Rainbow

At nine years old I was going through my father's record collection when I saw the album "Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". Upon my first glance at the cover, I thought it was a record for "little kids" (at that ripe old age I'd already assumed I was past that designation). But the fact that it was in his collection intrigued me, so I ran upstairs to my slap the vinyl on my Emerson turntable. First song up was of course "Man on the Silver Mountain", and my life changed. The quasi-religious lyrics, Bach-ian pre-chorus, and moving solo completely obsessed me, and I was weeks playing that song in both my head and turntable. Naturally, I grew to love the album as a whole, and that was my initiation into Rainbow.


I ended up grabbing Long Live Rock 'N Roll and Down to Earth in the years proceeding and actually grew to love those albums even more than the first. But it wasn't until several years later that I first discovered Rainbow Rising, an album which led to another musical revelation.


Allow me to digress: things were so different before the internet came along. These days if you like a band, you can just look them up on Wiki and find their whole discography, bio, everything. But in 1986, though I'd been a huge fan of Rainbow, loved Ronnie-era Sabbath, and admired the solo Dio, I had never heard of Rainbow Rising. Today I wonder if the delay was simply fate: Rising came into my life at a very young, receptive point in my life, after two years of playing guitar.


At the time I was living on the streets homeless, kicked out of college with nothing but my guitar and the clothes on my back. I saw the cassette for Rainbow Rising on my friend's desktop, and was shocked to see that it really was that Rainbow. My friend played me Stargazer and A Light in the Black, and I was devastated. I couldn't believe Stargazer! Before this my favorite Rock song had been Eyes Of the World. But Stargazer, from my very first listen, sounded like the best song I'd ever heard, period. I remember being amazed that I'd gone so long without hearing that song.

I'd been listening to (and enjoying) Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force albums previous to hearing Rainbow Rising, but songs like Stargazer and A Light in the Black sounded as though Rainbow invented the genre and basic guitar style that Malmsteen and his countless followers dwelt within. In fact, Rainbow Rising sounded like the basis for the entire Power Metal genre as a whole. The whole album struck me as being profoundly musical, while maintaining that hard, blues-based edge that originally attracted me to heavy rock/metal.


At the time of Rainbow's heyday, many critics and rock music fans considered them to be an inferior version of  Deep Purple, but I always gave the nod to the former. Rainbow had that mystical side to them, not to mention the best guitar playing and singing in Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie Dio's respective careers.


To this day I proudly proclaim Rainbow to be my all time favorite rock band and a massive influence on my own music and playing.


Let's all hail the true masters and trailblazers of neo-classical rock and metal!

Dawn of the Heavy Metal Composer-Guitarist

I have been queried as to whom I consider to be my peers. As far as guitar playing, there are some guitar players out there that either shun the cliches or have worked through them toward their own personal style, and they are the ones I consider my peers. Many of them aren't especially well known, but that doesn't make them any less great.

As far as overall compositional ability goes, I think that besides Uli Roth I am without peer in my genre. That is, I am the trailblazer in guitar-based heavy rock/metal composition. The way that I apply techniques like remote keys, multiple voices, motivic permutations that positively reinforce the lyric and musical themes, radical yet smoothly transitioned tempo changes, polytonality, durchkomponiert, and involved orchestration is unparalleled. I have taken the element of dissonance far beyond the worn out "extreme metal" method of obnoxious cantankerousness, and made the orchestra's involvement overall more heavy metal than it's been since Richard Strauss.

Speaking of the orchestra (I include both the Rock instruments and vocals in this designation), in our music the orchestra goes far beyond simple accompaniment. It often portrays alternating, intertwining situations and landmarks. The orchestra will also represent the inward workings of characters; it will serve the story in the way that scholars theorize the Ancient Greek choruses worked in the Classical tragedies.

The literary and thematic ramifications of all this are groundreaking developments in the genre of guitar-based heavy metal. In fact, they are landmarks for the entire Rock field. It's widely understood that Pete Townshend of the Who invented, pioneered, and perfected Rock Opera, and as brilliant as his work assuredly was, the abovementioned facets of my work revolutionizes the genre.

With my opera, Rock/Metal finally makes the full maturation from Popular Music into the profoundly Erudite, all without the losing the hard edge that constitutes the best of heavy Rock/Metal.

Up until me most everyone in Metal has been too awed by past masters. The guitarists who call themselves neo-Classicists are typically quick to be made afraid of the Great Composers and their works. Most of the blame for this lies in the musicians' putting too much stock in the opinions of critics. Yes, the works of the old masters can be unbelievable, awe-inspiring. But today is today, and what I'm doing is today. Most critics themselves are failed musicians, and will bitterly bare their teeth at anything innovative and daring, labelling it "pretentious". My question is: why defer to people whom have failed, better yet why defer whatsoever. I say, let critics toss off my work as mere entertainment, when from all perspectives it is some of the highest Art in this century, and history will prove it, long after my detractors have been buried in their own anonymity.


As intimated earlier, the only contemporary person whom I see as being especially advanced these days from a compositional perpective (operating within the same guitar-driven Rock/Metal genre as myself) is Uli Jon Roth. Though the music Uli did with Scorpions was the best they ever did, it's especially inspiring  to hear how he much he's progressed since then, both as a composer and guitar player . His work from Beyond the Astral Skies to this present day has been mostly sensational. He probably set the only real precedent before me as a heavy rock guitarist who became a Composer of real quality. I don't include Townshend in the heavy rock guitar designation, as he worked more within the British Invasion context of Rock, the one that didn't focus as much on the lead guitarist.

I've listened to/endured alot of Heavy Progressive Rock/Metal, and I can tell you as a composer that Uli has taken it the furthest before me. I feel it neccessary to mention both Karl Sanders of the band Nile and Ihsahn's work with Emperor as outstanding examples of advanced and risk taking composers, however those two are specialists in the Extreme Metal genre, a genre that I only partly explore in my own music. I respect and admire both of them.

