Provogue Records 宣布在4月1日在英国将会发布 Eric Johnson – “Up Close – Another Look” 这张专辑，这张专辑是EJ的经典专辑 Up Close 的重新混缩版；
这张特别版是为了增加一些现场的元素在这张专辑里，相信这张特别版的 Up Close 会给 EJ 迷们带来一种不一样的感觉。
同样在4月，也会有 Eric Johnson 在英国的巡演；
具体时间表：
London o2 Shepherds Bush Empire (April 3)
Harrogate Theatre (April 4)
Edinburgh Queen’s Hall (April 5)
Manchester Royal Northern College of Music (April 6)
Birmingham Town Hall (April 7)
Salisbury City Hall (April 8)
本张唱片将是Eric Johnson的第六张个人录音室作品，收录了13首歌曲，12首为Johnson的创作，以及一首翻唱Electric Flag的歌曲“Texas”。Steve Miller，Jimmie Vaughan，Johnny Lang以及Sonny Landreth等艺术家也参与了本张唱片的录制。
Eric Johnson介绍说：“在这张唱片中，我想要让这些作品听起来更富有现场表演的感觉，所以当我有了欧洲巡演计划之后，我便从之前的《Up Close》唱片中发掘到了其他一些我可以做的事情。我发现在现场演奏中，音乐会表现得更为自然生动，这就是我希望在新唱片中所达到的效果”。
Eric Johnson’s new release “Up Close – Another Look” is a strange album on two grounds. First, it is not that new – it is a reprise for Europe of a CD released in North America in 2010, simply called “Up Close”. Second, it is not entirely clear what it is trying to be – blues? light rock? country? It is a bit of all, which I suppose in an era of downloading selected tracks is not really a problem.
The CD is due for release in Europe on April 1, to coincide with a UK tour. It has been remixed and re-mastered and also lost two tracks on the way. Johnson, who started off doing session work for the likes of Cat Stevens and Carole King before grabbing various accolades of his own, including a Grammy, says he decided just to “let go a bit and allow things to happen”.
The result has plenty of solid moments, but is not altogether satisfying as a single work of music. The only thing that appears to bring the CD together is Johnson’s mellifluous guitar work. There is no question that that part of it is excellent. He has, after all, been feted by the likes of Guitar Player magazine and appeared in lists of guitar greats.
The problem is that just when you think you are going to sit down to a good bit of blues after listening to the almost sitar-like “Awaken” and the eminently raucus “Fatdaddy” you are hit with “Brilliant Room”, which borders on the kind of soft album rock that used to be the staple of mainstream late-1970s/early 1980s FM radio.
You get it almost immediately again. The very pleasing guitar blues “Texas” – not a 100 miles away from a slow Stevie Ray Vaughn performance – is followed up by the rather fluffy “Gem”. Pleasant enough, but I don’t want to go from Stevie to REO Speedwagon in a single jump. Then there’s a bit of country/Americana thrown in with the rollicking “On The Way”, followed up with an “Arithmetic”, seemingly straight out of a Christopher Cross playlist, albeit with some pleasing guitar.
For my taste, the star of the album is “Vortexan”, a gritty, bluesy, rocky conglomerate that seems to capture Johnson and his guitar at his best (below). I will listen to this, quite a few times, I should imagine , as well as some of the other numbers. But I will be skipping through to get to them.
