Scott Henderson Discussion

[intervallicdesign]

As the year is just about up, what are your favorite releases from 2004?
What are your biggest musical disappointments?
Random musical thoughts?
Mine are:

Favorites (in no particular order)
-Ozric Tentacles "Spirals In Hyperspace" (my favorite band)
-Satriani "Is There Love In Space" (he needs to give up the singing, but the title track is my favorite Satch tune ever, and i give him credit for releasing an 11 minute live jam)
-Gary Moore "Power Of The Blues"
-Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts "Selwa" (she's a Tibetan nun who chants, and he provides the sonic backdrops- VERY COOL)
-The Donnas "Gold Medal"
-cd release of Eddie Hazel "Games, Dames, & Guitar Thangs"
-re-issue of Johnny Winter "Second Winter"
-Buckethead "Population Overrride"

Disappointments:
-the dvd Johnny Winter "Live In Times Square" (i had heard that Johnny was in rough shape, but i almost couldn't watch this. His playing is still decent, although lacking much of the fire, but his singing is just downright embarassing at points. He should just hire a vocalist for the live gigs.)
-George Lynch "Furious George" (these days Lynch seems content with resting on his laurels, releasing albums of remakes and covers. This cd has songs recorded by a studio band that he overdubbed solos on top of. This seems to be the current mode for Shrapnel releases, but i just don't dig it)
-Greg Howe, Victor Wooten, Dennis Chambers "Extraction" (when i first heard about this album, hopes were high. Then i put it on, and wondered why it sounded "stiff". Then i read the liner notes, and saw that each player recorded their parts in different studios at different times- sorry, but to me that's just lame. Music like that is like a paint by numbers painting to me)

Random:
-I re-aquired the 2 Larry Mitchell albums from the early 90's (great, melodic instrumental rock guitar)
-I got my Suhr classic over the summer, and i'll be getting a one-of-a-kind Jem style guitar in a week

Disclaimer: this is all just my opinion- don't take offense!!!!
peace
_________________
"We'll just pretend there aint no strings"

[James]

edit

[Mr. Mike]

I liked Vital Information's "Come on In"(great live show at Blues Alley also) and the Miles "Different Kind of Blue" DVD were highlights for me.

[intervallicdesign]

Hey James,

Good call on the "Ensemble Modern Plays Zappa" album- i meant to add that to my list but forgot!

I agree that ITLIS is not Satch's best album, but i'm curious, are there any tracks you like on it? As i said, i really dig the title track, and i think "Just Look Up" is one of his prettiest melodies.

peace
_________________
"We'll just pretend there aint no strings"

[James]

hey intervallic, unfortunately i was gravely disappointed by that album and thought the writing was extremely weak and un-imaginative for satch's standards, the performances didn't seem that energetic or inspired either. i love satriani and he's really put out some remarkable instrumental guitar albums and songs in the past (i.e. - stuff from engines of creation, surfin' and crystal planet come to mind, also the live in san francisco DVD was very good also) but his last 2 studio efforts in particular, ITLIS? and SBM have been extremely disappointing for me. maybe it's because he's self-producing these days? i'll have to give those 2 tracks another listen i guess. but yeah, i was so disappointed actually that I couldn't believe it was satch to tell you the truth.

peace.

[intervallicdesign]

Wow, that's surprising to me, as i think the last album SBM, was one of his best (although i don't know if he can ever top "Crystal Planet"), and you don't seem to like it at all.
Personally, i don't care at all for the self-titled one, i think it came out after "Extremist".
And i agree, the SF dvd has some great playing on it.
What did you think of the Vai dvd that came out (the Astoria one)?
peace
_________________
"We'll just pretend there aint no strings"

[James]

yeah, everybody's got different preferences and tastes for what they like to hear etc. and i totally understand that. i thought the self-titled one had a few cool tracks, and it has more of a bluesy stripped down organic vibe that i really enjoyed at the time of it's release, i liked some of the players he used on that album too. anyway...

vai's astoria dvd?...it's pretty cool and it has some great moments, i'm not thrilled by all of the tunes/performances on there and production-wise i thought it was kinda dreadful, the bonus dvd that it came with was quite pointless also. i still think vai has to master the dvd format, he definitely should get a few pointers on how to do one properly from his old teacher.