Customer Reviews
Inspiring playing from McKee - By: J. Stockwell, 09 Jan 2010 
I first came across McKee's playing on Youtube, playing "Drifting", & I had to follow up by buying the whole album. I haven't regretted that purchse. McKee balances astonishing technique & musicianship that resultsin an album of music, not some abstract technical exercise that can plague some guitar-based recordings.
As a guitarist myself, this album was so inspirational it has encouraged me to develop percussive playing techniques, but non players will enjoy this too!
J
The Magical Mr. McKee - By: Mr. C. Scognamiglio, 16 Nov 2009 
I, like many, discovered Andy McKee on YouTube, which has been his weapon of choice (as with all Candyrat Records artists) for getting himself known, but I really wanted to buy at least one of his albums for all the most obvious reasons (to support him, I can't take YouTubein the car etc.) & I'm really glad I have. This is one of the most relaxing & uplifting albums I've heardin a whole & has beenin the car pretty much since I got it. Whilst Andy McKee isn't necessarily the first guitarist to do two handed tapping, or to use the body of his guitar as a percussion instrument, he is one of the most accomplished & writes some truly lovely pieces. If you've heard Drifting or The Keys To The Hovercar on YouTube & liked them, I urge you to by this album (or his other album, or both as I will eventually do!) if only to support this "indie" section of the music industry & to spread the calm.
More of a Pastiche - still to find his own way - By: Steve Jones, 29 Aug 2009 
I have to disagree - Andy has got some great technique - but his music to date is a poor imitation of Michael Hedges. I hope he keeps up his playing & study - but the formal training Hedges had, plus his folk roots meant his compositional ability was superb - his used his technique & tuning to support the music he wrote - not the other way around. Its nice to see an acoustic guitarist doing so well, but I hope Andy finds a more original voice.
Only one pair of hands! - By: Mr. T. Hopwood-jackson, 10 May 2009 I only heard of Andy McKee a couple of weeks ago (May 2009) & on the strength of amazon's sound samples, I bought Art of Motion & was & am totally overwhelmed by AK's virtuosity...it's hard to believe he's got only one pair of hands & the percussive elements of his music too are never intrusive & have the feel of flamenco at times. I find this CD very relaxing, even ambient at times, though there are some faster tracks, but all are played with sublime efotlessness & the cleanness of movement between open & fretted strings with pure harmonicsin & around them is absolutely astonishing. A genius & I will definitely be bying more AK CDs & if you've never heard of Andy McKee either, this is the perfect CD.
Instrumental genius - By: G. Reith, 02 Feb 2009 Caught one of Andy's shows with Don Ross last year & it was absolutely life changing. I'm a big fan of many of the other artists on candy rat as well but this has got to be my favourite solo acoustic album of them all. The level of playing is simply astounding & as a fellow guitarist found this to be of particular interest. That isn't to say that you won't enjoy this album if you don't play guitar as the tunes themselves aspire to a simply beautiful standard of composition. As corny as it sounds you really do a feel a connection to the player through the music. Most of the album is fairly relaxed but their are a few exciting tracks whether it be excitement created by fast rhythms & tempo or just through some of the insane harmonics & double-tap techniques.
The album is a collection of Andy's earlier tunes & some old time favourites like drifting. The album is even better if you get a chance to see him play the songs as well as it's visually very impressive. Candy rat have posted some very high quality videos on youtube under the name RPoland, but you should definitely check out his live shows if you get the chance. I'd highly recommend this & all his other albums to everyone...
