When I was in college, I took a semester of guitar lessons with Nick Bagnasco at the University of New Haven. One of the first things he did was ask me which players I liked. After some thought, I answered: Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Steve Morse and Eric Johnson. It’s been a long time since any guitar players have really impressed me to the point I’d include them on my list, the last was John Petrucci from Dream Theater. However, I’m pretty confidant in saying that I think I have a new favorite guitar player.
Not so long ago, I found a video of Andy Timmons on YouTube playing his song Farmer Sez…and I was just blown away. The song itself is a cool little “Chicken-Pickin” piece, but he and his band manage to play it way over the top by accelerating the tune to match how loud the audience gets. I just keep watching this thing, thinking that eventually someone had to screw it up. But no one ever did, it just kept going faster and faster.
I first heard of Andy Timmons in 1989 when he played on Danger Danger’s self-titled debut album, so I was kind of surprised that I had missed out on whatever had gotten him on stage for that performance. As it turns out, Andy Timmons had released several albums by that point, and his most recent, Resolution, was just released on Favored Nations (Steve Vai’s record label). I happened to see Resolution at my usual music spot on the web a few weeks ago, and decided it was about time to check out Andy Timmons a little more closely.
So, what did I think? Like I said, I think I have a new favorite guitar player.
As a player, Andy Timmons manages to take the familiar aspects of the Instrumental Guitar genre and mix it with the structure of a band setting to actually write songs. His leads are lyrical in their melody, finding both verse and chorus as opposed to one blaring solo track. On Resolution, Timmons’ tone is also outstanding, with a really crunchy and fuzzy voice that manages to still be cutting and clear at the same time.
As a whole, Resolution is an outstanding guitar album with eleven tracks that just rip from start to finish. I, personally, didn’t find one weak track; they were all unique and ranged from the bombastic to the delicate while holding on to their feeling. If guitar acrobatics are your thing, you won’t be disappointed…there is more than enough “Shred” on Resolution to make your technique loving head spin, however I didn’t feel that any of the songs were overplayed. All the lines were tasty and fit the moment they were written for. For the times on Resolution where speed is at a minimum, Timmons shows that he’s more than capable of restraint and a subtle hand.
I found Resolution by the Andy Timmons Band to be a near perfect album for the genre. It’s loaded with feeling, technique and speed; not to mention a great sounding and playing band with cool songs. What more could you want?
As I'm sure you all expected, there's a new piece up over at On the pod.net. This one is about an album my friend Jack Caldwell sent me. It's Soup's On! A Benefit For The Shoreline Soup Kitchen. Check it out, the disc is for a good cause and the music is cool too...call it an investment in you karma!
Another week closer to the end of the year and the holiday season...time flies.
This week I decided to post the reviews I wrote for Finer Things Magazine. There are two parts, the first being my work for their Fall issue and the second is the Winter edition. Each part has three reviews along with a little commentary. I know some of you guys don't have access to the magazine, so I thought I would post the reviews on the site so you could check them out before the albums are too out of date. Speaking of albums, the two pieces have reviews for Breaking Benjamin, Los Lonely Boys, The Scrubs Soundtrack Vol. 1, The Scissor Sisters, The Indigo Girls and Evanescence.
I wanted to take the time to again thank Erik Remek for his piece on Queensryche that hit On the pod.net last week. The trip sounded like it was a blast and the pictures were great too. I swear this guy has met more famous people than anyone I know.
In other news, it was a crappy week for new music. I managed to find a few new albums (at least to me), so I'll have a New: On the pod update either tomorrow or next week depending on when I actually remember to add the new tunes to my iPod.
In other happenings...
I'm working my way through a bunch of home made Audiobooks. I happened to find a bunch of e-books online that included all of the Star Wars: New Jedi Order series that came out a few years back (I'm a geeky). I took the e-books, converted them to PDF files, converted the PDF's to text files and ran them through a text-to-speech app which gave me audio files. I've actually decided that I don't mind the computer's TTS voice reading the books, mispronunciations and all. Actually it's kind of cool to have Sci-Fi read by a computer...I need help, I know.
My friends in Fear the State have a couple of gigs coming up in December:
They also have a new EP coming soon by the name of OMFUG...keep an eye out for it at their shows. For more info, hit their MySpace page @ www.myspace.com/fearthestate
That's about it for now, so as always...
Thanks and Keep Listening!!!
Joe
--
Don't forget to check out all the great music reviews at www.onthepod.net!!!
I wanted to drop you all a line to let you know that we just posted our first guest review over at On the pod.net.
Recently, a good friend of mine took a little trip out to the West Coast to see Queensryche play a three night run at the Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington.
He watched, he listened, he took pictures and, grudgingly, he came back.
He also wrote up a great piece about the trip, the shows and meeting the band.
Head on over and check out my good friend, fellow musician and Heavy Metal connoisseur, Erik Remek's trip out west.
Hope Halloween treated you all well. There are three new posts up this week over at On the pod.net. The first is actually a movie review for Running With Scissors, a movie based on the book of the same name by Augusten Burroughs. Then we're back to music with a piece on Black Cadillac by Rosanne Cash and some of my favorite Fall albums. Head on over and check them out.
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
I was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1972 which I believe puts me into the year of the Rat were I Chinese. I’m not, but even if I were I don’t know how I’d really feel about that. Let’s face it, the best thing about those place mats in Chinese restaurants is that someone has officially called my father a Cock and lived to tell about it. I, with great foresight on the part of my parents, was also born on May fifth or, as it’s commonly known to frat boys and my Mexican brothers and sisters, Cinco de Mayo. Little did I know as a child that I had the great fortune to share a birthday with the day the Mexican militia decided to whoop up on the French army in The Battle Of Puebla back in 1862 and not the Mexican Day of Independence…which certain tequila manufactures named Jose could care less if you knew about at all. The actual Mexican Day of Independence is September 16th. I kid you not, look it up if you don’t believe me.
The Sogno Suite contains six tracks and plays for nearly 39 minutes.
The music was written specifically for the Sogno, Boutique of Dreams 2006 Fashion Show.
The current CD is a limited edition with artwork that will not be available on the next run.
You can hear selections from the four main sections (Business, Weekend, Evening & Fall) at pseudojoe.com.
All of the music mixes elements of electronic and acoustic and crosses the genres of electronic, jazz, rock and even country.
CDs will be available starting June 10, 2006.
Pick up you copy @ CDBaby.com or at the iTunes Music Store!!!
