Jeff Beck - Emotion & Commotion

   For as long as I’ve been playing live guitar I’ve had people come up to me and ask me who my favorite guitarist is. Ever since I began playing at age 13 my favorite guitarist has been Mr. Jeff Beck. I bring some of Jeff Beck’s influence with me into every live band that I’ve ever been a part of. I just love his phrasing and the adventurous way he coaxes a myriad of different and astonishing sounds out of his Fender Stratocaster.

   I buy every Jeff Beck album that the man releases and there have been many that I love and listen to over and over. I particularly like his 8o’s album Guitar Shop but I’ve also really enjoyed his late 90’s and early 2000’s albums Who Else?, You Had It Coming and Jeff as well. It’s been seven years since his album Jeff was released and Jeff Beck has just released an excellent new album titled Emotion & Commotion.

   Emotion & Commotion is appropriatly titled as the songs take you everywhere from the soft and melodic to the hard and rocking. Just the contrast between the first two tracks, Corpus Christi Caron and Hammerhead illustrate the contrast between commotion and emotion. The way the album moves between the two moods is again proof of Jeff Beck’s mastery of the guitar.

   Two of my favorite tracks are Jeff’s covers of Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Nessun Dorma. The melody of Somewhere Over The Rainbow is instantly recognizable by millions of people and Jeff doesn’t vary much from the original melody. He has the ability to make the guitar sings the notes like a vocalist which he uses to great effect on this track. Nessun Dorma is my favorite track on the album because I love that melody. Again, Jeff is able to make the guitar sing the notes like a classical opera singer. If you listen to the way he handles the sustain on Somewhere Over The Rainbow versus Nessun Dorma you can hear how he varies his touch to suit the song. Rainbow is much more subtle while he attacks Nessun Dorma more aggressively. They’re both a joy to listen to and are performed with a 64 piece orchestra. 

   Jeff also covers two Jeff Buckley tunes on the album, Corpus Christi Carol and Lilac Wine.  On Corpus Christi Carol Jeff gives a fairly straightforward rendition of the tune which is very good. The best of these two is Lilac Wine which features Imelda May on vocals. The arrangement of Lilac Wine is subtle and beautiful with plenty of room for Imelda May’s gorgeous vocals which Jeff carefully adorns with his guitar playing. It’s really a perfect track illustrating the interplay between singer and and soloist and is one of my favorites on the album.

   Another fantastic track is the album closer, Elegy For Dunkirk which features opera vocalist Olivia Safe singing with Jeff’s guitar. The interplay is beautiful and the orchestral production really brings a lot of feeling to this track. It’s a great way to close the album.

   The rest of the tracks are very good and Joss Stone sings well on I Put A Spell On You and There’s No Other Me although the arrangements are a bit more standard on these. Another thing that jumps out is how much better Jeff sounds when playing with Tal Wilkenfeld and Vinnie Colaiuta on There’s No Other Me than with the other bass and drum players on the album. I’m still not a big fan of Pino Palladino and he doesn’t impress on I Put A Spell On You.

   I highly recommend this album to any fan of the electric guitar and it’s must have for any Jeff Beck fan. Emotion & Commotion is the highest charting album Jeff has ever released in the UK and Australia and is second only to Blow by Blow in the U.S. so make sure you get your copy today.

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Jeff Beck – Emotion and Commotion Review

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Heidi Nedreberg, Matt Rushton and Tom Nedreberg in Highway 6

   I play in multiple live bands as well as record with these bands in the studio. One band I’m involved with is named Highway 6 and is headed up by my good friends Tom and Heidi Nedreberg. They are a Father-Daughter team who write and perform their own original music. I’ve been playing with Tom in various bands for the past 20 years or so. This past year they’ve recorded their debut album, Love Songs To The Desert.

   I was fortunate enough to be asked to contribute all the lead guitar to the album and it was a real pleasure to be involved in this project with Tom and Heidi. The songs they’ve written are excellent and I was given a lot of creative license to contribute any guitar that I felt would work with the songs. I had a lot of fun working on Love Songs To The Desert with the Nedrebergs. The resulting album has been extremely well received locally and we’re starting to play more live shows in support of the album.

   I played my Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster through my Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier on almost every track of this album. If you like my custom programmed Cyber-Twin SE preset patches then you’ll enjoy hearing them used all over Love Songs To The Desert. I did play a nylon string spanish guitar on the track My Water which fits perfectly with that song. But everything else is my Stratocaster through my Cyber-Twin SE.

   Live Musician Central is proud to announce that Highway 6 - Love Songs To The Desert is now available for direct digital download on iTunes. You can download your very own copy and check out some excellent tunes and my unique guitar tones on the album.

Just click the album link below to check out the new Highway 6 album.