I also greatly admire the groundbreaking styles that players like Ritchie Blackmore and Tony Iommi brought to the fore, but ultimately none of those players (as spectacular as they are) can be categorized as composers, they are great songwriters.

I would now like to take the time to make distinctions between the words "Songwriter" and "Composer". A songwriter typically uses ideas from pre-existent structural models. That is, he or she will most often use set progressions and melodic patterns, including the classic I-V and I-IV-V, to base things on. A songwriter will also rely on harmonies and rhythms that resolve predictably, in order to set a "cruise control" type of flow to the song. Most songwriters aren't composers because they lock themselves (or are impressed upon to retain) a certain style. This is not always by choice: many feel compelled to not bring forth or even try their hand at more advanced writing because of monetary considerations, comfort issues, etc. And hey, songwriting is a more than legitimate, fulfilling way of making a living and expressing oneself.

Now, a composer can and often will apply the songwriting techniques described above. But the composer will be more often interested in adjusting the chords, progressions, harmonies, and tempos to suit his or her inspiration, not to suit some borrowed structure. The composer will use, disuse, blow up, and/or ignore traditional song progressions if those progressions are not expressing what he or she feels. If a composition requires a modulation that is remote from the home key, or an abrupt stop or start to get the composer's point across, so mote it be.

I am here to announce that there will be a wave of the future, pioneered by Uli Jon Roth and brought to fruition by me: the Heavy Metal Composer-Guitarist.



Advice For the Aspiring Composer-Guitarist

Here are some ideas for the aspiring Composer-Guitarist to try. As with anything, use what you can to fit your own personal needs, and disregard the rest.

a) Teach yourself how to really listen to music, to all the different voices in a composition. There are typically more layers in classic Art Music (Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Mahler) than in Metal/Rock. So really expose yourself to that as well as the heavy. There are some fascinating things going on in real Jazz music as well, daring contrapuntal stuff. You can also learn a lot of invaluable things about tempo manipulation and polyrhythms from funk, reggae, and rap. Actually, that's kind of a bigoted statement, since you can learn more about those musical variables from all kinds of music. It's just that the above mentioned genres can give you ideas from outside the metal/rock/classical box. Don't blindly write off any type of music; limiting your musical input ultimately cheats you from both educational and entertainment perspectives, and can lead to bigotry in other areas of your life. Just as you can learn something from any person, you can learn from any type of music...even if it's just to verify that you don't like that particular piece of music (laughing).

b) While you're working on building your listening skills in music, strive also to prune your listening skills when it comes to the opinions of others. You are not obligated to take to heart the opinions of anyone else, and you are completely free to take whatever is positive in any situation and turn it into a self-affirming experience.

A warning: the smallest people will try to convince you that their reality is all there is, when that's all they're really talking about, their reality. They will try to infect you with their smallness because it's the only thing that makes them feel bigger.

c) I urge the composer-guitarist of today to work toward being the best, the trailblazer, the Landmark in his or her genre. Don't let yourself stay overawed, and don't let anyone make you afraid. You have to make yourself what's happening. Your day is here.

Michael Schenker Group- Assault Attack

I often call this album Michael Schenker's Rainbow because I think this might have been close to what Rainbow's Down to Earth would have sounded like if Martin Birch had been in the producer's seat. Birch's production here is fantastic: Bonnet and Schenker sound better than ever before. Bassist Chris Glenn's highly contrapuntal playing is mixed perfectly, and even the relatively obscure drummer Ted McKenna comes across CRUSHING on a Cozy/Bonham level.

Opener "Assault Attack" is a perfectly paced Rocket-launcher of a track; the Beethoven-esque beginning gives way to a fast but spine tingling verse riff. Graham Bonnet propels the track with a personality and power the likes of which hadn't been seen since Dio or a classic Ian Gillan. The solo is a lesson in Heavy Metal Chamber Music, restrained yet contrapuntally outstanding for the genre. Listen to the bass guitar during the harmonised leads, it's more "neo-classical" from a counterpoint and harmonic perspective than Yngwie Malmsteen ever dreamed of being. Schenker's sparse lead melody here shows an astounding amount of maturity, poise, and taste that puts the final cast of cement on his statue in the Metal Guitar God Pantheon.

The next track, "Rock You To the Ground", is very much blues-based, but we're talking more like a defining, Blues-Metal style. The outrageous, belting vocals of Bonnet, as well as the perfectly fitting rhythm parts, launch this track into an instant, unforgettable Classic. During Schenker's parting lead, the various changes in the backing track drive him toward a jaw-dropping performance. Each change in the backing makes the sections play out like a chapter in a book: driving home various, highly memorable perspectives. This different-chapters-in-a-book approach to lead guitar has appeared in previously classic solos by other people (Jimi Hendrix's leads on "All Along the Watchtower"are a good example). But the solo on Rock You To the Ground is even more tasty and melodic. Overall, this song, and solo, have to be heard to be believed.

"Dancer" is the single/"All Night Long" of the album, and not without its charm. Though a bit long and awkward at times, it's hard to fault Bonnet and Schenker at this point in their careers, as they are truly firing on all cylinders. Great vocals and Michael is a peak of tastiness.

"Samurai" is considered by many people to be the song of the album. Again we have involved harmonies, this time in Bonnet's verse delivery. The chorus is extremely aggressive, and the ending where Bonnet holds the last note over the word "Samurai" whilst Schenker melodies on is absolutely spine-chilling.

