SONGS FROM ANOTHER TIME

This album is essentially a guitar based rock album and slightly different from Kenny Mitchells other offerings on the albums "Resurrection" and "Voyager". This one consists of 10 shortish guitar based instrumentals and 1 very orchestral sounding track which has a distinctly epic nature about it. In places it has the distinct feel of what you would have heard on an early Joe Satriani album like "The Extremist"

As with Mitchells other albums, all the instruments are self played, and the album has also been engineered and produced by the man himself. The tracks are played in a variety of styles, and consist of tunes which Mitchell tells us are collected from various points in his guitar playing life, some dating back to the 1970s ( the earliest one going back to around 1974 I believe) this provides an interesting snapshot of how a musicians life and musical progress and direction can change with the passing of years.

There are 2 tribute tracks on the album which Mitchell has dedicated to 2 of his favourite guitarists - namely Al di Meola in the form of "Big Als Song" (love the title) and Stevie Ray Vaughan with the track "SRV" - which is incidentally my own personal favourite on this album. Both these tracks do seem to capture the essence of the players they are dedicated to and for that I take my hat off to this man.

I can also hear quite a strong Steve Howe influence on the acoustic based ditty "Jazzy Rag" which is reminiscent of that most famous of Steve Howe acoustic solo tracks "The Clap" although this particular offering is played with several instruments rather than just a solo acoustic guitar.

Other tracks show up other influences : as mentioned before, I can hear some Satriani on "Ice", and some early Wishbone Ash on "One New Years Eve". On "DADGAD" there's a bit of Al di Meola again too.

The haunting orchestral track "The Snow Leopard Pt 7" is apparently an excerpt from an album Mitchell recorded back in his early days but in the promo pack he provides no further information than that.

All in all this is a highly diverse and interesting guitar album, sometimes quite intense and always outstandingly musical in terms of composition and melody.

This kind of stuff is right up my musical street and I would love to see it being performed live. If this man ever does a concert tour I will most definitely buy a ticket..!

An eclectic mix of Instrumental guitar tracks spread over 50 or so minutes which the guitarist/keyboardist describes on his Bandcamp page as a collection of old ideas which have been re-recorded for this album. Some of the songs on this work date back to Mitchells earliest playing years when he states he was still at school and used to jam around with a couple of friends using Fender and Gibson copy guitars and basic amplification. What I find quite amazing about that concept is how he can actually remember things that he played back in the early 1970s as a youth, because I certainly wouldn't be able to do that - I can hardly remember yesterday.....clever.

Back to the music : with this offering we have a somewhat eclectic mixed bag of 1 : rock - as described by the tracks "Ice" "The Bat", "The Cream Egg Song" and "One New Years Eve". 2 : Jazz (sort of) as described by "Big Als Song" which is named as a tribute to guitarist Al Di Meola, and "DADGAD" . 3 : Blues in which we see another tribute track with the title of "SRV" ( for Stevie Ray Vaughan)

Mitchell also shows his more sophisticated and cultured side with the "The Snow Leopard part 7" : an atmospheric piece with a cinematic feel, apparently taken as an excerpt from a larger project which he originally recorded at the beginning of the 1980s. He also demonstrates his acoustic guitar skills with the Steve Howe inspired "Jazzy Rag"

We also have a short and powerful track called "The Chase" which is the heaviest track on the album.

From listening to this album it is clear to me that Kenny Mitchell is a talented and versatile musician who has several album titles already under his belt and I look forward to listening to more from him.

Well worth checking out.