Dowload Highway 6 - Love Songs To The Desert

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Highway 6 Releases Love Songs To The Desert On iTunes

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Ace Frehley - Anomaly

   Even though the new Ace Frehley album “Anomaly” has been out for  a couple months I just barely picked it up. I don’t follow every single one of my favorite artists religiously so the new Ace album had slipped under my radar. Luckily, I subscribe to Guitar Player magazine and they did a cover story on the new Kiss album and included an interview with Ace Frehley which is what tipped me off to the new album.

   First off let’s back up a bit and talk about the new Kiss album. I don’t have it and I certainly don’t plan on buying it. Why don’t I own the new Kiss album? Because Kiss isn’t Kiss without Ace Frehley on lead guitar and Peter Criss on drums! Oh don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the “after Kiss” Kiss albums and have several of them. I’m also a big fan of Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. But the new Kiss album is a major turn-off for me because they’re trying to capitalize on the Kiss makeup legacy by dressing up substitute players on lead guitar and drums. That’s why I’m officially boycotting the new Kiss album.  

   Now back to Ace, I’ve been an Ace Frehley fan since I got my first Kiss album in 1976. Back in grade school everyone had to have their favorite Kiss member and my favorite was always Ace. That was before I even learned to play guitar so maybe it was a premonition that one day I would become a lead guitarist in a rock-n-roll band myself. It’s funny because George Harrison is my favorite Beatle too and he’s the lead guitarist, go figure.

   About the new Ace Frehley album, Anomaly. It’s extremely good and I loved it the first time I spun it in the CD player. It’s definitely not an album that has to “grow on you” this album kicks right out of the box.  I’ve been enjoying it more and more through each listen but it caught me well from the very first listen. Ace produced all of the songs except the cover of Sweet’s “Fox On The Run”. He’s a great producer and the album sounds fantastic. It’s full sounding with tons of guitars cranked up through Marshalls. The bass is thumping with loads of low frequencies and Anton Fig’s drumming is just as bombastic as ever. Anton is definitely part of the Ace Frehley sound.

   Ace plays all the guitars on the album and lot of bass guitar as well. The leads are excellent and completely classic Ace Frehley. That’s not to say his playing is stuck in the 70’s. Ace’s guitar playing has definitely improved with age and his sound is very fresh even though it’s based in his years of experience with his sound. The guitar sounds are familiar in the sense that you can tell that this is the same guy playing on those classic 70’s Kiss albums but the overall sound of Anomaly is very modern hard rock. That’s a good thing because the natural progression of Ace’s playing, songwriting and singing is evident on this album.

   As for the singing, Ace isn’t wasting any tracks with another singer doing lead vocals. Ace sings lead on every song that has singing on it and he’s nailing it. I personally love Ace’s voice because nobody sounds like him (except maybe for every guy born in the Bronx!) but that New York twang works so perfectly for Ace. It totally gives Ace a vocal identity and that’s a very important thing for a singer to have. I’m proud of Ace for having the guts to sing his heart out on this album and I certainly don’t want to hear anyone else singing lead on an Ace Frehley album.

   I really can’t say that there are any throw-away tracks on the album. All the songs rock hard with an honest sincerity that makes it hard to skip any of the songs. In that way it really reminds me of his 1978 Ace Frehley solo album. My favorite songs on the album seem to keep changing every time I listen to it. I will say that “A Little Below The Angels” is a fascinating autobiography of Ace’s alcohol abuse and recovery. The cover of “Fox On The Run” is just a rockin’ good time and totally fun to listen to. The instrumental “Fractured Quantum” keeps up the Fractured instrumental album closing tradition and leaves you wanting more.

   Now I know there will be the standard naysayers out there crying “The lyrics are too shallow!” or bitching about the dialogue with the little girl on “A Little Below The Angels”. But let’s remember, Kiss members are no strangers to adding a little cheese to an album. It adds a bit of classic Kiss flavor to an album to have some cheesy lyrics or silly sound effects. That’s what makes them so darn like-able and this Ace Frehley album pays homage to some classic Kiss cheesy moments. You’ve got to remember that with Ace it’s guitar first, lyrics and singing second.

Ace, I hope you don’t take another 20 years to record an album that is this much fun. But if that’s what it takes to do a great album like this, I’ll wait!

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Ace Frehley – Anomaly Album Review

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Chickenfoot - Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith

   Who is Chickenfoot you ask? Maybe you recognize the names Michael Anthony, Chad Smith, Joe Satriani and Sammy Hagar. If not, how about the band’s Van Halen and Red Hot Chili Peppers? Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar are two former members of Van Halen and Chad Smith is the drummer from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Joe Satriani is one of the greatest guitarists in instrumental rock-n-roll. These four guys comprise the hot new rock band Chickenfoot. I’ve always been a fan of taking select musician’s from top live bands and putting them together to form elite supergroups. So it was with great anticipation that I waited for the release of the new Chickenfoot album.