For most others, "Desert Song" is the best song on the album, and there is good reason. "Desert Song" is easily up there with best "slow songs" of Classic Heavy Metal: "Stargazer", "We'll Burn the Sky", "Heaven and Hell", "Hallowed Be Thy Name", "Beyond the Realms of Death", "Fade to Black", "Love to Love", etc. The main riff, in thirds, is a classic of classics, impossible to forget. Bonnet hits a note right before the solo ("cooling the man") that is quite literally beautiful and moving. And again we have taste, restraint, and class during the middle lead break, whilst the passion springs forth after the last, emotionally delivered verse.

After this we have a couple of more meat-and-potatoes tracks, "Broken Promises" and "Searching For A Reason". The former is notable not only for the powerful high notes of Bonnet, but a musically very interesting bass guitar-to-drum syncopated beat, and an overall quirky atmosphere.

The last song is by far one of the greatest solo showcases in Rock/Metal history (and the foundation of Joe Satriani's entire career), "Ulcer". Although Schenker admitted later that this song was heavily overdubbed, there's no denying the exhiliration experienced when listening to this track. The middle, super fast lead break is both awe-inspiring and strangely catchy. Due to the latter aspect, it's difficult even referring to the solos on this track as "shred", there's too much personality and memorability to them.

In my humble opinion, this album is even better than the magnificent, Resoundingly Classic MSG albums that preceeded it. For me, that's saying alot, as I find the second MSG studio album in particular to be completely outstanding, despite the not-quite-so-great production.

For guitar players I assert that, in terms of overall guitar performance, there was never, and I mean NEVER a Shrapnel album that even comes close to this. Get this before you buy ANYthing produced by that massively overrated label. And if you've never heard Yngwie or his followers, get this before you buy ANYthing by him or his ilk, this way you'll learn more about how to play with feeling and melodicism, rather than masturbate the Harmonic Minor, Phrygian, and Aeolian scales ad infinitum, ad nauseum.

If there is a fault to this album (besides the doesn't-seem-quite-finished "Searching For A Reason") it's that a few of the songs repeat the chorus twice at the end. This might seem a bit lacking in imagination to some, but once you listen to the album you'll find yourself not caring. The overall sound, songwriting, guitar playing...shoot, overall playing by everyone, is incredibly inspiring and not something to be missed. This album inspired me greatly in writing my own music for my heavy metal opera Lyraka. I even got Graham Bonnet to sing my songs, which as you can imagine has been thrilling for me!

My favorite ever cds are this one and Rainbow Rising. I first heard both albums in 1986, after I'd been playing guitar for a couple of years. At the time, I was dropped out of college and homeless. Times were really horrible for me. I'll never forget hearing Assault Attack and being completely awed. I was already quite familiar with both Bonnet and Schenker, but for some reason this release had fallen through the cracks for me. Every time I thought about giving up the guitar back then(usually due to pressures resulting from my homelessness), I'd look at that cover and get renewed determination and strength. It looked to me like Michael was holding up that guitar out of rebellious determination in the face of terrible opposition.

But more, it looked like he held that guitar up in TRIUMPH, as though Assault Attack signified his sweet revenge against those who tried to keep him down. This album would help anyone to stay on track, to persevere against even the worse exploding warheads.

Andy DiGelsomina

Wagner and Bach

I've always had mixed feelings about the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. I mean, I have adored pieces like his Brandenburg Concertos and Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring since I can remember. And every Metalhead is at least aware of his Toccata and Fugue in D minor. But I found his other works too often stiff and sterile, and have publicly (read: foolishly) criticized them for seeming to lack passion and significant expressivity.

Just recently I came into my first contact with Bach's Chaconne in D minor, as played by the phenomenal Itzhak Perlman, and had my outlook on Bach's expressivity revamped. At first I guessed that my wonder had to do with Perlman's performance (a flamboyant interpreter). But, having previewed other performer's interpretations, I now hear what most people have known for centuries: Bach's works for solo instruments are beyond brilliant (dohhh!). They are, (along with the pieces mentioned above) the 8th wonders of the world, and their expressive nature is evident. But I digress.

I ran across an article here: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Wagner-Gen1.htm detailing a debate concerning vocal pieces by Bach and Richard Wagner. I'm printing my comment here, as I don't usually bother with those yahoo group gropes. Here is my comment (keep in mind, this concerns mostly the vocal opi of the composers):

"Some of the posts here concerning Bach and Wagner are, well...amusing. Attempting to compare the two in terms of quality vocal composition is ultimately futile; for one thing, each had different objectives. Bach's cantatas and oratorios were geared toward emphasizing the human voice, a goal that had existed for a long time before him, and one that would predominate the works of Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. On the other hand, Wagner's vocal composing aimed toward making the human voice equal to the orchestra.

A bit of general musical history: before Beethoven's Eroica, musical works were for the most part based upon structures that had been throughly defined before them. Bach, Handel, Mozart, and even early Beethoven mostly relied upon the Italianate musical language that others before them had originated. They were often rhythmically on cruise control, and thus quite familiar to the performers. The extraordinary thing about Bach, and this is true also of composers like Mozart, they were taking what could be seen as a limiting set of definitions, and perfecting them with spectacular melodic sense (Mozart) and unparralleled counterpoint (Bach), not to mention awe-inspiring craftmanship (both).

Come late-era Beethoven, a revolution in expressiveness was begun, beginning in Beethoven's chamber music, and ultimately culminating in the intensely idiosyncratic operas of Richard Wagner. Few composers before or since have equalled this almost transubstantiational morphing of ego into music. The vast majority were too afraid to try, or instead went the more extreme route, as composers in the 20th Century were wont.

But, I'm getting a little Tiger Beat here. Perhaps how much one admires Bach over Wagner, or vice versa, can be measured by how much overbearing compositional expression one can take...or be subservient to."

