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Verdict (Rating): bass playing dexterity showcase (70%)
Famous bassists are a rare breed, often being left in the background whilst their lead guitar wielding take the spotlight. If I did ask you to name one, chances are Billy Sheehan would be the name you would come up with. His most famous role in perhaps as founder of Mr Big, but I certainly remember his work with David Lee Roth as being noteworthy. This is Billy's second solo album.
Opening track, "Toss It On The Flame", is a furious start with the bass rumbling away in the not quite in the background. The track has hints of Deep Purple about it. The second track, "Back In The Day", again demonstrates a 'busy' style that is a trademark of much of the album, especially the tracks featuring vocals. Whilst I'm on the subject of vocals, I have to say that Billy does an OK job but keeps the vocals fairly low in the mix. I actually think that by pitching the pace of the tracks at such a frantic pace he may have made life more difficult for himself in the vocal department. Now that I've described one vocal track, I've pretty much described them all, as they all stick to the same formula. The rumbling bass is very much in evidence on the first instrumental - third tack "The Suspense Is Killing Me". Given the fact that this is so much better than the two previous tracks featuring vocals, the thought "why bother with the vocals" may well first make itself known. Then again by the time you listen to "Something She Said" with it's 60s/Beatles chorus you may have dismissed that thought.
"Dreams Of Discontent" is a spacey instrumental that is a welcome departure from the more frantic majority of numbers. "Taj" on the other hand is an instrumental that executes that frantic style well. The last 5 tracks on the album are instrumentals. "A Tower In The Sky" and "Long Walk Home" are both quirky funky numbers that work well and add welcome variation to the pace. These are followed by the very fast "Indisputable Truth #1" which is the only instrumental track that really doesn't make the grade for me. Although, it's existence is almost justified because it provide a suitable contrast to the gentle ballad "Hope". "A Million Tears Ago" completes the album in the familiar frantic manner.
This isn't an immediate album and it will take quite a few listen to get into the "groove" that is a common feature of many of the tracks. Whilst I did start to appreciate it, I actually found some of the instrumentals where Billy deviated from it to be my favorite tracks.