   I am a longtime fan of Joe Satriani and have been following his career since he released “Surfing With The Alien” in 1987. Joe’s guitar playing has been a great source of inspiration to me over the years and I’ve always been impressed that he’s followed his own path with his album releases and tours. He’s never become a hired gun for a successful band (other than the Deep Purple tour in ‘93) which he did not join permanently so as to pursue his solo career. So I was very intrigued with the prospect of him working with two former members of Van Halen and a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.     

   Let’s face it, being in top band like Van Halen could have easily given Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony an air of superiority that could have doomed Chickenfoot from the start. It’s easy to imagine their thinking could have been “who can we get to play guitar that is better than Eddie but that we can impose our will on?”. But I have to believe that Joe wouldn’t fall for that tactic. So the prospect of bringing these 3 guys together at first seems contrived and calculated but there’s just too much musicianship with Joe and Sammy to not be intrigued by the prospects of fresh sounding music.

   So that brings me to Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Here we have a musician that has been part of one of the top alternative/punk/funk bands of all time. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are nothing like the Van Halen soap opera and unlike Joe, Chad is used to being a member of an established band. I would love to have an inside look at how Chad interacts with the members of Chickenfoot in terms of group chemistry. There’s no doubt what he brings to the band in terms of drumming skill. He’s tight, he’s funky, he’s got a great drum sound and overall, he just rocks! I can’t imagine Chad doing an Alex Van Halen impersonation and that’s  good thing.

  The biggest question then, is how does the new Chickenfoot album sound? I’m not going to give a song-by-song review because you can get that in other places. I’m going to answer the biggest question of all. Is Chickenfoot simply 90’s Van Halen version 2.o? Because we have all the Van Halen ingredients: Top guitarist, excellent team player on drums, guitar support on bass and a dynamic lead singer. So my answer to that question is…sort of. Chickenfoot at times does indeed sound like 90’s Van Halen 2.0 and also like somewhat of a Sammy Hagar solo album.

   Sammy’s songwriting style helped define Van Halen of the 90’s and Sammy’s songwriting is on full display in Chickenfoot. That’s why the album also has the feel of a Sammy Hagar solo album. There are some songs on Chickenfoot that sound like they could have come off of Three Lock Box or VOA but this was also the case when he joined Van Halen. So if you love Sammy Hagar, you’re going to love Chickenfoot. I am personally a big fan of Sammy Hagar so I do enjoy the songwriting on the Chickenfoot album.

   That being said, I’m disappointed by several things about the Chickenfoot album. When you have a legendary solo guitarist with some of the top selling instrumental albums of all time, it’s sad to see him boxed in by the verse, chorus, GUITAR SOLO, verse, chorus songwriting structure. I don’t believe there’s a guitar solo that is longer than 30 seconds on this entire album. Joe is also an excellent songwriter and you do hear his influence on several of the songs. It sounds like he may have had the biggest hand in writing one or two of them which is a very good thing because after listening to Sammy’s songwriting for 30 years it’s nice to hear some fresh twists. But I would have liked to hear at least one song on the Chickenfoot album that was 80% instrumental and free-form jamming for Joe to shine on. So, sadly, Joe is relegated to sideman on a lot of the Chickenfoot album but at least the album is guitar oriented so you get to hear tons of Joe’s playing anyway.

   One of the upsides is the vocal harmonies of Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar. These guys just sound great singing together and there are some great vocal harmonies throughout the album. Vocally, Sammy is still in fine form though age and alcohol do seem to have roughened up his voice a bit more. His singing is still great though.

   Micahael Anthony’s bass actually sounds very good on the Chickenfoot album. He’ll never be considered a bass wizard but his playing is some of his best on this album. He plays some fine riffage with Joe and as usual, does an excellent job supporting the guitar. The best thing about the bass on this album is his tone. They seem to have really taken the time to get good bass guitar tones on this album. It’s deep with some good pop and not the usual Van Halen farty bass tone at all.

   Chad Smith’s drumming is a perfect example of efficiency and energy. He never overdoes it on the Chickenfoot album and he really sticks to straight on rock drumming. I would have liked to hear him get a bit more funky in places and would have liked to hear his drumming showcased more in at least one song. It would have been cool to hear some extended drum breaks but he does a great job working with the band. His drum tone is bright and tight which mixes very well with the good bass tones.

   Overall, the Chickenfoot album is sure to delight all hardcore Sammy Hagar and Sammy Hagar era Van Halen fans. This is good in the fact that the album will have good, large scale sales potential. For all the hardcore musicians and guitarists out there that will be buying this album, you may be underwhelmed by the guitar simply because you’re aware of Joe’s overall skill as a guitar virtuoso. Chickenfoot is definitely swinging for mainstream, commercial appeal with this release. I have enjoyed the album though I think it will take it’s place alongside the rest of my Van Halen albums.

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Chickenfoot Album Review

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