Fair Warning- The Magnum Opus of Edward Van Halen

Many fans of Van Halen tend to put down Fair Warning, as it has nowhere near the amount of good time songs as one of their typical albums, In fact, Fair Warning is the darkest album the band ever put out (unless you want to count VH III as being "dark" due to its being the group's nadir). I rate Fair Warning as the best Van Halen album, not just for its dark, heavy metal atmosphere, but because it's a) more of an Edward Van Halen album than any of the others, and b) because it takes more chances from a musical perspective than any of the others.

Several reviewers have looked upon Fair Warning as being reactionary, and for good reason. David Lee Roth seemed to dominate alot of previous album, "Women and Children First", and Edward himself stated in interviews that Fair Warning was a bit like revenge. This may have contributed alot to the dark feel of the album: the fact that Roth was more and more overbearing as the band got popular.

In any case, the album starts with Mean Streets, the prelude of that song being one of the most brilliant, innovative guitar pieces in Rock history. To hear it for the first time is to be completely thrown: virtually everyone I knew in the early '80's was amazed (and some actually disturbed) by this intro, to the point where we all wondered if it was really a guitar making those sounds. The description "ferociously original" fits here.

I have to mention Edward's interjectory guitar pops, squeals, slides, and other assorted jewels throughout the album. He doesn't do a whole lot new in this area since the first album, but his ingenuity and creativity with the technique is mind blowing on Fair Warning. In fact, it's safe to say that Edward's guitar personality reached full maturity on this album, there's no one that sounds exactly the way he did on this album, just like there probably hasn't been anyone this original in Rock/Metal guitar since.

How many songs are there in the Rock canon like the borderline jazz bop of "Push Comes to Shove"? The solo alone on that track could be held up in college courses as a masterpiece in expressed personality in art. Quirky, eccentric, and yet somehow there's something very arcane in there. Makes you wonder at Edward's mental state at the time (ironically, he was in the process of getting married to a television star).

"Sinner's Swing" is about as violently heavy metal a track as Van Halen has recorded, and features one of the most "falling down the stairs and landing on your feet" solos as Ed's ever played. Some are very turned off by this type of reckless playing, but then this has been a part of Edward's style since the beginning: anyone who plays like this these days is immediately branded clone. To me, that proves its worth in gold.

Even the most invigorating track on Fair Warning, "Unchained", features a down tuned riff that helps the song fit perfectly into the oddly gothic feeling of the album; and, strangely enough, the blues cheering of "So This is Love" actually reinforces it. Check out how the ending of the latter seems to somehow segue perfectly into the synthesized doom metal double shot of "Sunday Afternoon in the Park" and "One Foot Out the Door". Total sludge, and so totally not Van Halen the band, but almost certainly Edward Van Halen the man.

To me, the music of Fair Warning is a bit like a tone painting of its album cover: at times horrifically ugly, bleak, violent, horribly frustrated. Customized to fit Edward Van Halen's complex personality.

This is an essential purchase, especially if you're into Rock and Heavy Metal guitar.

Richard Wagner- Der Ring Des Nibelungen (Solti/Decca)

I started out with the Levine/Met dvd of this opera/cycle. As most reviewers know, that dvd tends to make the more subtle, quiet portions of the Ring seem endless (just check out the Die Walkure portion). I can't knock that dvd collection too much, because it at least gave me an idea of a more traditional Ring, and hey, the Das Rheingold part of the cycle was often very good (LOVE Christa Ludwig's Fricka! Timeless!).

Because of my being advised by knowledgeable Wagnerites that I had mostly been cheated out of a more dynamic Ring recording, I began collecting the Solti-conducted version, buying one part of the cycle a month. I felt that this was the best way to fully absorb the operas; Das Rheingold one month, Die Walkure the next, etc. This approach worked where the Levine dvd ultimately failed: I was able to hear the Ring recorded in a more controlled environment. Some would be quick to point out the disadvantages to the Solti approach, and I sympathize. A live performance can be far more edgy, spotlighting the interpreter's personalities and lending more excitment thus.

For me, the Solti-conducted Ring has become the performance that immersed me most thoroughly in the Wagner Ring cycle. This set has grown with me. It was through this cycle that I began experiencing the Ring on a distinctly personal level. Please allow me to take time out to explain myself better:

The Ring is composed of characters and situations that are directly related to timeless psychological archetypes. When one opens/immerses oneself completely to the experience that the Ring provides (having a couple of books on the subject really helps as well), one can learn about one's individual relationship to these archetypes.

A really excellent addition to buying the Solti Ring cycle are the libretto books which come with each opera, written out in different languages (including English). These also include famous pictures depicting scenes from the Ring, depicted by artist Arthur Rackham. These are each really excellent inclusions that help the listener's immersion.

I'm going to close by pointing out a couple of faults with the Solti in comparison with the other, famous studio recording of the Ring.Herbert Von Karajan's Die Walkure is probably
the most effecting in terms of the Sieglinde-Siegmund duet...we're talking astoundingly moving singing and tasteful, yet committed orchestral playing throughout the first act. But overall, the Solti Walkure is by far the most rocking interpretation I've heard (and I've heard the Furtwangler, Keilberth classic, Bohm, and Krauss Bayreuth renditions). On a lighter note, I must mention the fact that Heavy Metal (most specifically the bands Manowar, Dio-fronted Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Judas Priest) led me toward investigating the works of Richard Wagner, and the Ring in particular. I must particularly reccomend this recording of the Ring to any fellow Metalheads out there, as I haven't heard any more powerful performances of the (to paraphrase Manowar bassist Joey DeMaio) "heavy metal-inventing" parts of this opera. I understand also that many would take this in a bad light, and to question my earlier ranking of this recording as being "dynamic". But I must point out the beauty of Siefried's soliliquoy upon drinking the dragon's blood, his death speech, the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Brunnhilde-Siegfried meeting...her awakening. All of these I found more effecting that in any other recording of this work (I DO give props to the singing in the Krauss/Bayreuth rendition however).

