dansouth Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 Anyone have any suggestions of good CD's featuring Alan Holdsworth? I understand that he's played a lot as a sideman, so I'm not sure where to look for examples of his work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhappy_dup1 Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 My personal fav is Tony Williams Lifetime "Believe IT". There is a CD out that contains two albums, "Believe IT" and "Million Dollar Legs" , which features the same lineup(smokin' band!). He was also on two Bill Bruford solo albums the best of which is "One Of A Kind" (imo) and a definite must have. Also of the same era is "UK" (a band with Bill Bruford) and also worth having. That should get you started ------------------ MH MH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kendrix Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 The Tony Williams Lifetime albums are killer. There is another TWL release that preceeded "Believe it" that I like better. Im not at home at the moment - and dont recall the name of the LP. It may simply be The Tony Willaims Lifetime. but one cut is called Red Alert. One of my fav's of Holdsworth is the Jean Luc Ponte album "Enigmatic Ocean". Alan screams & soars on this one. Kendrix Check out some tunes here: http://www.garageband.com/artist/KenFava Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beagle1 Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 As people have already mentioned, there's a lot of great early stuff--Tony Williams, Jean-Luc Ponty, UK, and Bruford. Then there's the solo albums, which I find to be a bit inconsistent in terms of the material. AH's solos are always mind-boggling of course! I like the Road Games, Secrets, and Wardenclyffe Tower albums the best. I don't even know if you can find Road Games anymore but there's some great stuff on it, particulary the title track, Tokyo Dream, and Three Sheets to the Wind. Also, the Heavy Machinery project AH did with the Johansen brothers (formerly of Yngwie's band) is worth a listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintreemayor Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 In addition to the Tony Williams and Bill Bruford CDs, I also suggest "Road Games" and "Metal Fatigue". Allan is one of those players that even after you watch him play something you go "How does he do that?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlChuck Posted October 10, 2001 Share Posted October 10, 2001 There is another TWL release that preceeded "Believe it" that I like better. Im not at home at the moment - and dont recall the name of the LP. It may simply be The Tony Willaims Lifetime. but one cut is called Red Alert. The tune "Red Alert" appears on Believe It!, reissued on CD along with that lineup's only other recording Million Dollar Legs, which is not very noteworthy (sounds like their management was trying to make them more commercial and succeeded about as well as such things usually do). The earliest Tony Williams Lifetime recordings featured Larry Young on organ and pre-Mahavishnu John McLaughlin on guitar on 1969's Emergency!, often called the first real jazz fusion recordings. Jack Bruce joined on bass for that lineups' second one, Turn It Over, in 1970. Then followed Ego with Bruce, Ron Carter, and Ted Dunbar on guitar (also in 1970), and The Old Bum's Rush in 1972, which featured a bunch of players I've never heard of. Then came Believe It! in 1975. Most of what's been mentioned in this thread so far are all really good picks (no pun intended). I generally have found Holdsworth's work on other people's albums to be a notch above that on his own releases. Believe It! and the Bruford recordings are to my ears the best. He also really shines on Ponty's Enigmatic Ocean, though he is only present as a guest on several of the tunes and was not part of that band, and on Chad Wackerman's Forty Reasons (1991). Road Games, by the way, has just been re-released on CD on Gnarly Geezer Records. See http://www.gnarlygeezer.com/catalog.asp -AlChuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted October 11, 2001 Share Posted October 11, 2001 Originally posted by dansouth@yahoo.com: Anyone have any suggestions of good CD's featuring Alan Holdsworth? I understand that he's played a lot as a sideman, so I'm not sure where to look for examples of his work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. "Metal Fatigue" is probably his most accessible and cohesively diverse recording. The singing on a few tunes is... not a favorite of many, though. "IOU" probably is the thing to get for a fan of 70's fusion. "Secrets" is the best culmination of his "concept", jazz using a rock band essentially. "Sand" is his most adventurous. "Atavachron" is laden with synth sounds, this was the peak of his synth-axe days I think. The head to "Non-brewed Condiment" - sublime. This one is probably safest for someone coming from a keyboard background maybe. "Hard Hat Area is safe. I'd start with Metal Fatigue. ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip McDonald Posted October 11, 2001 Share Posted October 11, 2001 Originally posted by tthoyt@hotmail.com: particulary the title track, Tokyo Dream, Tokyo Dream is so brilliant. Totally unique sounding, I think the culmination of his writing. Futuristic without sounding cliche, but still earthy in approach. Yeah Dan, get _Road Games_ now that it's been reissued... ------------------ New and Improved Music Soon: http://www.mp3.com/chipmcdonald Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/ / "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip_dup1 Posted October 13, 2001 Share Posted October 13, 2001 I`m going to be checking him out live next month-can`t wait... Back when he was with the I.O.U. band, I was with a couple of friends at the loading area after the show, and my friend saw some guy walking away with one of Chad Wackerman`s drums. He told the crew, they called the cops, the guy got caught and Allan came out later and thanked us, we got T-shirts (still have it), and put on the guest list for the next night`s show on Long Island with Steve Morse and Steve Howe. My friend came to pick me up at work the next day, and they told him I went home-I could have KILLED those idiots... Sorry about the digression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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