All at Once

I have been a Phil Keaggy fan since around 1982; the album “Phlip Side” was my first. He was always versatile and the best guitar player ever. But, I never really heard him do a great blues rock album until now. What’s better, this album “All At Once” is one of the best blues rock albums I’ve heard from anyone! On another level, his faith in Jesus Christ comes through crystal clear in his lyrics giving me encouragement and inspiration. I praise God for what he has done with Phil’s music.

I have been a Keaggy fan since the early 70s. He is a rare gift. This album may be the best rock/blues recording he has ever done. I can't stop listening to it, and when I'm not, it plays in my head. His riffs are classic Keaggy- seemless, soulful, invigorating, inspirational. I had forgotten how good a vocalist he is. He sings with glee and he sings with pure heart. Others have done a song by song review so I won't here, but I have to mention my favorite song on the album, "Stay Home Baby". The lead off riff is classic blues. It is Clapton, all the Kings (BB, Freddy and Albert), Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Bonamassa all rolled into one with the effortless silky smoothness that only Keaggy can bring. His licks are so tasty. The Al Cooper Hammond B3 work takes me back to the 60s. He too is a rare gift. I know it will never happen, but I wish Keaggy would release an album of classic blues covers. It is great to hear Keaggy return to his rock roots. To quote one reviewer, "Buy it"!

I agree with many other reviewers. The most gifted guitarist I know, I'm not always enamored with his albums, as he can play everything from instrumental to blues to jazz to rock. But this is the perfect mix of everything Phil does (except his incredible live shows, looping and soaring, hammering on and on....) Long time fans will hear reminscent hooks and throw backs to the best of Keaggy. I started to just download my favorite tracks but gave up when I realzied I had downloaded all but 2 :-) Get it.

Saw Phil live in OKC for this album, blues feel awesome!!

I've nothing but respect for Phil Keaggy as a guitarist and Christian artist, but I've gotta admit that I haven't loved all of his albums. Some of the instrumental projects have left me cold, and not every vocal album is great. All at Once is a pleasant surprise, easily his best in the nearly 25 years since his Crimson & Blue album. When he's at his best, Keaggy will remind you of Paul McCartney crossed with Eric Clapton and this album delivers on that with top-notch musical chops and deeply felt Christian lyrics to boot.

A homecoming to all the best things of Phil Keaggy’s artistry. If one sentence strikes the essence of All At Once, his latest release, this is it. The listener finds lyric skill where faith shines a beacon, and guitar performances throughout reveal all the sonic gifts a vintage Les Paul can bestow. Mastery. Psychedelia mingles with crossroads rock in the opening track, Mercy. Here redemption finds a classic vibe, with Hammond organ, soulful vocals, and brilliant, fluid soloing. Flawlessly, there’s a transition to Undertow, a rocker that recalls the storied, halcyon days of Glass Harp—Keaggy’s power trio band of the late 60s and early 70s. Undertow is a tour-de-force, and his vocals have never sounded better—something true of the album as whole. With Call the Doctor, the third song in, we’re given a smoldering gospel tune: a call and response track of the kind Van Morrison has given so generously down the years. And with Call the Doctor we are no less grateful: Keaggy has crafted a performance one could easily imagine as a deep cut from Hymns to the Silence. The title track, All At Once, is an anthem of grace, burnished with orchestral strings—cello, violin, and acoustic piano. To listen here is to know that God sorrows over brokenness, and as the psalmist has written: He brings healing in His wings. We need not wander lost. He comes with hope like the morning, calling our name. A joy-filled change of pace comes with I Love the Way You Love Me, the first of two cuts that remind us why love songs always bring some of Keaggy’s most heartfelt moments—much like another peer named McCartney. The same holds true for the second track, La La La Love You—and with both songs, we’re treated to “roll the windows down, and bury the volume on a summer’s day” music. My Guitar’s In Love is a bravura rock shout-out, studded with scorching solos, with cool shadings of Hofner-like bass. And here Keaggy doesn’t hesitate to put his Les Paul through its paces—3:47 goes by far too quickly! Stay Home Baby is a blues stomp that would fit right in for New Orleans—and here the love of a caring wife, and home’s virtues lend all the inspiration. Driving piano and guitar ignite Fearless Love, a rocker that calls us to seek the road of compassion, and share reasons for hope. It’s a message Keaggy has always cherished and kept. It finds telling expression here. Twenty years back, Keaggy recorded a stellar cover of the Son House blues classic, “John the Revelator,” and on All At Once, he returns to this rich vein of rock & roll’s roots with “Ezekiel,” a brilliant track co-written and performed with Ashley Cleveland. Modern blues has never sounded better, with searing, soulful guitar and vocals. “I Prayed for You,” track 12, is song for all who’ve travelled a sometimes long, troubled road, with words of solace, intercession, and abiding friendship. Here seamless guitar lines create a powerful sense of mood and place, building in intensity throughout. They seem to echo the struggle and testing so many face—all the while, they movingly compliment the lyric, pointing at last to the promise of far light and shelter, with the God of all hope. Near the close of the album Keaggy returns, with unerring sureness of touch, to the heart of classic blues, giving the standout track, Not Be Moved­­—yet he ventures also to the instrumental track Breathe, with melodic phrasing that conveys a beautiful longing—perhaps to breathe air in the realm that abides forever. Marked by yearning, graceful lines, Breathe seems in its way a beautiful, lissome sequel to Keaggy’s March of the Clouds, the majestic track so many treasure from his classic 1987 release, The Wind and the Wheat. Here too, one remembers another kindred song with a gently soaring melody: the live performance of Mark Knopfler’s Wild Theme. Last of all, and in keeping with the special tradition of hymns Keaggy has often recorded, we are given "I Must Tell Jesus." His arrangement is at once deeply reverent, and infused with gospel blues, both vocally and instrumentally. We hear the quiet power of a solo guitar, organ, and church choir. All these are woven in good service to one end: to draw the listener movingly to the throne of grace. Such is the best hope of life, and that truth shines in this performance. What better for this timeless hymn? For all these reasons, All At Once is a true cause célèbre. And each listen through reveals something more.