I must point out also that the majority of the Karajan-conducted Ring seems to suffer far less from the often irritating (and head-scratch-provoking) intonation problems the Solti recording does. But I feel that's quibbling, BUY THIS RING if you want a recording of a great work that just keeps providing new things to admire and learn from with each listen. I can't think of a more inspiring form of reccomendation than that.

GET THIS!

Michael Schenker Group II M.S.G.

Of the five absolutely essential Michael Schenker Group Releases (which include this one, the self-titled debut, Rock Will Never Die, One Night at Budokan, and Assault Attack), this one is right in the running with Assault Attack as the best thing Michael Schenker ever did. I give the edge to Assault Attack because of a) the overall more involved and intricate compositions, b) Martin Birch, and c) the superior vocal prowess of Mr. Graham Bonnet (I admit a bias for this last aspect). In terms of guitar playing and songwriting, this is Michael Schenker at an absolute peak, one that he remained on for several years to come.

However, that does NOT mean that this album is lesser from an overall perspective. In fact, M.S.G. is an album that is easier to play all the way through, as opposed to Assault Attack, which has bumpy spots. And, though Gary Barden can't be held up to greats like classic Ian Gillan, Ronnie James Dio, or the above mentioned Bonnet, he gives the vocal performance of a lifetime here. His well placed use of falsetto flashes back to the classic Deep Purple sound, and let's face it: for us Dino rockers that can be a very, VERY good thing.

This, the second Michael Schenker Group album, portrays a band that got over the unevenness of their debut and reached maturity together. The songs here are overall more aggressive, often bitter (see "I Want More", arguably the best song here). There is lighter fare here ("Are You Ready To Rock", "Looking For Love") as well as epic cuts (the pristine "On and On" and equally excellent "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie"). But the sense of melancholy and...well, resignation seems to pop up here more often than not. The album even closes on a pleading-though-resigned-to-a-"no" track, "Secondary Motion". One wonders whether the darker feel of this album could be at least partially attributed to the band's conflicts with producer Ron Nevison.

The listener gets more of a feel of a unique Michael Schenker Group personality here than on any of the other Schenker releases. The first Michael Schenker Group album wasn't terribly different from classic UFO (besides more of a classical music influence), and Assault Attack was obviously influenced by the '70's Rainbow material that Bonnet was a part of, as well as the Dio-era of Black Sabbath. It's also notable that the only MSG studio album that ex-Rainbow frontman Cozy Powell played on was the first one that really established and defined M.S.G. as an individual presence in Rock/Heavy Metal. That unique style carried onto the One Night in Budokan album, peaked with Rock Will Never Die, and pretty much disappeared until Barden's re-entry with In The Midst of Beauty...if it ever reappeared at all.

The guitar playing is as outstanding as one could expect, given Michael Schenker's reputation. The album's only possible weak link, the poppy, UFO quoting "Looking For Love," has a completely redeeming outro guitar solo, one that will most certainly have you reaching for your rewind button. The solos are often brilliantly melodic; in the whole of rock/heavy metal lead guitar there is rarely such impassioned, memorable phrasing as on here. The outros of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie and But I Want More are literally goosebump raising.

This is the album that I'd point to first for anyone looking to hear the distinctive M.S.G. sound. It is also one of those priceless albums where pretty much every song is outstanding, inspiring, and ROCKING.

More succinctly,this album is an education in the art of classic metal songwriting, as well as definitive lead guitar phrasing. If you love classic Deep Purple, Rainbow, Scorpions, and their ilk, then you need this.

Mozart and Boredom

Quotes:

"most of Mozart's music is dull"- Famous opera singer Maria Callas.

"Mozart was a bad composer."-Reknowned pianist Glenn Gould

I personally wouldn't go as far as Gould, but I can certainly sympathise with the ever estimable Maria, and not just because she had a fascinating voice. Mozart's music and I have had our fling, one that was ended upon my discovery of Joseph Haydn, late-era Beethoven, and of course Richard Wagner. I'll expand on the reasons shortly, but first allow me to give you some backround.

Several years ago I came under the spell of the movie Amadeus, and went on a bit of a Mozart kick. I bought a bunch of expensive recordings, checked out most of his operas, hung up a picture, etc. Six months later, after listening in depth to Joseph Haydn, as well as late era Beethoven and Mahler, I realized how repetitive and unoriginal that Mozart could be.

Try giving a concentrated listen to his works, early to late. Though obviously masterpieces, he almost never changed the underlying structure. To put it bluntly, Mozart beat to death the same sonata form that Bach, Handel, Haydn, and the Italian masters had already mostly exhausted. The same turnarounds, repetitions of whole sections, theme, development, recap, etcetera...all the stuff that Beethoven blew past with his Eroica and opus 59.

The string quartets that Mozart dedicated to Haydn are another great set of examples: despite the stupendous quality of craftsmanship, and godlike sense for melody, how much different are those quartets structurally from Haydn's opus 20 (or, ironically, Beethoven's later opus 18)?

It's true, there are many staggering examples of Mozart's genius: the Divertimento in Eb, Don Giovanni, and the Requiem are just a few that come immediately to mind. But, for a specific example, listen to the last symphonies he wrote, specifically nos. 35-41. In fact, try setting aside a few hours to hear them back to back. The melodies are amazing, some of the most dazzlingly brilliant in history. His sense of dynamics can be incredibly inspiring, in fact he was a master of light and shade...but, all within the boundaries of the form he adhered to. He rarely deviated. In fact, his resourcefulness in the face of using practically the exact same structure ad infinitum is astounding. Of course, a mitigating factor that must be kept in mind is that Mozart was a hack, like most composers of every age are (nothing wrong with that, ya gotta eat!). There were political variables that demanded the same-y style and sound of so many of his compositions.

