It sounds like hype, but it’s the truth: there’s no one like Steve Tibbetts. The Minnesota guitarist and composer has created a near-five decade body of work that straddles several genres (jazz, folk, rock, ambient, various types of world musics) without sitting comfortably in any of them. From delicate 12-string acoustic drones to raging electric firestorms to unidentifiable sonic explorations, Tibbetts follows his muse wherever it leads without ever sounding like anyone but himself. Despite his long career and the longtime patronage of ECM Records, Tibbetts remains an enigma in the music world – well-respected by critics and arts organizations, but rarely, if ever, cited by other musicians as a peer or influence, which seems astonishingly weird. After thirteen albums, with another under construction, Tibbetts apparently felt it was time to sum up his career to date with ‘Hellbound Train’ , a two-disk, artist-curated collection that attempts to tell the artiste’s story. […] from a listener’s standpoint the sequence makes sense, with a sense of flow most compilation records don’t have due to time jumps and a need to cover all the bases. Regardless, ‘Hellbound Train’ succeeds in its aim: it effectively tells the story of Tibbetts’ artistic vision, and encourages new fans to dig deeper.
Michael Toland, Big Takeover
Over the past four decades, Tibbetts has been creating a musical genre that is uniquely his own. While it nods towards a wide range of left-field musical styles, none of the tunes settle into a single genre. It is the continuous slipping between genres that characterises his playing as much as the bent, wobbly notes and fuzzy chords with which he punctuates the drawn-out tones wrung from the effects pedals to which he connects his guitars. Tibbetts’ guitar sound, in part, seeks to capture the bent sounds of the Indian sarangi, and his travels in, and collaborations with musicians from, Nepal, Bali, Java, Tibet, Norway. […] Despite his travels, Tibbetts phrasing and melodies feel rooted in Western folk music, with tunes that carry hints of Irish and Scandinavian folk tunes and the blends of music which fall under the banner of ‘Americana’. […] It is often a surprise that Tibbetts’ music is not more widely known or celebrated and this retrospective gives the listener an opportunity to experience 38 tunes that he has picked from his ECM catalogue (11 on CD1 and 17 on CD2). He calls his sound ‘post-modern neo-primitivism’ (an amusing word salad that is completely accurate - more than a nod here to another difficult to categorise guitar genius, John Fahey, who called his music ‘American primitivism’… perhaps Tibbetts would think the ‘American’ as too provincial but is too modest to use call it ‘World’). If you are unfamiliar with Tibbetts’ work this is a great place to start, but you would also do well to revisit his back catalogue and hear the wealth of tunes in their original settings to appreciate how he has maintained a strong commitment to creating his own sound.
Chris Baber, Jazz Views
Ein umfassender und erstaunlich gut funktionierender Rückblick auf die bisherige Karriere eines der eigensinnigsten ECM-Gitarristen. Steve Tibbetts führt seine Hörer:innen auf dieser Veröffentlichung entlang bekannter Stücke auch in abseitige Ecken seines Werkes und zeigt ihnen Geheimtipps und Wiederzuentdeckendes. Eine höchst respektable Werkschau.
Sebastian Meißner, Sounds and Books
Magnifique double CD: 2 h et 6 minutes de musiques apaisantes, zen, un peu mystérieuses, toujours cool. […] Musique d’ambiance, d’atmosphère, tournée vers la spiritualité et la nature. Ça apaise et c’est beau. […] On avance dans l’univers de Tibbetts lentement, avec précaution, et on admire.
Jean-Claude Vantroyen, Le Soir
This double album retrospective of Steve Tibbetts’s work for ECM is not so much a ‘Best Of’ as a ‘Best Steve Could Do’, according to the Madison, Wisconsin-born guitarist himself. That doesn’t mean this doesn’t represent a fine sample of his unique recordings but Steve Tibbetts applied the criterion of songs needing to fit together strictly. […] And it sounds great, with key elements present and correct: acoustic 12-string, distorted electric guitar (making a sound ‘like sheet metal torn to pieces’), drones, tabla, a vast array of instrumentation and, of course, someone playing a vase. If you don’t know Tibbetts’s music, the title track, with its wild, shifting percussion, is a great place to start.
