TRIPPING OVER GOD

This album is truly a solo album for David Torn. He plays all of the instruments on this one, and honestly, I believe the album suffers a bit for not having any of his usual set of sidemen (Bill Bruford, Mick Karn Tony Levin and the like). His guitar playing, as always, is exceptional. You are never going to hear blinding speed scales from Torn. His style is an endless array of bent notes and agressive chops. And I like that from him.

The problem on this album is that many of the pieces don't sound whole. It's like he created some riffs to solo around, and used those as songs. No breaks, no transitions. But his playing is just so good that it transcends the songs. The songs that are complete sounding are very good, but I feel that they might be better with a Bruford or Karn on the side.

The best track is Pasha, an Eastern sounding tune that does seem to travel well.