Joseph Haydn, Mozart's contemporary, is given consistently lower ratings than Mozart (not too low, of course, Haydn is widely acknowledged as a spectacular composer, and rightly so). But Haydn practically invented, and most certainly pioneered, the string quartet and symphony. No kidding. Mozart carried the ball from the real trailblazer of his generation: Joseph Haydn. This is not meant to take away from the awe-inspiring genius of Mozart, who (with Joseph Haydn) perfected the whole sonata form of his time. Even Beethoven was so under the spell of Mozart that almost all of his early work, and quite a portion the middle, was indebted to him.

Please understand that I tend to look for different things in a composer than do most other people. Joseph Haydn, late era Beethoven, the operas of Wagner, to a lesser degree the mid to late era works of Gustav Mahler...those men just pushed the boundaries. They were aiming toward things that hadn't existed, that were considered unacceptable. And they achieved things in their own language. Granted, most of those composers were given more room to create in their respective political climates.

Still, it's hard for me to listen to anything by Mozart after listening to, say, Beethoven's opus 127. Actually, that particular piece is so fantastic that it's hard to listen to anything else after it, so maybe I'm being unfair (laughing).

This is all of course just my opinion, the opinion of an accomplished modern day composer without even an iota of the popularity of Mozart. I completely respect those who disagree, and I'll be the first to praise all the fabulous music Mozrt has written, the list is obviously much longer than I've given space to here.

Metallica ...And Justice For All

aka "Master of Puppets Extended, Then Beaten to Death"

As I wrote in the title, ...And Justice For All is Master of Puppets extended, and beaten to death. So many of the same keys, chugg-chugga "melodies", vocal patterns, and composition structures are pounded into the ground. Even worse, the compositions themselves are rarely inspiring; the sludgey tempos and easy-to-make-fun-of dour atmosphere predominate throughout, making it hard to finish listening to most of the individual tracks. Perhaps Metallica recycled all of these patterns thinking that their more preachy lyrics would stand out more, there being little more to distinguish the tracks musically from "...Puppets". Either way, alot of time here just goes by without any sort of lift from the frowning "duh" of the vocal delivery.

One of the most significant (hold on, I'm holding my stomach laughing over the idea of the word "significant" applied to any part of this album) differences betweeen this and "Master of Puppets" is the near-complete lack of any worthwhile guitar leads. Hetfield was the only contributor of anything really non-shred (tranlated "memorable") guitar leads on Master of Puppets, but even he fails to deliver much to chew on here. This leaves the blame to rest on the thin shoulders of Mr. Kirk Hammett. There's not a single lick or trick (emphasis on the latter) on this release that Hammet didn't use on the three albums preceeding this one. What's really a bummer for other guitar players (the same ones whom, like me, really loved and looked up to his leads on the title track of "Ride the Lightning" and "Fade to Black") is hearing time and again his total disregard for crafting memorable, or even particularly musical, leads from the chords Metallica plays behind him. Try humming the solo to "One"...hah! After awhile any guitar player (you know, the kind whom grew out of the "look, Mom, I'm playing so faaaassst!" frame of mind) will become either disillusioned or facetious hearing so many oppurtunities wasted. I mean, considering how admittedly terrific and nicely composed his above mentioned Ride the Lightning solos were, we can forgive Hammett for a little redundancy. But after hearing him rely on the same crutches over and over (the wah and/or tapping whenever he runs out of ideas), it's safe to say that even Yngwie had a longer run from compositional perspective. At least he lasted more than two songs.

This album does have a couple of very memorable riffs and chorus/pre-choruses. But overall, there really isn't even one second here that comes anywhere near the invigorating power of,say, Disposable Heroes, or For Whom the Bell Tolls. Points I give for at least attempting to "stay Metal" and sounding sui generis, a distinction which for Metallica in 1988 was worth three stars alone.

They were great, they were the undoubtedly one of the best...until after Cliff Burton died. Do yourself a favor and grab the still awe-inspiring Ride the Lightning, and the only-slightly-less-inspiring Master of Puppets first for your collection. ESPECIALLY if you're a guitar player.

My Feelings On Some Other Guitarists

This is what was left out of an interview by my request, as I felt it would be a bit cowardly to express this under the auspices of a magazine, one that could have made errors in the transcription. I have a lot of respect for every one of these players as musicians, but there are guitar players I like and those I don't, and I don't hold back when asked.

Jeff Beck "Probably the best, most innovative Rock guitarist in history, and as far as players playing today only Uli Roth can touch him in terms of all around high quality playing. Jeff has the best touch, sense of dynamics, maturity,class, restraint...plus he has a mind-boggling knowledge for volume control and feedback. He's probably forgotten more about guitar playing than I'll ever know. The only thing is, I rarely listen to him. Part of the reason is I don't like a lot of the music behind him, the other part is the fact that he so often completely blows me away from a playing perspective, to an often humiliating degree. Let me put it this way: every guitar player that has matured in his or her playing has a calm knowledge of those that just plain play better. Some of those players inspire that player with their superiority; others have a touch so advanced and tempered with age that one feels like never picking up a guitar again when listening. Uli Jon Roth is the former, Jeff the latter for me."

Tony Iommi "Tony Iommi mostly invented guitar driven heavy metal and is one of my favorite guitarists and songwriters ever. I am a huge fan of his uniquely expressive lead guitar playing. One of the greatest players in Rock history."

John Sykes "Like a more metal Gary Moore, with a freaky great vibrato and perhaps a more sex-driven style. Listen to his solo to Love's No Stranger on the Whitesnake Brazil '86 dvd, about as erotic as you'll hear in Rock. Same for Still of the Night, brilliant expression."

