During the pandemic, some people baked, others indulged in TV binge-watching. Exquisite guitarist / singer ERIC JOHNSON emerged with two new albums – ‘The Book of Making‘ and ‘Yesterday Meets Today‘ – featuring nine songs on each LP. The Grammy-winning, multi-genre guitarist took inventory – both emotionally and musically – delving into the many unfinished tracks, demos, and sonic ideas in his archive to create 2 delicious new albums.
While Johnson last albums were mostly focused in blues variations (he is from Texas, after all), we all love his 1990’s ‘Ah Via Musicom’ and 1996’s ‘Venus Isle’ more melodic rock / AOR oriented CD’s.
Well, fans of that Eric era be prepared for pure delight: ‘The Book of Making’ and ‘Yesterday Meets Today’ bring back that awesome sound & style to the fore. Many of the songs here were conceived in the Nineties, from melodic rock and Westcoast AOR to bluesy classic rock.
Because of the breadth of Johnson’s vault, both albums are set to span “25 years of creations, thoughts and ideas that remained unfinished for many years”. And I am glad he decided to finally record ’em: This is wonderful stuff!
”The Book of Making” and ”Yesterday Meets Today” are twin testimony of what the Texas guitar master is capable of. Weighing in at nine songs each, they’re decidedly different but easy to take in together as a 67-minute piece of work, each illustrating Johnson’s nimble playing skill.
But while there’s an abundance of blazing licks there are also melodies for miles – both played and sung – and while nothing here may have the definitive impact of “Cliffs of Dover” (as if anything can), it’s the kind of package that could be handed to any neophyte as a primer for what makes Johnson such a heavyweight.
The 18 tracks, according to Johnson, are mostly the result of some archive-digging during the lockdowns, when he was unable to tour. They span 25 years and were in various degrees of completion, and it’s clear from listening to both albums that Johnson was only too happy to be making music during that difficult time, bringing each song to the point we hear them now, blending technical precision with smooth arrangements and sonic production that’s polished but retains some grit as well.
Their differences are pronounced but complementary. ‘Yesterday Meets Today’ has more of a raw, odds-and-sods feel, with fewer vocal tracks and some short instrumental pieces whose finished versions feel like they’re not too removed from their initial sketches.
But it’s a nice companion to the more clearly conceived and melodic rock oriented ‘The Book of Making’, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any real missteps between the two.
‘Soundtrack Life’ – which sounds and feels like taken from ‘Ah Via Musicom’ – opens ‘The Book of Making’ with Johnson’s trademark light-touch licks, lyrical and melodic as they dance over a poppy groove and build to a soaring finish.
From there it’s one highlight after another, with multi-tracked and intricate guitar interplay on display through tracks such as “Floating Through This World” and “Just to Be With You,” and some particularly hot soloing on “Bigger Than My Life” and “My Faith in You.”
Fellow singer-guitarist Arielle is the lyrically positive project’s only guest, singing “To Be Alive,” while “A Thousand Miles” closes ”The Book of Making” with Johnson vocalizing scat-lite over a vibey backdrop drenched with guitar tones.
”Yesterday Meets Today” has a bit more going on in terms of range, starting with the biting and fast-paced blues-rock of “Move on Over,” while the Westcoast AOR of title track puts Johnson in yacht-rock docksiders, and a rendition of the blues staple “Sitting on Top of the World” lets him slow things down a notch, with more hot soloing.
A pair of sub-two-minute tracks, the hot-wired “Maha” and the elegiac “Until We Meet Again,” are intriguing in their brevity, but it’s “Dorsey Takes a Day Off” that may be the best of the two-album bunch, kicking off with a ferocious attack and weaving two different guitar patterns through the track’s blues-prog synthesis.
Releasing two albums at once is a challenging feat, and it’s rare when both are successful. ‘But The Book of Making’ and ‘Yesterday Meets Today’ allow Johnson to cover a great deal of stylistic ground and make an even broader expression of the same statement.
And as he signs off of the latter with “Until We Meet Again,” we certainly hope it won’t take too long for that to happen.
ERIC JOHNSON : The Book Of Making
01 – Soundtrack Life
02 – Floating Through This World
03 – Love Will Never Say Goodbye
04 – Bigger Than My Life
05 – Just to Be with You
06 – To Be Alive
07 – Another One Like You
08 – My Faith in You
09 – A Thousand Miles
ERIC JOHNSON : Yesterday Meets Today
01 – Move on Over
02 – Yesterday Meets Today
03 – It’s Just the Rain
04 – Maha
05 – Hold on to Love
06 – Sitting On Top Of The World
07 – Dorsey Takes A Day Off
08 – JVZ
09 – Until We Meet Again
Eric Johnson – Lead Vocals, Guitars, 6-String Bass, Keyboards
Arielle – Vocals, Guitar
Roscoe Beck – Bass
Kevin Hall, Frosty Smith, Tommy Taylor – Drums
Tom Burritt – Percussion