Sisters Euclid: Run Neil Run

Sisters Euclid
Run Neil Run
Northern Blues
2006-08-29

You’ve probably heard Neil Young muzak-ized at some shopping centre in your life. Fortunately, Sisters Euclid do much more than water down Young’s tunes. Featuring instrumentals versions of some of the singer’s best, the group opens “Southern Man” with a brief amount of “Dixieland” before guitarist Kevin Breit makes his mark on this adventurous jam-oriented rock jazz homage. The effort brings to mind something Oysterhead might attempt. “Helpless” is given more of a soulful, rhythm and blues angle with the desired results as it breaks out two minutes in. The looseness of some songs invites the other talents here in, especially bassist Ian De Souza and keyboardist Rob Gusevs for the light, breezy, reggae-tinged “Love Is a Rose”. An early highlight is the gorgeous and soothing “Harvest Moon”, which is taken down three or four gears from the original. Here Breit’s playing is easily on par with David Gilmour or Mark Knopfler. “Ohio” primarily stays true to the original with some extended jams. “Needle and the Damage Done” isn’t bad either. After a lackluster “Cinnamon Girl”, Sisters Euclid redeems themselves with a pretty, percussion-led “Heart of Gold”.

RATING 6 / 10