Jimmy Page "Obviously an innovator, especially in the studio. Page is far from being one of my favorite guitarists, but I completely respect his monumental place in Rock history, and would be very immature to not acknowledge him as great."

Slash "Always loved his sense of melody and making the guitar solo add to the song. He always played to make a good song better, and it's easy to like his playing, especially in the studio."

Jimi Hendrix "Again, not one of my favorites, but obviously the most influential player in Rock. I love the really brilliant songs he did like 'All Along the Watchtower', 'Little Wing'...you know, the hits. And I love the solos he played for those song. But most of his music and playing besides the hits I just can't get interested in, and I've tried since I was a teenager. No disrespect to Jimi...hard to smirch Jimi, dude".

Steve Vai "Another player who is obviously quite influential, and I respect him. But for me Steve Vai is most often very boring, I didn't hear him do much outside of the Frank-Zappa-meets-Van-Halen corner he painted himself into early on. No disrespect to his fans."

Joe Satriani "A player that has had quite an impact on guitar, probably the most widespread from an instrumental perspective. For me, both Satriani and Vai are cut from the same cloth. Only, where Vai is Zappa/Van Halen, Joe is Schenker/Van Halen, with a side of Frank. I've never heard anything by Satriani that was particularly indicative of an individual style, his tone is anonymous and boring to me as well. It's just personal distaste for his sound and style, he's obviously huge in guitar. Duh."

Alex Skolnick "My favorite thrash metal guitarist and an example of a guitarist that took extensive schooling and turned it into something passionate, not computerized."

Eric Clapton "He's obviously very influential. I never understood what exactly he did better than Jeff Beck or Mike Bloomfield. Or Buddy Guy for that matter. He played faster? Shrug."

Mike Bloomfield "One of the most masterful blues-rock players in history. His way of articulating licks is absolutely profound and matchless."

Eddie Van Halen "Definitely an influence on me, his way of just letting loose and letting his heart take him, often outside the box."

Yngwie Malmsteen "The Alcatrazz and first several Rising Force were really excellent, at times sensational. They definitely had some influence on me. After the 80s I lost a lot of interest in Yngwie; and once I got more and more into my art music studies I became a bit apathetic. Lead guitar wise Yngwie is very much a more flashy and heavy metal Uli Jon Roth, and songwriting wise he's Ritchie Blackmore all the way, still trying to rewrite Machine Head to this very day. Still, he shot past his influences and became overall far more influential, have to give him props for that."

Gary Moore "I'm not sure there's ever been a more consistently passionate, heartfelt lead guitar player in history. In any genre."

Carlos Cavazo "I don't care."

Dave Meniketti "I'm not usually a big fan of the Les Paul guitar sound. Dave is an exception, that man has a lot of fire, great player."

Vivian Campbell "Many people are surprised to hear what a big influence Vivian's guitar playing has been on me, being that I'm not a huge fan of the Dio band. For me 'Dio' was mostly about a superior vocalist and guitarist showing their stuff over typical heavy rock changes. Vivian had such a distinctive, hot style back in the Dio years. After that he seemed to just prove what I'd suspected: his naive, youthful energy was what made him truly great. Once that was gone, there was only just-above-mediocrity."

Angus Young "Like Malmsteen, repetitive. But Angus' disdain for show off finger exercises, his deep love for just plain rockin' out, make him overall an equally exciting player in my eyes."

Kirk Hammet I was inspired by Kirk's playing on the Ride the Lightning album, and to this day I stand behind those solos as often quite brilliant and well arranged. Besides that album, I couldn't care less, all sounds the same."

Steve Stevens "I don't care."

Michael Schenker "Perhaps the most melodic, tasty lead guitar player in Rock history, at least his stuff from the 70s and early to mid 80s. That very same material consitutes quite a bit of my favorite music and guitar playing".

Brad Gillis "He did some cool, fairly innovative stuff with Ozzy. Otherwise I don't care."

Paul Gilbert "I just recently gave his music another try. When I first heard him I dismissed him a bit out of hand, as he struck me as another anonymous Yngwie worshipper. Once I listened back to his music I realized how cool he really is. I like him a lot now, excellent guitar player!".

Buckethead "I'm not enthused at all about his tone, but he's an often fascinating guitar player who does a lot of super cool dissonant stuff."

Bumblefoot "I don't care".

Michael Angelo Batio "Michael Angelo Roboto. I feel nothing from his playing. Apparently he is a very nice person and superb player, and I honestly respect those things admire his relative popularity."

Chris Impelliterri "The Mummy Returns. Can't remember a single lick he ever played. In my eyes, that's pretty pathetic."

Matthias Jabs "He's obviously a very good and extremely accomplished guitar player. And what he lacks in melodic inventiveness (to be fair pretty much everybody pales in comparison in this regard to his Scorpionic predeccessors) he more than makes up for in being a team player that made Scorpions a band right up there with Iron Maiden in popularity. Ain't nothing wrong with any of that! I just never liked his style and sound."

Randy Rhoads "One of the most amazing things about Randy is how he sounded so little like his influences. There are tiny shades of Schenker, Blackmore, Roth, and Van Halen in his playing, But overall he was all Randy, and brilliant. Easily one of the best in guitar history, period."

Ritchie Blackmore "I think only Jeff Beck rates higher than him in terms of originality. The very beginning of neo-classical heavy rock. As far as personal expression in heavy rock guitar, there's no one that touches Blackmore. Both he and Uli Roth are probably overall my favorite guitar players. Besides the lead guitar skills of each, I admire Blackmore for his songwriting in the 70s and Uli for his ever progressing compositional skills and vision."

