BOZZIO LEVIN STEVENS

Yes, yes, yes!! Sweet! This CD grows on ya fast. I have listened to this CD over and over and over and hear new treasures! This is the cool stuff that instrumental rock is meant for, no filler, no flash, just free-form, inspired majesty. This power trio has famous roots and they've brought it all together masterfully. First cut, "The Sun Road" starts off like a tune off of David Gilmour's first solo album and then vanishes into a driving power chorded, surge of soulful rock. Remember those tunes where the vocalist shut up and then the band started a finale jam that the lame DJ would fadeout just as you were getting into it? This cut picks up and takes off where the great jams quit too soon. Next "Dark Corners" is a heavy, PHAT, rocker that pulls you under its powerful whirlpool of guitar, bass, drummed frenzy. MAN!! Turn it up!! Stevens tortures the guitar into absolute submission without ANY predictable riffs. What soul, what fire, what honest rock! Levin looms everywhere and Bozzio flows in a polyrhythmic jungle. Fine interactive tension and execution everywhere. This stuff goes way beyond King Crimson's "Red" days and what a ride.

"Duende" opens with flamenco guitar firebursts, and slowly builds into a decent Spanish flavored piece. Not my favorite but well done. Next is the title cut, "Black Light Syndrome", which is obviously a play on "Bozzio Levin Stevens". It is a slower paced dirge but BIG, WIDE, and filled to the brim with a variety of well executed riffs, bass lines, and drum tech. This tune took me right back to the heyday of instrumental rock and filled me with sweet nostalgia.

"Falling in Circles" is an early Floydscape dotted with Ronnie Montrose leads, a ballad of driving determination and resolve. Floods of Satriani, Wishbone Ash, Alvin Lee, Fripp, Buck Dharma, and more are ALL there and even that Duane Allman tone. "Where does Stevens pull this up from?" Fascinating!!!

"Book Of Hours" took me right back to Wheels of Fire's "Pressed Rat and Warthog", rainy-day dreamy afternoons with a fresh pot of designer coffee. Pure relaxation and finesse. Levin, Bozzio, and Stevens play off of one another precisely as one mind. It stretches nicely into an up beat jam of hot acoustic guitar work that finally sails away.

Last cut, "Chaos/Control" kicks some serious hindparts!! I find my headbanging ways slippin' up on me from behind. I heard that "E7 breakdown" from Hendrix's "Midnight" on War Heroes and then a very jazzy boogie in classic Frank Marino style is laid down. Stevens is a guitarist with a wide range of dynamics and "feels" in one song but he always brings you solidly back home to that original foundational rock.

I can't say I've ever come across an album like this with such diversity and it clearly "nails it" for me. I have to confess I am one nit-picky reviewer yet I hope to hear more from this power trio. I'm glad to have "discovered" Steve Stevens. Bozzio and Levin have been well recognized and praised for years. This collaboration was excellent!! Great job guys.

Think in Tony Levin and immediately it comes to your mind a complete background of bands including King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, John Lennon, David Bowie, Liquid Tension Experiment, and many many more. Think in Terry Bozzio, and it comes to your mind Frank Zappa, UK in the progressive vein, and many other bands in the rock scene. They got together to record an album, but they needed a guitar player someone who could fit their expectations and the experimental orientation they were looking for. Steve Stevens is remembered more for being the guitar player of Billy Idol all his career, and helping some other artists such as Michael Jackson. How could a man with no progressive orientation could fit in a band looking for that? Thank god they knew him very well, and knew Steve wouldn't fail. Black Syndrome is an excellent album full of different nuances that shape up an album full of contrasts, heavy riffs by Stevens, amazing drumming by Bozzio, wonderful bass lines by Levin. It contains a lot of elements, and some personal influences are perceived around. For example, Dark Corners, resembles much to King Crimson's Red. The Spanish guitar Stevens plays in a couple of songs fits perfectly with the more dramatic changes within the same songs. A very good album indeed!