Robert Shore, Jazzwise
‘Hellbound Train’ zeigt uns Tibbetts als Globetrotter der Moderne – und sein Markenzeichen ist die stilistische Offenheit. Er pendelt zwischen Jazz und Weltmusik, spielt auf zahlreichen Instrumenten, er amalgamiert Kulturen und bleibt doch immer ein Melancholiker, der uns die Zeit vergessen lässt. Gleichwohl hat diese Musik überhaupt nichts Einlullendes, vielmehr verströmt sie eine Frische, die man für den Berganstieg braucht. ‘Climbing’ (von der CD ‘Safe Journey’) ist überraschend minimalistisch strukturiert, eine fantasievolle Etüde der kleinen Schritte.
Wolfram Goertz, Rheinische Post
‘Hellbound Train’ is an anthology of music from US guitarist, percussionist and composer Steve Tibbetts, drawn from his lengthy association with ECM Records. Presented as a 2 CD set, 40 years’ worth of music is neatly split across the two CDs, with CD1 featuring his acoustic chapters, and CD2 his electric episodes. At the core of it all though, is Tibbetts’ unmistakable artistic signature, covering a quite incredible body of work.
The tracks included here were chosen by Tibbetts himself, and for a newcomer to his music, it offers a fabulous selection to delve into. For long-term aficionados of the guitarist’s music, it serves as a very welcome reminder of the uniquely gifted ambience created by Tibbetts over the many years of recording for the ECM label. […] Whether listening to the acoustic, or the electric Steve Tibbetts, it is, of course, the multi-cultural aspect of his music that comes across in waves of glorious, atmospheric ambience. It’s like immersing yourself in a global menagerie of sound, focussed and resonating with a warmth and exuberance that is channelled from the instruments, emotion, and musical virtuosity of the world fused together with the heart and soul of the composer’s musical awareness.
Mike Gates, UK vibe
Die einzige Klassifikation, auf die sich das Label und der Musiker eingelassen haben: Eine CD hat er mit elektrischen Gitarren eingespielt, die zweite mit akustischen Saiteninstrumenten. Und so klingt der eine Teil auch rauer, in seiner verzerrten, manchmal schrägen Ästhetik und durchgreifenden Intensität wie Rock'n-Roll aus dem Himalaya. Das Trommelfeuer, entzündet an Congas (Marc Anderson) und Tables (Marcus Wise), gibt der Musik Bodenständigkeit und eine fließende Seele. Der andere Teil besitzt etwas magisch Stilles, etwas entspannt Reflektiertes. Improvisierte Folkloreklänge auf der Demarkationslinie Orient/Okzident. Kein Pathos, sondern waches Streben zum Licht. Zusammengenommen bietet ‘Hellbound Train’ atemlose Spannung auf der Grundlage individueller Freiheit. Ein zeitloses Ereignis, das gehört werden will!
Jörg Konrad, Kultkomplott
The album is assembled in electric and acoustic chapters in a collation of mesmerizing stories that have absorbed global music influences to create surreal sonic landscapes that emerge from the hologram to surround and embrace those who choose to experience Tibbetts's unconventional and distinctive art. […] In addition, ECM Records is known for its appealing cover art. Things go to another level here, with an eye-grabbing cover photo and— instead of ECM's customary cardboard sleeve over the jewel case—a sturdy cardboard box to house a cardboard trifold album cover. It is as if Tibbetts and Eicher knew they were giving the world something timeless and beautiful. And important.
Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Une musique onirique, évanescente, où les sonorités trafiquées de guitare se mêlent à des percussions hallucinées, dans des volutes impalpables sur fond de boucles électroniques. […] L’occasion de découvrir un univers fantomatique tout en bribes, fait de textures à la fois liquides et aériennes et de pulsations organiques désarticulées, qui peut autant transporter que déranger, voire agacer, mais qui possède une indiscutable dimension picturale […] un témoignage très respectable sur un engagement sans limite et un musicien-coloriste sans concession.
Félix Marciano, Jazz Magazine