Tony McCalpine "I respect that he can play extraordinarily well. The problem is, he has disappointed me far too many times by playing a lot of nothing over what otherwise was a terrific song. I've yet to hear him play a solo that actually added to a song. Unfortunate examples abound in the otherwise often amazing 'Ring of Fire' debut. It just seems like he won't play for the song, to much thinking about it."

Zakk Wylde "I just started really liking Zakk, he plays with so much fire and love for music that I find his style irresistible."

Joe Bonamassa "Extremely unoriginal and average guitar player and songwriter. Why listen to him when there's Johnny Winter, Slash, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes?"

Warren Haynes "One of the best overall musicians on the rock guitar scene today. Stunningly great player."

Billy Gibbons "Fabulous guitar player, with a very individual and much-copied style."

Leslie West "Same raves as with Gibbons. Each were mostly influential to people that admire tasty licks more than masturbation-guitar. You know, the people that are into music with feeling."

Neal Schon "Terrific, melodic player. He's just plain great!"

Jake E Lee "Jake is a bit of a disappointment. His work on Ozzy's Ultimate Sin came at a very impressionable time in my life, and I definitely took an influence from that. And I like his Ozzy work in general, including live. But I was only a lukewarm enthusiast of Badlands and his projects after. That doesn't equal a truly great guitarist player in my eyes. He's still fantastic, but 'great' to me means at least a few albums of great stuff. He didn't do that."

Duane Allman "Cant touch this! Irreplaceable genius, the height of slide guitar in rock."

Stevie Ray Vaughn "I rank with Bonamassa. Why would I listen to him when there's Gary Moore, Johnny Winter, Buddy Guy...?"

Ace Frehley "I love the fact that he plays with so much passion."

Keith Richards "Keith always had a creative, quirky style that is hard for me to not like. It's often obvious that he's put time into his studio guitar parts."

Johnny Winter "The king of white dude blues."

Uli Jon Roth "Blackmore invented the neo-classical heavy rock genre, but Uli took it further than either Blackmore or Malmsteen, especially from a compositional perspective. Neither of those other players ever incorporated electric rock guitar into the orchestra as effectively or musically as Uli did, for them the orchestra was primarily a backing. Uli showed how it could be just as much effective accompaniment, or ensemble part, as it could be lead instrument. I'd say he's easily the best musician to ever grace the ranks of heavy guitar. As far as playing today goes, only Jeff Beck compares to him in quality Rock guitar playing today. End of story."

Al DiMeola "I'm not wild about his music, bit obviously the man is a freaky great lead guitar player."

Shawn Lane "I don't care."

More Recent Players:

Phillip Sayce "Heard some stuff with him playing on youtube. Very passionate player, I like him."

Doug Aldrich "Heard a lot. Can't remember a thing. I actually find that unfortunate, as apparently Doug's just awesome with fans and loves guitar at least as much as I do. I just don't feel his playing."

Pete Wells "I like him because he doesn't always like to play what you expect. You can hear some influence in his playing from guys like Vinnie Moore, 80s Vivian Campbell, Tony McCalpine. But he doesn't usually go exactly where they go. He's quirky while staying true to his heavy metal style. Respect."

Jeff Loomis "I get the feeling Jeff feels trapped into playing all those notes. I've heard precious little of his work that stuck with me, and overall I get that same cold feeling I get from the rest of the supa-shredders. To be completely honest, at times I feel a little sorry for him having to cram all those finger exercises into his playing, when it's obvious he has a clue as to the deeper side of music. Also, not much of a fan of his bands, not much at all. Very generic to my ears."

Chris Broderick "In a way quite similar to Jeff, in that he seems to pander to the beginner guitarists that are impressed by fast fingers and not songwriting and playing dynamics. However, Chris has also proved his musical understanding and skill on the acoustic guitar. The day will come when both of those guitarists start to see the guitar as both part of the whole and separate, and with such understanding (and hoepfully without record label harassment) will thus incorporate themselves into more notable music. I should also mention that I'm not a Megadeth fan."

Curt Anderson "Curt is one of those guys that looked long and hard for a tone that suited his playing, and one of the rare few that actually found it. Such a discovery can really put a player over the top in terms of listenability. He is an outstanding player from all perspectives."

Joe Todaro "Lead guitarist for the band Awaken. Joe has superb fluidity in his playing, and some extremely cool signature licks."

 David Mark Pearce

 "I'm not a big fan at all of AOR stuff these days, but David plays with the kind of expressiveness that really stands out. His style of playing sets him apart from the overwhelmingly anonymous shredding fraternity prevalent in AOR style heavy rock today, Excellent musician.

Nick Layton and Paul Kleff "The guitarists for Firewolfe are both an excellent songwriters and top notch guitarists, definitely players to look out for. Don't miss their album if you're into heavy rock, they've got a killer singer fronting them."

Andre Maquera "My producer is quite an accomplished and high quality lead guitarist himself. Andre has actually been around awhile, guitarist for the AOR band 8084 as well as his own stuff. Really cool guitarist in the vein of Buck Dharma and Michael Schenker, but with a mature thing all his own."

Chris Johnson "I discovered Chris through his band Holy Rage, and he's quite good. He shows some of his influences on his sleeve, but it's obvious there's a lot of potential."

Taz Taylor "One of the best new-ish guitar players out there. Though I discovered him awhile back through his work with Graham Bonnet, he is definitely getting away from his Rhoads and Schenker influences more on his recent stuff. I've heard his recent instrumental music is quite good, have to check it out."

Andy DiGelsomina "Interesting in that he consciously uses guitar solos to further the expressive quality of his compositions. As unique as Andy's music is, the guitar solos add an even more distinctive flavor to it. His influences probably show more often than they should, but that could just be a side of his personality he's relating as well. Too bad he's such a disgracefully indolent, disinterested rhythm guitarist, otherwise he'd be a much more valid guitar player overall."