Description
220 is a – mainly electric (hence the title!), rock oriented – instrumental album by the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist Phil Keaggy, released on Sparrow Records in 1996, distributed in the US by Chordant Distribution Group. The album was produced and recorded by Bill Deaton at OmniSound Studios and Kegworth Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. (Track #10 recorded live at Javelina Recording Studios in Nashville.) Mixed by Deaton at Gambit Studio in Gallatin, Tennessee.
Time to plug it in and turn it up with this energized instrumental offering from legendary guitarist Phil Keaggy, entitled 220. He departs from his usually lighter instrumental fare this time around. Instead he offers up a electric, amplified instrumental, thus the album title. Keaggy is not overly flashy, but he is a phenomenal musician who knows how to use his talents. What he has that other lack is the ability to combine his phenomenal skill with emotion. There are many great guitarists who have outstanding technical ability and can solo with the best of ’em, but they last song writing skills or they lack the emotion to do anything but shred. This is what sets a musician like Keaggy apart from most other guitar players – the songs of 220 have many textures and emotions, with each song possessing it’s own personality. Featuring 10 rock and blues based numbers, Keaggy’s playing is graceful and fluid throughout, enliving the material with the true grace of a 40-year recording professional. From the bluesy opener “Animal” through the extended rock out of “The Great Escape” to the closing jam “Watt Ever”, Keaggy displays incredible musicianship and a keen melodic sense. The album flows together and is a solid listen from beginning to end.
Phil Keaggy returns to his rockin’ roots with his fourth instrumental release and 20th album overall. 220 runs the gamut of styles ranging from the Southern boogie of «Stomp» and «Animal» to the breezy Earl Klugh/Chet Atkins flavored «Tennessee Morning». Mild prog tendencies appear on the Jan Akkerman-infused anthem «The Great Escape», and «Beyond this Day» harkens back to Spectral Morning/Defector-era Steve Hackett. Upon hearing the Celtic-rocker «Highland» and other subtle Celtic meanderings of recent albums, one might conclude that the artist has a suitable grasp of that art form and may want to consider recording an entire album accordingly. [Dave Sleger, AMG]
Keaggy has the perfect setting for St. Francis of Assisi’s charge, quoted in the liner notes, “Go out and preach the gospel … and if you must, use words.”
Not being a Phil Keaggy fan, I wasn’t planning on buying this CD. Yes, I’ve heard all the hype, and I know he’s purported to be the premier Christian guitarist; but that’s never convinced me to shell out money for any of his albums. Too mellow, too smooth for my tastes. But when this CD started to spin, I had to look twice to see that they had packaged the right CD. I’m eating a lot of humble pie now. This guy rocks.
Named after the high voltage 220 US electrical power standard, this album is an eclectic blend of music – a little blues, a little rock, a couple of acoustic pieces, and one with Celtic inflections. Phil plays eight different guitars – four acoustic, four electric – and the album is balanced between the two styles. Ever the innovator, he uses the new Parker Fly guitar that puts some acoustic technology on an electrical guitar and blends the two.
The album opens with «Animal», a hard driving rhythm & blues number which I immediately thought was my favorite, once I realized it wasn’t BB King. When I got to the «Great Escape», which crescendos from a gentle acoustic opening into something worthy of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, I decided that was my favorite. Then I got to southern-rock «Stomp» with some really heavy guitar work a la Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I decided that that was my favorite. Three fav’s, and I’m only 2/3’s through. You have a winner here, Phil.
«Highland Rock» is very danceable, if you can do a Scottish jig. On this one, Phil generously shares the spotlight with bagpipes, fiddle, and tin whistle. «Tennessee Morning» is a nice, gentle, background acoustic bit, while «Montana» has some really nice drum work by Phil and Eric Darken to set off the wailing ax work. The list of musicians on the project would fill up all my remaining space, but one is particularly notable: Phil’s son Ian Keaggy has top billing for drums on «Ian’s Groove», another r&b number. As with most of Keaggy’s albums, a lot of post-production must’ve been done to achieve this near perfect project but, just to prove he can do it, the album closes with «Watt Ever (220 Jam)», a free-for-all recorded live and uncut.
This CD is a must buy for any lover of fine guitar work. Does Phil successfully preach the gospel in this wordless release? Yes. He does it by sharing with us his God-given talents. Will it bring the unsaved to their knees in repentance? Probably not, but at least they’ll know there’s no need to compromise your art to become a Christian. Phil Keaggy’s 220 is wonderful fruit from one man’s journey with Christ. [Shari Lloyd, The Phantom Tollbooth, 1996]
220 (Deluxe), 2019 digital only re-issue
I’d like to say a few things about this album – 220. It was a refreshing, creative time for me as a guitarist. I had, up to this point, done both vocal and instrumental projects. I was also a quarter of a century younger than I am now. There still was a great deal of youthful energy on this album!
I was surrounded by great musicians and the very talented Bill Deaton – producer – also a guitarist himself! In fact, Bill suggested, at first, that we call this album “When Les Pauls Ruled The Earth” haha! We ended up calling it 220 because there truly was some good voltage going on! John Mays was also very keen on the music and gave us tremendous support!
I need to correct a title mistake on track 10. It was called «Watt Ever» on the CD release but it’s really the end part of a jam called «Sherlock Ohms», which is on Premium Jams Disc 2 as well as Jammed 2011. Funny – I just noticed the title mistake today – haha!
OK – so tracks 11 through 20 are either demos or alternative ref mixes of the album’s tunes. «Montana» (tr 3), for instance, contains my guitar tracks, bass and drums from my demo but Bill remixed it and added that cool hi-fi insert in the middle. I believe Spencer Campbell also added extra bass to the song. «Tennessee Morning» (tr 4) has my original acoustic guitar parts and we built the song around those parts.
«Arrow» was originally a vocal song (see Back Room Trax Vol 3) that I thought would be fun as an instrumental. The original demo was recorded on a tour bus in 1984. Eleven years later we did this recording.
I think some of the bonus tracks (11, 12, 17 and 18) will be fun to jam to as they are missing the lead guitar lines. Sure glad to have Spencer Campbell, Patrick Leonard and Lynn Williams as my band and special guests Pat Bergeson, Phil Madeira, Erik Darken, the late Hunter Lee, Chris Carmichael and young son Ian Keaggy to complete one of my favorite albums. Thanks for listening.
– Phil Keaggy, August 10, 2019
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/220/723526944)
CD tracklist:
01. Animal – 4:49
02. Arrow – 6:02
03. Montana – 4:44
04. Tennessee Morning – 3:55
05. Great Escape – 7:12
06. Stomp – 4:40
07. Highland – 5:52
08. Beyond This Day – 4:22
09. Ian’s Groove – 3:35
10. Watt Ever (220 Jam) – 3:18
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Sparrow Records. An extended 2019 Deluxe Edition is available at Bandcamp: https://philkeaggy.bandcamp.com/album/220-deluxe
A full-page advertisement for Phil Keaggy’s instrumental album 220 was featured in the October 1996 issue of CCM Magazine.
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