The Golden Wire (1989), by Andy Summers

One day, Andy Summers' Police guitar and sensibilities wandered into an enchanted, magical musical forest and encountered all sorts of wondrous musical faeries and other such creatures. The results of that mystical meeting are captured on Summers' third solo album, his first instrumental album with a full band and which resulted in his first Grammy Award nomination as a solo artist.

Summers' sparkling guitar tones lead a surreal journey into dark, edgy, and lyrical musical territory. Along for the ride are keyboardist David Hentschel, synclavier programmer Stephen Croes, bassists Jimmy Haslip (of the Yellowjackets) and Doug Lunn, Oregon flutist Paul McCandless, and drummer/percussionist Kurt Wortman. Najma Akhtar sings on Summers' cover of the Bollywood classic "Piya Tose," with Summers emulating sitar tones alongside Akhtar's beautiful voice.

The entire album provides a stunning perspective on world music as only Summers with his guitar can.

--Raj Manoharan

Andy Summers Brings on the "Night" with New Solo Album Due October 15, 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 on October 15, 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

Happy Birthday, Eric Johnson!

On Tuesday, August 17, 2021, one of my favorite guitarists, Eric Johnson, will turn 67 years old.

I was first introduced to the music of Johnson in 1990 by an employee at a local cable television station I interned at during my senior year of high school. That was the year Johnson, then 35/36 years old, released his breakthrough second album, Ah Via Musicom, which achieved the distinction of having three instrumental songs reach the American Top Ten.

Every one of Johnson's albums showcases his incredible electric guitar wizardry and his soft-spoken heartfelt vocals. His latest album is EJ Vol. II, which has set the record for the longest-playing CD in any of my cars throughout my entire history of driving. The disc has been spinning in the Rajmobile for the entire length of the pandemic. Granted, I've only been driving primarily on the weekends, but still . . .

--Raj Manoharan

Mysterious Barricades (1988), by Andy Summers

This is Andy Summers at his purest and most quintessential.

After trying out lead singing on his debut solo album, XYZ, Summers regained his musical footing and redefined himself as the exceptional, unique guitarist that he is.

In a true spirit of rebirth, Summers strips away lyrics, vocals, and a rhythm section and instead crafts exquisite, intricate sound paintings composed only of his acoustic and electric guitars and co-producer/engineer David Hentschel's keyboards and synthesizers.

The result is a series of evocative images that you see with your ears. The music is brought forth with great skill and creativity and is dreamy and introspective.

This is my desert island CD. If I was stranded with a solar-powered CD player and I could only have one album, this would be it.

--Raj Manoharan

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