Second album of this trio formed by well known musicins worldwide in mid '90s, Bozzio known from Zappa and Uk fame, Levin from King Crimosn, Peter Gabriel, etc and Stevens being meber of Billy Idol band in early '80's they got together to form simply Bozzio Levin Stevens. Situation dangerous released in 2000 is the type of album for me to be descripe as love it or hate it, I'm more inclined to love it but not very much but I sure don't hate it, after all is not so dangerous as many pretend to be. I had the album since it was released, listened couple of times and puted back on the shelf. It was not groundbreaking for me then, is not now, something is missing in the overall sound. Some great pieces like opening track , Dangerous, ecellent drumming and in Crash with top notch guitar, but the rest fail to impress me big time. Is not enough to handle the instruments very well, must be some solid song writting, something that is not so spectacular here, to me is to much mellow parts Endless and Spiral are totaly pointless pieces to my ears, where the viruosity take over the songwritting. The ending track Lost is another worthy one. Overall even the musicianship is great the arrangements lacks in something catchy , something to make me listning this album again. 3 stars is best I can give.

Terry Bozzio relates in the liner notes how this band was created. I'll pass it along in my words and also in Terry's own words. Terry typically ran out of funds by late winter because his drum clinics ran Spring and Fall. So his manager came up with the idea of making an album with some well known musicians to make some extra cash.Terry's wife suggested Steven Stevens (Billy Idol, THE ATOMIC PLAYBOYS etc.) and he certainly fit the bill for being well known but Terry knew nothing about him personally. Steve met up with Terry at one of his drum clinics and soon found out he loved the way Terry played including his compositions. The next day they went to Steve's house and Steve showed him his stuff. Terry says "I was impressed, overjoyed and excited...he demonstrated a profound sense of melody, harmony, virtuoso technique, stylistic sensibility and philosophical tendencies which immediately revealed to me that this was going to be much more than a commercially- driven "studio project"." They needed a bass player though not only with the "name" but also with "the same creative, individualistic, expression to the project Steve and I could bring". In making sort of a dream list Tony Levin was put at the top only half-heartily because they never thought he would be interested or have the time. Well he was interested in playing with these two guys and he had 4 days he could squeeze in January 26-30 to do the record. The ground rules were to have "unconditional acceptance of each others ideas- to spontaneously compose in an improvisational manner and use editing or overdubbing to flesh out basic tracks". Only four days though !? Well all I can do is tip my hat to this talented trio. Man this is so good. I like it even better than their follow-up where they had much more time to make that record. Magic was in the air when these three guys got together to record this album.

I'll give a brief blurb on each track. "The Sun Road" is one of those tracks that I love driving to. It's so enjoyable and laid back. Stevens comes to life 2 1/2 minutes in. Nice bass / percussion section 5 minutes in and I like the drumming 10 minutes in. Flamenco guitar too. "Dark Corners" has a cool sounding guitar intro. Some huge bass 2 1/2 minutes in. It turns experimental then kicks back in at 6 1/2 minutes. "Duende" opens with Flamenco guitar as intricate drums follow then it's Levin's turn.

"Black Light Syndrome" turns powerful after 2 minutes. Bass and drums only before 3 minutes. It's building before 5 1/2 minutes then the guitar solos a minute later. "Falling In Circles" has this great heavy sound as the guitar plays over top. Some voice samples as it changes. It's heavy again after 4 minutes.The tempo picks up before 6 minutes as they let it rip. "Book Of Hours" opens with Flamenco guitar as bass and drums support. It's reserved but powerful. Just a pleasure to listen to this. "Chaos / Control" has this wild guitar intro and random drum patterns. It settles with chunky bass. More killer guitar later.

Easily 4 stars for this instrumental album.

I was a fan of Steve Stevens' guitar work back in the eighties and I think it was around 2005 when I saw him listed in this band with Levin and Bozzio and i'm thinking "Is that the same guy ?". Yes it is and he's even more talented than I thought he was. What a trio though. These guys can rip it up with power or play these beautiful intricate melodies and everything in between. This album is their second release.

"Dangerous" has this heavy duty intro that is quite powerful. It settles after 2 minutes with what sounds like guitar synth. Kicks back in befiore 3 1/2 minutes before settling one more time to end it. "Endless" is laid back to start. Sounds like bowed bass to follow then the guitar takes over. Bass starts to lead as intricate guitar and drums also join in. It picks up before 7 minutes and some nice heavy guitar follows. "Crash" is a dynamite track as Levin and Bozzio provide the thunder and Stevens the lightning. Okay that was lame.

