Bill has since changed voices again, pretty radically...but Step It, Double Up and Assembler are all cool records. Obvious nods to Allan, but there's a sort of .....swing in bill's music that I don't always hear with Allan.Originally Posted by Sputnik
Subtle, maybe....Allan was in my top 3 fave musicians, along with Wayne and Hermeto.....
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
Don't forget Morglbl.
https://www.lasercd.com/cd/tea-time-punks
Great guitarist. Very active on FB. Good guy.
Connors and DiMeola are very different indeed. I like both. I do wish Connors had stuck around in RTF for at least another album.
Richard has also interviewed Allan a couple of times. These can be found on his website: http://www.richardhallebeek.com/
That website also mentions he's working on a new album, which will feature a tribute to Allan:
Pekka Pohjola - "Risto" - Live 1998
This whole song is beautiful and should be heard, yet check out the solo around 5:48
Hallebeek's new album was just released. It's called One Voice and it indeed features Sol 51 (Dedicated To Allan Holdsworth).
Those who know his previous work won't be disappointed: wonderful CD, with great compositions and playing by Rich (all kinds of string-instruments and keyboards), Frans Vollink (bass) and Niels Volkuil (drums).
Another tune from the new Richard Hallebeek: Hemispheres, written by Peter Fernandes.
Marc Guillermont
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l7T6wbfuBTg
I'll never understand the midi guitar obsession. Why do it? There is nothing represented from the sound of the actual guitar.
The timber, the wood, the strings, it's just all down the toilet in favor of some other representation. Why not just play it on a keyboard.
Allan had great tone and feel before the synth axe nonsense. I get people want to experiment, but even Allan knew that experiment was over
and didn't work.
I thought Alex's tribute was very good. He took the best of a new genre and expanded upon it in his own way.
I thought it worked beautifully. Holdsworth wrote and played some gorgeous music on the synthaxe.
Love this band. I've got three of their albums, only missing Bonito.
Not mentioned yet, but needs to be: Tim Miller
I'm seriously thinking about getting a Fishman Triple Play. I'll never be able to play keys very well at this point (trying to keep up some reasonable chops on bass and guitar is already more than I have time for and already with questionable enough results, lol) and I would like nothing more than to be able to get some new and interesting sounds that might inspire me to play more and to play differently.
<sig out of order>
Actually, I don't that's a fair characterization of Holdsworth's attitude to the SynthAxe. He loved the things, and bemoaned that they went out of production, if I recall. In fact, I heard he was actively hunting down the things for parts, etc.
You may not like it, but......I see no difference in how a synthesizer is controlled--whether it's a keyboard, a Synthaxe, or an EWI, Drum Pad, etc. However, I grant that some controller mechanisms were less than perfect. Then again, every instrument has certain challenges, some would say "limitations," and the various guitar synths are no exception. I personally am a fan of AH's synthaxe work.
"And this is the chorus.....or perhaps it's a bridge...."
I picked up the Bill Connors electric albums from the mid-80s as a result of this thread, and I'm actually listening to Double Up as I type this. They're certainly very good, but my word you have to wonder at what point imitation ceases to be flattery and simply becomes rampant plagiarism. Honestly, with the possible exception of Starcastle's aping of Yes, I don't think I've ever heard one artist (especially one with an already-established track record) so self-consciously steal the style and sound of another. I seriously wonder what Holdsworth himself made of it.
I wish I could find the interview, but Holdsworth DID comment on it... and not very favorably. You can only imagine what an artist who worked so hard at having his own individual style thinks about people who try to copy it. The one quote I remember (and I might be paraphrasing slightly) was "I dug Bill Connors when he sounded like Bill Connors."
Connors sounds very different on various albums. Every time I listen to Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy I'm reminded where Di Meola got his sound and style. And I have his Return CD, where he sounds different again.
I was a participant in the old Holdsworth discussion forum (which is now on FB). Steve Topping was a participant and he called Connors (paraphrasing again), "a great guitar player in search of an identity."
how about Jeff Miley from Altered
i.ain't.dead.irock
Holdsy was really influential. Often time I hear musicians that sound like him. Whether or not they were really influenced by Allan, is a different discussion, but my initial impulse is to say yes. Take for example the new Italian band Promenade, their guitarist must have listened to a lot of Holdsworth back in the day.
(solo at 1:50)
Yeah, very obvious. Eurasia's album Il Mondo A Rovescio also has some Holdsworth-influences (although not as clear as Promenade):
And on the Holdsworth-forum No-Pride mentioned (I was also a top 10-member) Nico Stufano was always the one who was accussed of being a copy-cat the most (although I like it):
I similarly recall Holdsworth being particularly scathing in Guitarist magazine about Alan Murphy's solo on Mike and the Mechanic's Silent Running on precisely these grounds, dismissing Murphy as a 'who do you do?' player lacking a voice of his own.
I think you may find it here: http://www.fingerprintsweb.net/ah/pr....html#features
I did, it's from Guitar World 5/89 and the article was called "The Unreachable Star." My quote was off; he did say he thought Connors was a unique player (before he made those albums) and he said that it doesn't frustrate him when somebody tries to copy his style, but he'd be frustrated if he was the person doing it. He went on to say how futile it was to try to emulate somebody else's playing, that it would be like trying to look like someone else or dressing in drag.
Anyway... thanks!
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