Subtlety? Forget it! Let’s kick out the jams!
Drummer Simon Phillips leads a hard rocking team of Andy Timmons/g, Steve Weingart/key and Ernest Tibbs/b on a disc that is filled with hard hitting rhythms and first rate guitar wizardry. Some hot and irresistible grooves are laid down by Tibbs on “Wildfire” while bluesy funk is the scene on “Wildfire” and “Enigma.” All throughout, Timmon’s guitar is exciting, muscular and yet still retaining lyricism as on “Gemini.” Phillips works out his biceps on “Octopia” and the anthematic “Moments of Fortune” as Weingart’s keyboards serves as harmonic boundaries. Those into Mike Stern will have a field day on this one.
The Trio of Lily Maase/g-el, Michael Kammers/sax-org and Curt Garey/perc/key-elec make up The Suite Unraveling, and what you get for half the tunes is a lot of thunderous hard rock that pounds into your ears and sets your blood pressure up a few notches. Slashing guitars and wailing saxes predominate on”Ricochet” and “Applying Leeches” and while there is some hints of lyricism and melody on the languid “…Elsewhere” and the dark and eerie “Made to be Broken” the journey to that point is weighed against the attack on the senses.
Phantom Recordings
Tzadik Recordings