"Spiral" features acoutic guitar,bass and drums. Gorgeous stuff. Some Chapman Stick here too. "Melt" is a relaxing song with some underlying power. "Tragic" is such a great sounding track. Very powerful and so uplifting at the same time. It kicks in after 2 minutes as Bozzio puts on a show. The bass and drums lead after 4 minutes then the guitar joins in. It settles back after 6 minutes. "Tziganne" features some additional Flamenco guitar from guest Marcus Nand. This song is a tribute to Spanish fly. Okay I made that up but it is Spanish. "Lost" gets fuller a minute in then more powerful 3 1/2 minutes in. Ripping guitar follows. Incredible tune.

A solid 4 stars. I really enjoy this album.

This second album from star power trio is a mixed bag. Opener "Dangerous" is such a weak below any critics heavy rock composition, that if you will survive it till the end, all rest album will be a real pleasure for you.

Possibly there is no reason to discuss, is it fusion or not. At least it is instrumental rock with jazz fusion, heavy rock and some progressive sound elements for sure. And the problem is not heaviness itself, but that heaviness is almost main ingredient. Plenty of metallic guitar ( ok, there are some slow guitar pieces and even flamenco as well), energetic drumming in hard rock tradition, some stereotype heavy rock sounds. All these components destroy some positive elements, presented on this recordings.

Interesting, that during listening it looks every next moment or next song will be something not such straightforward heavy rock, but it never happens. The main alternative to that bombing on your head is numerous pop-rock instrumental pieces. It's pity, that last important musicians in all sound is Tony Levin, generally just supporting guitar/drums attacks or mellow , but very stereotype slower pieces with rhythmic vibration.

Happily musicians all are competent, so common sound as minimum is professional. I can hardly imagine jazz fusion lover enjoying with this album, but instrumental heavy pop-rock lovers for sure will find many pleasant moments there.

Around 2,5.

If I had to summarize Situation Dangerous with one word then it would be enjoyable!

Granted that I never heard Black Light Syndrome and, at the time, knew very little about Steve Stevens and Terry Bozzio I let the music speak for it self. You know what? Situation Dangerous definitely didn't disappoint in that department! The energy rush that I've got while listening to the intro track Dangerous for the first time just can't be described in words. Still to this day I consider this track to be a true masterpiece of progressive rock music. There is just so much great material jammed into that one composition. Starting with the energetic intro which transforms into delicate interplay between the participants and finishing it all off with one great outro. I would roughly describe the composition as a weird mix between Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song and King Crimson's Red.

The rest of the album contains a great deal of amazing jamming and soloing but the compositions aren't always as memorable as the mesmerizing album opener. Most of the time I don't mind that and just zoom in my attention on the great interaction between the artists involved here. I find that Tony Levin and Terry Bozzio are the ones who keep this album interesting for me from start to finish because the guitar jamming does get a bit tiresome halfway through.

Tziganne is a Spanish influenced tune that I, in most cases, could have done without but the members, once again, manage to outshine the source material with their intricate and skillful playing. This almost makes me believe that they could turn any type of music into a spectacular extravaganza!

Overall it's a great instrumental jam-album to chill out to especially if you are fond of the members of this supergroup power trio. So what if the compositions aren't that memorable, just enjoy the layers upon layers of this skillful performance.

