The Blue (feat. Shankar)

For this improvised session recorded live to two track in February 1992, guitarist Warren Cuccurullo and violinist Shankar seem to have had in mind the kind of ambient recordings Brian Eno and Robert Fripp made in the 1970s. Certainly, anyone who liked their No Pussyfooting or Evening Star will feel right at home listening to The Blue, with its sustained, shimmering guitar work; pulsing double-violin playing; and Shankar's heavily echoed, wordless vocalizing. The music is often very pretty and has a Middle Eastern or Indian flavor. There are song titles, but no real songs in the conventional sense. As long as the potential listener does not pick this up thinking it is going to bear some resemblance to Cuccurullo's work with Frank Zappa, Missing Persons, or Duran Duran and expects instead an album of instrumental ambient music, he or she will not be disappointed.