Reviewed by Paul Poulton

Phil is sometimes given a bit of extra rope simply because he can play the guitar exquisitely when he puts his mind to it. His playing isn't always easy to listen to but his excursions into the land of Lotzofnotes are severely tapered on 'Acoustic Cafe'. Each song, which seem to be mostly from the 1960s, has been trimmed, topped and tailed. In fact, on "Here Comes The Sun" it was hard for me to know whether I was listening to 'Abbey Road' or Phil Keaggy's new acoustic album, even George Harrison's vocal inflections are pretty much the same. So you can listen to Phil sing it or the Beatles, take your pick. Favourably, not every song is so close to its original, Dylan's "If Not For You", made a hit by Olivia Newton John, has Phil singing on it and he neither sounds like Olivia or Bob. The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" gets Phil's acoustic treatment; when Carl Wilson sang it I wondered if the hook line was a throwaway phrase but when Phil sings it it seems to stand as a true statement. Randy Stonehill helps sing another Beatles song, "In My Life", very nicely too. There is a little electric guitar on here in the classic but slightly dreary "All I Have To Do Is Dream" made famous by the Everly Brothers. The overall tenor of the songs is slow and could have really done with a breezy song or two to liven things up a bit but nevertheless a decent piece of work.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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