LIVE - THEN!

Well, this is a special cd. Released in 2004, the recording took place in May of 1990 in Japan. There's an unbelievably strong chemistry among the band members of this touring quartet, none of whom played together as a group on any of the studio albums from which the music for this concert was culled.

Gary Husband's drumming is phenomenal - interesting, jazzy, driving, and right up front in the recording mix. Jimmy Johnson's bass is like an additional guitar soloist on many of the songs, just all over the place. Keyboardist Steve Hunt helps to keep some rhythmic sanity in those moments when Husband is soloing and improvising, and he also provides the band a nice full sound with additional soloing - he even uses some synthaxe (or synthaxe sounds on the keyboard) to augment the fullness of the band and stay true to the original feel of some of the compositions.

Then there's Allan Holdsworth. He's at the top of his game here on this recording. If you're reading this review on a relatively obscure album of his, then you don't need me to tell you how great his sound and technique is. He just kills on this cd.

Song selections include Proto-Cosmos, White Line, Atavachron, Pud Wud, House of Mirrors, Non-Brewed Condiment and three improvised selections spread throughout the album called Zones (which all feature a baritone electric guitar). The playing and execution is tight and true, but different enough from the original studio versions to make this a very worthwhile purchase. (The "Zones" are O.K., not great. But they ARE new and unique! They're growing on me.)

Finally, rest assured that the recording and production quality is great. If you've seen other reviews by me, you know that's important to me. The original source tapes were "extremely high quality, digital 24-track" tapes (according to the liner notes), and Holdsworth himself was involved in the mixing and mastering of all tracks.

AH is one of my very favorite guitarists, from his playing with Tony Williams, Soft Machine, Gong, Ponty, Bruford and U.K., right on through to his own great solo stuff. Here, he inspires his whole band to shine on one great piece after another.

Superlatives fail to define his greatness. I highly recommend this cd.