“Miles Of Time” will get a UK release in July, and it is already out in Europe.
(4 / 5)
Nice. Pleasant. Enjoyable. Classy. Quality. Interesting. All adjectives one might use when asked, “so what did you think of the album by….”.
But, some may take that as a polite cop out if you are not lavishing OTT superlatives. Well, if you ask me what I think of the second album by Carl Carlton and Melanie Wiegmann, I will use all of those words and I am not in any way trying to avoid less than favourable feedback.
“Miles Of Time” IS nice. It IS enjoyable etc. A lovely job on the faultless production (by Carl, David Vella and Justin Guip – & mixed by Justin) and the performances. Some top drawer players across this 13-song set, and a fine mix of songs, mostly covers.
Carl Carlton’s guitar skills are sublime; specially his sugar-sweet slide licks. His ‘a life-well-lived’ road-worn vocals scream “rock and roll veteran with a million stories”, and are a snug fit for the songs and the overall vibe here. He plays acoustic and electric guitars, slide and mandolin on this record.
Melanie Wiegmann’s relaxed vocals blend nicely with her male counterpart and there’s palpable chemistry between them. Her best vocal of the lot is the lovely cover of Joni Mitchell’s classic “Both Sides Now”, which the marvellous Judy Collins pretty much made her own. It is a perfect song for Melanie.
So who are Carl and Melanie?
Carl Carlton collaborated extensively with Robert Palmer as a guitarist, co-producer, and close friend from 1995 until Robert’s death in 2003. Carl played on various projects, including the 2001 Robert Johnson tribute “Hellhound on My Trail” and worked as a guitarist and producer on Robert Palmer’s 2003 Grammy-nominated blues album, “Drive”. He also featured on live recordings of “Addicted to Love”.
Carl is a respected guitarist who has also collaborated with artists such as Joe Cocker, Eric Burdon, Levon Helm, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Young, Simple Minds, Alannah Myles, Mink Deville, and Manfred Mann among many others.
Melanie Wightman is as at home in a recording studio as much as she is on stage or in front of the TV camera. She was an integral part of the German TV soap opera series “Storm of Love” for six years, and she has appeared on stage in “Mama Mia!” and “Cabaret”. Melanie was part of the Nuremburg State Theatre, performing a leading role and she is also a voice actor for overdubs to international stars. She started singing before acting.
Their first joint album “Glory Of Love”, entered the German charts in 2023. At their home on the Mediterranean island of Gozo, they love to discover and preserve lesser-known songs from different genres and revive them in a new guise, to make older songs more accessible to a new audience.
All basic tracks for “Miles Of Time” were recorded live at Temple Studios, Malta by the quartet of Melanie, Carl, Wayne P. Sheehy (Hothouse Flowers, Ronnie Wood Band, Tea Party ) on drums/percussion, and Yoyo Röhm (Bad Seeds, Ben Becker, Mick Harvey ) on electric bass, double bass, piano, and Mellotron. The tracks then went out into the studio world, including Keb’ Mo’s vocals in L.A. and Rami Jaffee’s Hammond organ in Las Vegas.
Carl had a deep friendship and collaboration with Levon Helm, the legendary drummer and singer of The Band. Over the years, Carl recorded and produced various projects and albums in Levon’s Barn in Woodstock.
The first single from “Miles Of Time” is the very lovely “Just Like You”, the album’s opener featuring five-time Grammy-winner Keb’ Mo’, who co-wrote the song (aka Kevin Moore). The concept of the official video for this song is really cool.
Nice job on the classic Leiber and Stoller-penned “Love Potion Number 9” by The Clovers, Luther Dixon’s “Big Boss Man”, which showcases Carl’s delicate guitar sound, “Sidewalk Conversation”, penned by Carl’s son Max Buskohl, and “Alive”, one of Carl’s own compositions, which he wrote with Procul Harum’s Keith Reid in memory of Carl’s deceased parents.
Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love”, The Kinks’ “This Time Tomorrow (by Ray Davies), John Sebastian’s “Stories We Could Tell” (on which the Lovin’ Spoonful legend plays electric guitar), John Prine’s “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin”, Bobby Charles’ “Small Town Talk” and Peter Wolf’s (J Geils Band) co-write with Will Jennings “Green Fields Of Summer”, are among the rest of the baker’s dozen offered here. Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Little Bird” closes the album, which looks back on dramatic changes in life and first love.
By Simon Redley
(1 / 5) ‘Dull Zone’
(2 / 5) ‘OK Zone’
(3 / 5) ‘Decent Zone’
(4 / 5) ‘Super Zone’
(5 / 5) ‘Awesome Zone’
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