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December 2002

 

     
 

 
STEVE HOWE


STEVE HACKETT

 

 
BALLURIO
 
MATILDA
 
OZRIC TENTACLES
 
CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO
 
     
  STEVE HOWE
Skyline
(IOMA)

In late 2002 Steve Howe returned with one of his best solo studio albums yet and his first for the prolific prog-rock masters at Inside Out Music America. In between his live and studio work as the guitarist in Yes, Howe released his acoustic album Natural Timbre in 2001 and he follows it up with the eclectic, orchestral sounds of Skyline. According to Howe, “I like to keep moving around and not stay in one sort of musical pattern. My last album, 2002’s Natural Timbre was more acoustic-oriented and I felt I had exhausted that kind of playing for a time.” Howe performs much of Skyline himself although his long time musical cohort, keyboardist Paul Sutin aids the guitar master on a number of tracks. Very much in the spirit of his work with Yes, Skyline is filled with a diverse collection of Howe’s memorable melodies, riffs and arrangements. The guitarist adds, “I never wanted to be pinned down, and guitarists are dreadfully typecast in the same way actors sometimes are for certain roles. You were viewed as a rock guitarist or a jazz guitarist, and there didn’t seem to be any middle until I heard Chet Atkins. I kind of mixed my goals because I always wanted to be a performing guitarist but I wanted to write music as well.” Released in the afterglow of the success of the 2001 Yes album, Magnification, Skyline is classic Howe from start to finish.
www.insideoutmusic.com / www.stevehowe.com


 
  STEVE HACKETT
Somewhere In South America...
(MVD / Camino)

The Oaks, PA.-based MVD made a number of people quite happy a couple years back with The Tokyo Tapes DVD from progressive rock superstar Steve Hackett and in 2002 they follow up with another Hackett DVD entitled Somewhere In South America...Live At Teatro Coliseo Buenos Aires. This CD might not have the huge names featured on The Tokyo Tapes—like one time King Crimson members Ian McDonald and John Wetton—but it does feature another mightily impressive performance by the progressive guitar superstar who’s assisted here by Roger King (keyboards), Gary O’Toole (drums), Terry Gregory (bass) and Rob Townsend (sax, flute). A well filmed and brilliantly executed example of Hackett’s 2000 sound, the mostly instrumental two hour DVD features a number of classic Hackett tracks including “Watcher Of The Skies” (a spooky, shorter instrumental version), “Los Endos”, “Riding The Colossus”, “Sierra Quemada” as well as Steve's fine vocal work on “Darktown”. In addition, the DVD contains “Somewhere In Italy”—bonus footage packed with backstage footage and interviews from Steve’s 2000 Italian tour.
www.stevehackett.com

 


 
  BALLURIO
In The Machine
(Eigg Island)

The phrase ‘progressive instrumental rock’ really doesn’t do justice to the 2002 CD from VA.-based guitarist Ballurio. As good as his 2000 record, Spider Dance was, in retrospect it was really the stepping stone on the road to the brilliantly conceived In The Machine. Tastefully described as ‘an instrumental exploration of guitar rock from the perspective of melody and orchestrated guitar’, the 2002 release of In The Machine takes Ballurio’s one of a kind approach to progressive, hard rock, instrumental music soaring to new heights. While the guitarist wrote, arranged, performed, programmed, produced, engineered and mixed the nine track In The Machine himself, there’s no shortage of stunning musical ideas and studio craft on hand. Although in the past he’s been compared to greats like Steve Morse, Steve Vai and even Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream, Ballurio delivers the breakthrough CD he promised with the superbly crafted In The Machine.
www.ballurio.com


 
  MATILDA
The Angel Of The North
(Magic)

The French-based Magic Records continues on with some excellent new guitar-based albums and reissues. Topping the list is the 2002 instrumental CD from France’s teenage guitar sensation Matilda, who follows up her 2000 CD Little Shadow with the 12 track The Angel Of The North. She may still be in high school, but Matilda has some cool new sounds on Angel, including the title track and covers of Shadows’ classics like “Blue Star”, “Wonderful Land” and a cover of “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”. Greatly influenced by the area in England called Newcastle upon Tyne, The Angel Of The North, is an excellent album of European style guitar sounds as presented by a youthful, gifted Shadows disciple.
www.magic-records.com



 
  OZRIC TENTACLES
Live At The Pongmasters Ball
(Snapper)

That whole Planet Gong movement between the late ‘60s till the late ‘70s, found guitarist Steve Hillage in the company of the loony genius Daevid Allan. No doubt inspiring many a great player, Hillage and Allan took their glissando guitar techniques to new heights within and without Gong. Respect for the sounds of vintage instrumental space guitar music could be viewed as a prime element that led to the formation of Ozric Tentacles, a band that released their first cassettes in 84/85. Guitarist Ed Wynne and his merry band of space cowboys have been mesmerizing audiences and audiophiles for quite a while now and the group’s latest—a new double disc live set on Snapper Music is a marvel to hear. Recorded at the popular Shepherds Bush Empire in London on 3/29/02 the double CD Live At The Pongmasters Ball presents a recent snapshot of the British space cowboys in prime form.
www.ozrics.com

 


 
  CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO
A Christmas Album
(IOMA)

Although it was recorded over a five day period in October 2001, A Christmas Album is truly an album for the ages. Coming off the success of their 2002 studio album CG3+2, California Guitar Trio have wisely re-released A ChristmasAlbum on Inside Out Music America. On A Christmas Album, the acclaimed guitar group put their own unique spin on Christmas holiday music with group member Paul Richards adding, “In working with traditional pieces of music we wanted to put our twist on things and bring them to life. We didn’t want the music to sound plain. You can hear on each piece how we made it our own.” CGT have long been praised for their progressive approach to acoustic guitar music and A Christmas Album is certainly up there among the group’s best recordings yet. With Richards ably assisted by his CGT mates Bert Lams and Hideyo Moriya, California Guitar Trio continue their fascinating approach to modern, progressive acoustic guitar music.
www.cgtrio.com

 

Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed in mwe3.com and 20th Century Guitar. Send to P.O. Box 630249, Little Neck, N.Y. 11363-0249 e-mail: info@mwe3.com


 
 
 
   
Attention Artists and Record Companies: Have your CD reviewed by mwe3.com. Send to: MWE3.com CD Reviews Editor Robert Silverstein, P.O. Box 630249, Little Neck, N.Y. 11363-0249
 e-mail:
info@mwe3.com