RON THAL/THE ADVENTURES OF BUMBLEFOOT

Ronald Jay Blumenthal is one of the most inventive guitarists I know. He shortened his name to Ron Thal, and he also goes by Bumblefoot. The man is from NY and he is multi-talented. He almost does it all here on his 1995 debut. The cover art, the production, compositions, performance and drum programming. There is a guest adding timbales on "Ick", and some guest slap bass and narration on 'Bumblefoot". There is some keyboards offering horn-like sounds on 3 tracks, along with piano on "Blue Tongue".

But this really is about Ron's incredible performance on his guitars. No vocals other than grunts, groans and the odd shout out on the opener "Bumblefoot". The 12 song titles all represent an animal disease. And those 12 diseases are represented on the cover art by 12 different characters. This was recorded in Ron's basement on his digital 16-track from August to October 1994, except for three tracks which were recorded earlier. This clocks in at around 45 minutes, and I do have a top three to talk about.

I feel the album gets off on the wrong foot(haha) with "Bumblefoot". I mean it's a great song, but those silly shout outs of "Bumblefoot!" several times are annoying. Hey, he was a kid here. And Ron is about entertaining, and the man is funny. I just feel like this is the one track I'd skip if I did that. The rest is gravy. The top three include that second song "Orf" which would have been a great opener. It just sounds so much better, and keep in mind that "Bumblefoot" song was recorded earlier.

I find "Orf" so uplifting when Thal is soaring on that guitar. When it slows right down we get some complex guitar, and I love his tone here. Repeated themes, and I really like those guitar expressions around 3 1/2 minutes. "Strawberry Footrot" is another top three. Love the heavy sound, and again the guitar tone. Just a great guitar track really. Finally, "Rinderpest" rounds out my top three. The warmth! Deep sounds before the guitar arrives soaring. I really like this, then it reverts back to that opening theme.

I also want to mention the 1 1/2 minute "Mailgnant Carbuncle" for the amazing guitar show. Ron has so many ideas, but also the nerve to follow through on some of these insane musical thoughts. He truly thinks out side the box, or bucket if you will. A solid 4 stars for these adventerous tales of woe.

PS I had already reviewed Ron's second release "Hermit" back in 2016, and mentioned there that he had a real drummer on board, but not so on the debut. Well, I had forgotten all that. After a couple of spins I decided to look up who the drummer was. Haha, what drummer? Usually in a case like this, once I find out about the programmed drums, the next listen reveals that in spades. Not here. I swear it's a real drummer, even after reading this information. Again, the man is so talented, in so many ways.

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