 |  |  |  |  | |  |  |
 | |||||||
Howe, Greg
Fusion guitarist.
Parallax (1995)
 |
Tracks: 1. Howe 'Bout it 2. Found Unwound 3. Dance 4. Time Off 5. Joker's Wild 6. The Portrait 7. Bottom Line 8. On Sail 9. Roundhouse |
 Rank: 4 guitars out of 5 Really enjoyed it |
| Reviewer: lach (96) |
Bust out the bass-slapping funk! The opening of this album is a killer! Personally, as soon as I heard the first 30 seconds I thought - cool, I'm going to frreakingly love this CD. And love it I do. It's basically a rocking 4/4 funk beat, with the bass playing a killer slap line and Howe rocking out on his wah. It's a killer groove and one which instantly brings a smile to my face. There's also a nice hard rock feel to it all. And then Howe starts soloing... OH MY HOLY COW. If you think you've heard the best guitarists - Satriani, Vai, Petrucci - wait until you hear Greg Howe. His playing has reached the level that mere mortals like us can't even begin to dream of. Similar to Allan Holdsworth - except without the pretentious "hey look I can play atonal all day" thing going on. But what's great is that he's really got his own style happening. It's the perfect mixture of legato and picking - often I have a lot of trouble distinguishing between the two. So anyway, after track 1 Howe picks it up a level with track 2, "Found Unwound", another killer bass groove and some more unbelievable playing. But then when we move into the chorus you can start to appreciate Howe's genius. The chorus consists of about a key change every bar, and the guy just tears it up and stays with the changes. This is something that's a complete mystery to me and one thing that I hope to get to grips with one day! So anyway, after track 2 Howe then moves his playing into another dimension with "Dance". By now you've heard that this guy can play. By now he moves into the "Passion & Warfare" realm of moving into the 7th dimension. In a way, the intro reminds me of Ron Jarzombek - writing out a bunch of random notes and rhythms and then playing it all with ridiculous precision. Actually it's really interesting comparing Howe's playing to Ron Jarzombek - in many ways they're complete different players. Both scarily good, but while Jarzombeck can write out anything and then play it - if you give Howe a guitar and a 1 note bass line he could entertain you for hours. What's really drives me crazy is the awesomeness of this CD, and then the unavailability of it in Australia.. but then, so are all of the rest of Howe's CDs! JEez!!!! You'd think someone could get their act together. I ended up getting this album off ebay. Annoying considering I could have picked up this album ten years ago! So to sum up, if you're a guitarist... you will love this CD. All of the tracks on it are a killer. My only caution is that it may well leave you considering giving up the guitar. But to hear music played at this calibre, it's well worth the risk. I'll leave you with a quote - It's like there's a party going on in my ears and everyone's invited. My ranking: 4 - Really enjoyed it |
| Contribute my review of 'Parallax ' |