially to anyone interested in acoustic guitar, but also to people looking for a truly unique sound.

Some of it will undoubtedly leave some listeners wondering why they're listening to such uncool music, but I can't see anyone not enjoying the album. Sure, it's a far cry from the Vines, but for me that's all the more reason to embrace it.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by P. Sausage