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AlbumList
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01. Gonna Move (4:31)
02. New Train (4:53)
03. Jet Airliner (5:42)
04. Wait On What You Want (3:28)
05. Venutian Lady (4:43)
06. Cosmic Mirror (5:23)
07. Let's Move And Groove Together (4:13)
08. Indian Boy (4:37)
09. A Bit Of All Right (3:43)
10. Taking Your Love Down (2:52)
New Train features Grateful Dead member Jerry Garcia playing pedal steel guitar on "Venutian Lady" and "Taking Your Love Down." Merl Saunders (frequent collaborator with Garcia and the Dead) plays keyboards on "Venutian Lady" and "New Train". The a cappella group The Persuasions sing on "Gonna Move" and "Let's Move and Groove."Paul Pena should have been a star. Maybe he would have been if this album had been released in 1973when it was recorded. Insteadit's taken 27 years for this brilliant collection of Pena's songwriting to see air. Wellexcept for two of its numbers: "Jet Airliner" was such a big hit for Steve Miller it sustained the blind singer-guitarist through the lean yearsand "Gonna Move" has become a favorite of R&B bands. But the best tracks are numbers like "Let's Move and Groove Together," on which Pena makes like Marvin Gaye--his husky voice working the magic of eros. Or "Cosmic Mirror," which recalls nothing less than Hendrix's "Machine Gun," testifying to Pena's brawny-toned guitar virtuosity. (He also outplays Miller's version of "Jet Airliner" with Clapton-like bends and vibrato.) If spirituals and country are your bagPena captures a seeker's fervor in the title track's freedom prayer and turns "Venutian Lady" into a tripped-out reflection of hippie-era Nashville. The good news is that now Pena may get his shot. He's making a new albumand this time there will be no waiting. -- Ted DrozdowskiWhen Paul Pena released his folk-blues debut on Capitol in 1972 it garnered little attention except for praise from a few discerning critics. The Cape Cod nativeborn blind to parents from Cape Verdethen went on to play guitar in blues bandsincluding T-Bone Walker's. He later dropped out of sightonly to emerge recently as the Tuvan-style throat-singing subject of the Sundance award-winning film Genghis Blues. This follow-up albumNew Trainhad been produced in 1973. Here it isa mere 28 years laterand it's at least as good as the first. Among the session's mostly autobiographical songs can be found one surprise: the original version of "Jet Airliner," a song that became a huge hit for Steve Miller in 1977. Aided by a cast that includes Ben Sidran (who also produced)Harvey BrooksJerry GarciaMerle Saunders andon one trackThe PersuasionsPena (who is now seriously ill) comes across as a major talent that time forgot. -Paul-Emile Comeau
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