Allan Holdsworth (August 6, 1946 - April 15, 2017)

This month marks what would have been Allan Holdsworth's 75th birthday.

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 (weirdly, my brother's 40th birthday), 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 died at 70 years of age. Heartbroken 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

XYZ (1987), by Andy Summers

Andy Summers' debut solo album is nowhere near as bad or as terrible as critics have made it out to be. On its own merits, it is quite enjoyable and fun to listen to.

Naturally, Summers' guitar playing is excellent as always. The only problem here is that rather than being the proper focus of the album, Summers' incomparable guitar work is subservient to the vocal-based songs.

As a singer, Summers is not at all awful. He actually has a fine, serviceable voice that is well suited to the machine-like monotony of the music.

While most of the songs have a drone-like quality to them that is eerily hypnotic and entrancing, "Nowhere" breaks out of this mold with an engaging, infectious vitality bolstered by gospel-type female backup singers and Summers' most organic and uninhibited guitar solo on the record.

If this is not among Summers' top-tier solo efforts, it is only because it is overshadowed by his far more excellent instrumental albums, which obviously showcase his real, ultimate asset -- that of a highly accomplished and versatile guitarist.

To see how far Summers has come as a songwriter, check out his 2012 Brazilian/English-language bossa nova pop album Fundamental, with Fernanda Takai on vocals. Also of interest is Circus Hero (2014) by Summers' short-lived band Circa Zero, which features multi-instrumentalist Rob Giles on bass and vocals and marked Summers' brief return to rock songwriting.

Since I was 14 years old at the time XYZ was released, I obviously could not drive. So I had to ride my bicycle into the next town to get the album on cassette tape.

That was one bicycle trip that was well worth it.

--Raj Manoharan

Always Golden Sands (2020), by Peter Chilvers and Jon Durant

British keyboardist Peter Chilvers and American guitarist Jon Durant combine their respective instruments for a rare and remarkable summit of sound that results in one of the most beautiful recordings of its kind.

The music is similar in feel to Andy Summers’ iconic guitar-and-keyboard opus, Mysterious Barricades (1988), featuring Summers on guitars and David Hentschel on keyboards.

 

Although Chilvers and Durant’s album is very short, consisting of only three tunes – “Always Autumn,” “Shifting Sands,” and “Golden” – it is so magical and mesmerizing that it can be listened to over and over and over again without ever becoming tiresome, boring, or redundant.

 

And that is the mark of an excellent, exceptional recording.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Divine Tides (2021), by Stewart Copeland and Ricky Kej

Police drummer and soundtrack composer Stewart Copeland broke major musical ground several decades earlier when he blended his patented percussion and other instrumentation with the tribal and ethnic sounds of the African continent on his 1985 album, The Rhythmatist.

Now Copeland’s at it again, this time in collaboration with Indian composer, keyboardist, and multi-instrumentalist Ricky Kej. Together, the international duo has cooked up a delicious and tasty smorgasbord of world music delights, with the sounds of South Asia at its base.

 

Kej brings to the table his lifelong love of and deep-seated passion for Indian music, along with a stellar line-up of accomplished and renowned Indian, African, and international musicians and vocalists. Copeland brings his unique sense of time and rhythm to the proceedings, as well as his kinetic compositional contributions.

 

The result is an eclectic musical mix of East and West that is an essential must-have for fans of Kej and Copeland – especially those looking for a perfect companion piece to The Rhythmatist. This is extraordinary music with epic global sweep.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Andy Summers Brings on the "Night" with New Solo Album Due October 2021

Legendary Police guitarist Andy Summers will be bringing on the "Night" with his latest instrumental solo album, Harmonics of the Night, which is scheduled for release in October 2021.

This will be the 78-year-old Summers' 13th original solo studio recording since 1987 and his latest work in a music career spanning just over six decades. It is the third part of Summers' mostly self-recorded trilogy consisting of Metal Dog (2015) and Triboluminescence (2017). Summers is already looking beyond the Night to his next three albums, which would involve other musicians playing bass and drums and would mark his first solo studio venture with a backing band in 20 years.

Summers has described Night as a collection of beautiful instrumentals, which suggests that it might be similar in sound and feel to his 1988 New Age guitar-and-keyboard classic, Mysterious Barricades, or his 1997 jazz guitar trio record, The Last Dance of Mr. X, or perhaps a combination of both.

Harmonics of the Night will follow the August publication of Summers' first short-story collection, Fretted and Moaning.

https://digital.abcaudio.com/news/polices-andy-summers-releasing-beautiful-new-instrumental-album-harmonics-night-fall

https://superdeluxeedition.com/interview/andy-summers-on-his-new-book-and-the-police-reissues/

--Raj Manoharan

Flood (2007), by Jon Durant

Jon Durant unleashes a tour de force of wondrous sonic environments and atmospheres and thrilling and exhilarating guitar sounds and solos. The result is one of the best jazz/rock fusion guitar albums ever produced.

Backed by Tony Levin’s deep grooving bass and Vinny Sabatino’s propulsive percussion, Durant lets loose on acoustic and electric guitars and doesn’t hold back.

 

If you love the guitar styles of Andy Summers, Allan Holdsworth, Robert Fripp, George Harrison, and Paul Speer, this album is for you.

 

--Raj Manoharan

Dance of the Shadow Planets (2012), by Jon Durant

Dance of the Shadow Planets firmly establishes guitarist Jon Durant in Andy Summers, Robert Fripp, Allan Holdsworth, and Pat Metheny territory.

Durant and his band dance across the various sounds and rhythms of the world, as well as some that are not of this world.

 

The music is global in nature, with an Eastern tinge thanks to the prominent tablas throughout. The result is an eclectic mix of cosmic and world fusion.

 

Other flavors in this melting pot of sound include bass (Colin Edwin), percussion (Jerry Leake), and violin (Caryn Lin).

 

One track that stands out in particular is the African-like “Boonyi,” which is kind of a cross between “Hardy Country” from Andy Summers and Robert Fripp’s 1982 album, I Advance Masked, and “Now I’m Free” from Andy Summers’ 2003 album, Earth + Sky. The slithery, electronic lead guitar is classic Summers and Fripp.

 

This is another fine showcase of Durant’s wide-ranging variety of guitar sounds, tones, and textures, conventional and otherwise.

 

--Raj Manoharan