The
late, great guitar master was born on August 6, 1946, in England and
passed away at the age of 70 on April 15, 2017, in Southern
California, where he had lived for over three decades.
I
first heard of Holdsworth in the early 1990s when I read some reviews
that described the instrumental albums of my favorite musician,
Police guitarist Andy Summers, as partly Holdsworthian.
I
began to read more about the legendary Holdsworth, finally buying my
first album of his, Hard Hat Area, upon its release in 1994. I
still remember eagerly and excitedly purchasing the CD at a record
store in Greenwich Village.
I
continued to buy Holdsworth's albums throughout the 1990s,
culminating with the 2000 release of The Sixteen Men of Tain.
Holdsworth put out one more solo album, Flat Tire: Music for a
Non-Existent Movie, in 2001, which I never got around to getting
back then for one reason or another, and then Holdsworth went silent,
save for the occasional guest appearance on other musicians' albums,
as well as live performances and collaborative recordings.
I
also lost touch with Holdsworth's happenings for nearly two decades,
until April 15, 2017, when I read on Yahoo! News to my shock,
disbelief, and dismay that Holdsworth had passed at 70 years of age.
Remiss at both his loss and my obliviousness to his life for the
previous 16 years, I immediately purchased his 12-CD box set, The
Man Who Changed Guitar Forever!, and his 2-CD compilation,
Eidolon, both released a week prior to his passing, and spent
much of the next year immersed in the guitar and synthaxe brilliance
of Allan Holdsworth.
In
honor and remembrance of this amazing and unparalleled musical icon,
I highly recommend the following albums as my top four picks, reviews of
which can be found both on this site and on Amazon: With a Heart
in My Song (with pianist Gordon Beck, 1988), Hard Hat Area
(1994), The Sixteen Men of Tain (2000), and Then!
(2003).
--Raj
Manoharan
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