| Artist: | Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Nils Lofgren | Crystal Ball | | | | | |
| 2. Steve Hackett | A Life In Movies | | | | | |
| 3. Tom Verlaine | The 62 | | | | | |
| 4. Bob Mould | No Water In Hell | | | | | |
| 5. Adrian Belew | Still Life With A Dobro | | | | | |
| 6. Gary Myrick | That Boy's Evil | | | | | |
| 7. Mick Taylor | Red Shoes | | | | | |
| 8. Dominic Miller | Otis | | | | | |
| 9. Robert Fripp/LoCG | Eye Of The Needle | | | | | |
| 10.Steve Morse | Morning Rush Hour | | | | ||
As the title probably implies, Guitar Speak 3 was the final release in the trilogy issued by the NoSpeak division of IRS records. Like those before it, this album gives various guitarists the opportunity to display their craft in a state of relative freedom -- each track is a showcase for the guitarist's abilities, devoid of lyrics and generally featuring other instruments in only a secondary role. For those interested in "the craft", these albums are very useful overviews.
I have heard the suggestion that GS3 is the best album of the series for progressive fans -- and, to be sure, the presence of Belew, Hackett and Fripp tracks on the same disc should impress many readers, irrespective of any comments I could make. For my own part, I'm not entirely convinced that it's the best in the series -- it's certainly better than the uneven GS2, but GS1 may ultimately come out slightly ahead on a track-by-track basis (see the earlier Tentative Review for my further comments on this album). The distinction, however, is minimal -- progressive fans should appreciate most of both 1 and 3, and it seems unlikely that arguments over which is the better of the two could advance beyond mere quibbles.
From the standpoint of progressive listeners and guitar craftsmen in general, one advantage of the Guitar Speak format is that the featured guitarists are allowed to develop their pieces without worrying too much about time constraints -- each track is given the potential to explore vast musical territories, and some of those which begin on fairly prosaic notes are still able to cover valuable ground by track's end. For this reason, even the less "impressive" tracks on the albums are still generally of some merit -- while some might complain of indulgence, such carping seems rather absurd for an album of this sort.
One feature which GS1 and GS3 have in common is that both works begin with a stellar track by an artist who isn't normally associated with such heights in progressive circles. On 1, it was Alvin Lee; here, ex- Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren is given an opportunity to shine on "Crystal Ball". Lofgren works two separate guitar lines here, with an impressive melodic development passing between them; this piece does what pieces of this sort should do -- namely, transport the listener through its progression. There's nothing to fault in this track, as the album gets off to a very good start.
After this, Steve Hackett presents the semi-ironic "A Life In Movies", featuring occasional bursts of Hollywood-style melodrama along with more purely musical forays. The focus of the song shifts in mid-song from a powerful electric motif (reminiscent of his earliest solo albums) and a nylon string section, the latter of which eventually develops into a rather Latin-based theme -- both of these motifs are very good, and the use of both in the same track certainly doesn't hurt matters. The drum programming is fairly good too, notwithstanding the overproduced drums on the lead-in. This is a fairly impressive work for Hackett, though the "syrup" can't help but stop it from getting an even higher rating, deliberate though it may have been.
As might be expected, Tom Verlaine's "The 62" is something a bit different -- a more rhythm-oriented piece, this number fuses a few surf-guitar motifs (dare I even mention The Shadows?) with a fairly good "classic alternative" backdrop. As per the nature of such music, the repetition isn't really too much of a problem (though the end might have been curtailed a bit...). Verlaine may be a notoriously bitter iconoclast, but he clearly has skills within his idiom.
Things take somewhat of a downward step with Bob Mould's "No Water In Hell". Although Mould is a talented songwriter and musician, this track doesn't really present him at the height of his skills -- the thrash elements are more suggestive of pure metal than the underground scene from which he came, and some of the guitar work is clearly flash without substance. Still, as per my previous comments on the nature of album, some parts of value nevertheless manage to come through -- occasional signal guitar lines and a sonically impressive mega-distortion bit fall into this category. It's a good track in the final analysis, but not without its flaws.
Adrian Belew's "Still Life With A Dobro" is a work of audio austerity, using tone-colours to create a very specific musical image; Mike Barnett's string bass only adds to this effect. This is an impressive work, and one which suggests that Belew can be trusted to use MIDI technology for similar purposes (even though this track apparently features no MIDI). And there's not really much more to say ...
The next three days are, again, a bit of a step down; none of them are without some performance merit, but neither do they reach the heights established by the previous numbers. Gary Myrick's "That Boy's Evil" is a fairly decent Southern rock track that seems to depend a bit much on guitar-hero stereotypes -- the "attack" method is impressive enough, and there are occasion flashes of greatness here and there ... but, in general, this one seems a bit stultified by the nature of its medium. The silly spoken-word samples aren't a point in its favour either.
Ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor provides "Red Shoes" next, and somehow manages to be outshined by his backing band in the process -- even for someone best known as a second guitarist, this still can't help but be a bit disturbing on an album such as this. The track begins with a fairly ordinary classic rock bit, shifting to a bass-heavy funk-rock ethos in due order (this being the best part of the song, btw). The keyboards occasionally seem steeped in the regrettable elements of '80s jazz, though their presence is less than malevolent in general. A good-but-not-great track, this is somewhat less than essential to the album (one wonders if Taylor couldn't have been persuaded to let his guitar speak a bit more ... anyway ...).
Dominic Miller's "Otis" is a fairly ordinary blues-rock number, played well. The song threatens to shift into a different zone entirely at one point, which lasts for all of five seconds. A tolerable piece, this one nevertheless gets by on little other than virtuosity -- it certainly doesn't leave me wanted much more of the same.
Given Robert Fripp's views on copyright control, some readers may find it odd that he allowed one of his works to appear on a project such as this -- as it happens, however, such questions are inappropriate. Unlike every other track on the three-album series, "Eye Of The Needle" is available elsewhere (on the LoCG album "A Show Of Hands", to be precise). While this may take away from the spirit of the project somewhat, any such complaints are somewhat irrelevant in the light of the track's merit -- featuring slow-woven guitar texturing rich in both mood and technique, this track is easily the high point of the album (and is, quite literally, a journey). The League of Crafty Guitarists obviously learned their lessons quite well, here.
Perhaps it would have been better if the album had ended there, but another track instead makes its appearance. Some readers may feel an automatic flinch upon encountering a track by Steve Morse entitled "Morning Rush Hour" -- and, indeed, the "Carry On Wayward Son"-only-more- in-your-face elements of the opening riff leave some cause for concern. And while he track as a whole is better than this beginning, it still comes off as the weakest number on the album. Somewhat impressive on a first listen, this number eventually proves itself rather devoid of substance -- the rock elements are restrictive, and the fusion elements don't really add that much. Not an overtly bad track, this still isn't as good as it could have been.
Such is Guitar Speak 3. There's easily enough quality material here to make for the album's deficiencies, and interested fans are encouraged to add this to their collections ... well, assuming they can find a copy, that is ...
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 28 Jul 1998)