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Roger Farbey wrote on August 01, 2008 reportThanks for this review John. My only problem with the album is trying to determine when JM is playing. There are sections on the album where he may or may not be playing but the idiom played is an asiatic/jazz crossover so it's difficult to know. Sounds mad I realise but I could point out the exact bits I mean. Generally I like this album more than Industrial Zen which was just a bit too 'industrial' for my liking. My most fervent wish is that JM, Holdsworth, Metheny et al would just put down their guitar synths/synthaxes and pick up the good old electric (or even acoustic) guitars again.
Cheers
Roger -
John Kelman wrote on August 02, 2008 reportHi Roger,
Thanks for writing, and I can understand the dilemma. I guess the real question is: does an artist' style transcend the instrument so it's independently recognizable? I'd say, in the case of McLaughlin, yes; I can hear him regardless of the instrument (accepting, of course, that the nature of the instrument certainly does affect the way an artist plays), so I can differentiate (albeit, admittedly, with a little more difficulty when he's using the synth).
I've less of an issue with McLaughlin's use of synth only because (excepting these last two releases) it's a relatively infrequent thing over his whole career. But I can understand and appreciate your view. But consider why guys like McLaughlin, Metheny, Holdsworth, etc use synths - often it's to achieve a voice-like, breathing type of expression that's hard to achieve on the attack-driven guitar. Of course, guys like Frisell manage to achieve the goal with a volume pedal and some other effects; but it's an ongoing dilemma with some guitarists - they love the instrument in so many ways, but wish they could, at least some of the time, get away from that attack.
Anyway, all interesting fodder for discussion, thanks again for writing!
John
