Neil Zaza - Staring At The Sun | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover:
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Label: Nuerra Records Producer: Neil Zaza & Timothy M. Bradford Year: 1999 Total Playing Time: 57:02 m:s Review date: 26 October 1999 |
| Web site: www.nuerra.com
Email: | ||
| Rating: 9 | ||
| Verdict: Guitar histrionics and entertainment in the same package!!!!! | ||
| Neil Zaza has spent a great deal of time doing clinics for Peavy Electronics, which has brought him to the attention of publications such as "Musician", "Guitar World" etc. A meeting with Nuerra Records president, Michael Phelan, in 1997 led to this project. The impressive band put together to support the guitar histrionics includes Steve Smith and Ross Valory from Journey, plus Stuart Hamm (Joe Satrianni), Michael Lee Firkins and Robin Dimeggio (Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey).
Double trouble, or so I initially thought, this month with not one, but two instrumental albums to review and write about. The presence of Smith and Valory raised my expectations even before the album arrived. I was hoping a for an instrumental album that was accessible for non-musicians like myself. Well, that's what I got, but I got a lot more besides. Neil Zaza has an impressive list of co-stars on this album, but manages to outshine them all. Neil is a genuine guitar hero, right up there with the others who release these types of guitar orientated albums such as Satrianni and Vai. The opening track is an uptempo attention grabbing start which has got some horns to reinforce the impact of the guitars. The next couple of tracks are what I'd describe as AOR instrumentals, similar in style to the Journey instrumentals on Time 3. What good instrumental album doesn't have at least one reference to Zen, karma etc in one of the titles? The Egyptian vibe that fits between the guitar shredding was obviously the inspiration behind the cover art. In complete contrast, "The Wonder Of You" is a Westcoast style tune. "New, New Math" is very much riff orientated and romps along at quite a pace as well as including some frantic guitar work. After all that frantic activity "Rain" is the perfect tune to accompany sitting at a window watching life carry on through the rain. The peaceful mood continues of "Every Thought Of You". These tunes prove that there is more to good guitar playing that racing up and down the fretboard. The blues of the Michael Lee Firkins' penned Baking @ 350 °F leads the way for the feel good "Fargo". With "Angel" and "Definition" we're back to those AOR instrumentals I mentioned earlier. Maybe the presence of Smith & Valory influenced these tunes. The album closes with 8 minutes of more rain, but this time of the purple variety. Yes, this is a cover of the "Artist formerly known as Prat" hit. Prince might be a premier league plonker but he has penned a few decent tunes and Neil provides a new twist to one of them. As you can tell from the Dreamland review, it takes a great deal to impress me when it comes to instrumental albums, but Neil Zaza has managed it. The reason is that not only does this album contain impressive guitar playing which showcases Neil's talent, but it also entertains as well. | ||
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