***** star songs: Dangerous (6:38)

**** star songs: Endless (10:09) Crash (5:08) Spiral (4:36) Melt (3:37) Tragic (6:58) Tziganne (4:26) Lost (6:24)

SICK!SICK!SICK!Well,sick in a good sense ,if we can have the pretention to consider something sick being good?!?!?!After this twisted introduction I want to say that this album is a "third degree encounter" of 3 monsters in today's music!Each of them has something to prove,to demonstrate and this meeting was the perfect oportunity!After a first promissing collision,this second opus is pushing the barriers even further!We have the feeling that on the first album ,they didn;t finish something!And it's true,they really finish what they've started on this SITUATION DANGEROUS,and,believe me thet are VERY DANGEROUS!Bozzio is the instigator of this magical trio formula and it's seconded by the ultra virtuoso and experimental bass player Mr TONY LEVIN.Here they have recruted the real discovery in this project,Mr STEVE STEVENS from Billy Idol and VINCE NEIL BAND!!!The real revelation is STEVENS, is offering a true tour de force on this album ,from rhythms of flamenco,world music,Eastern influences and even folkloric!Bozzio has the abbility to play impossible measures and Levin made in KING CRIMSON everything that can possibly be made with this instrument.,and here he is pushing the limits even furtherThe compositions give the feling to be a little chaotic,but that's the magic of improvisation.I am sure that this album has been made in a few days off by some musicians tired of conventional music,willing to have the freedom to express some unconventional music!This is an album for KING CRIMSON and ZAPPA fans,for open minded people ,for which music is not only something that is easy recognisable or easy to be remebered,but for those who have the spirit of adventure in music!Not for flat brains and fine ears,that's for sure! 4.5 STARS for the courage of making music for pleasure and passion for the instrument!

Back when BillY Idol was at his peak in the eighties, word was out that Steve Stevens was a phenominal guitarist. I never got that at the time, pigeonholing him as "the guitarist with the poser". Here, I began to understand what the buzz was about. Terry Bozzio and Tony Levin had a long track record of playing fantastic music, but Stevens' virtuosity in many styles was a revelation.

The disk begins with "The Sun Road", a song who's mood seems a bit reminiscent of post-Waters Pink Floyd, and ends up sounding something like the coda of King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues In Aspic IV". Following that is "Dark Corners", a sond that could have been on Crimson's "Red". Stevens shines on acoustic guitar on the Spanish-flavored "Duende".

Although the music is mostly improvised, there are quite a few twists and turns, mostly done flawlessly.

I highly recommend this to any hard rock fusion fan.

Black Light Syndrome is the debut album from all star band Bozzio Levin Stevens. As the name suggests the band consist of Terry Bozzio ( Frank Zappa, UK, Missing Persons, Steve Vai) on drums, Tony Levin ( King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Liquid Tension Experiment) on bass and Steve Stevens ( Billy Idol, Vince Neil, Derek Sherinian, Steve Lukather, Joni Mitchell, Peter Criss, Michael Jackson and others. Steve also performed the Top Gun Anthem featured in the film Top Gun) on guitar. Prog heads will recognize both Terry Bozzio and Tony Levin while Steve Stevens at this time wasn´t someone you associated with progressive rock. That would change with this album though.

The music is obviously created while jamming in the studio but unlike other jam session albums this one really seems to work for me. The album is fully instrumental. Both Tony Levin and Terry Bozzio create some great rythms and Levin provides the powerful and colourful notes for Steve Stevens to play over. Even though both Tony Levin and Terry Bozzio delivers some great interplay it´s Steve Stevens that is the biggest attraction here for me. I would never have thought that someone like him could play so many challenging and beautiful notes.

The music is very influenced by King Crimson Red period and instrumental prog jazz/rock. Actually there´s little jazz in the music but I guess it´s the best way to describe the music for a lack of better words. The songs that remind me most of King Crimson are Dark Corners and Falling In Circles while the latin and mostly acoustic Duende is a nice melodic break. The opener The Sun Road is a great 14:37 minute long jam with lots of great sections. The most jazzy track here is the title track which has a jazzy beginning and a beautiful and fast played guitar climax. Excellent.

The musicianship is excellent and if these songs are invented while in the studio they are pretty impressive. There are many great sections here and even though it´s obvious that the songs are created while jamming they are generally very cohesive and structured.

The production is powerful and really gives us the oppertunity to experience a power trio on the loose.

I´ve had this album for quite a while and never really got into it before now. It´s hard for me to listen to this kind of music and normally I wouldn´t be too thrilled with the style but it seems that there are exceptions from the rule. This album is way above average and fully deserves 4 stars. Cold and sharp when it needs to be and beautiful, emotional and melodic when that is required.