Show 28 - Fusion Delight

[Rick and Roll]

Some real tasty treats this week, music to knock your socks (or whatever else you are wearing) off:

David T. Chastain - Next Planet Please

Project Transformation
Next Planet Please
Realization
Fusion Delusion
Forever Searching
Sophisticated Debauchery
Dunk the Funk
Blame It On Rio
Homage To An Unknown Hero
Watching Time Go By

Chastain plays all the guitars and keys, with Mike Haid on drums and David Harbour on bass. This one is a lot of fun. Extremely tight and great musicianship. There are two tunes that share nearly the same melody, but other than a bit of repetition, a fine effort.

Players - Players

Crystal (T Lavitz)
Valentine (Scott Henderson)
50/50 (Steve Smith)
Vehicle (T Lavitz)
Freight Train Shuffle (Jeff Berlin)
Between Coming And Going (T Lavitz)
The Creeping Terror (Scott Henderson)
20,000 Prayers (Jeff Berlin)

This was recorded live in 1986, and as you can see by the songwriting credits, boasts a great lineup. These greats mesh so well, and the music is nearly perfect. Freight Train Shuffle is reminiscent of "Joe Frazier", a great Berlin tune.

Steve Vai -

Blue Powder (Passion and Warfare)
Sisters (Passion and Warfare)
Frank (The Ultra Zone)
Jibboom (The Ultra Zone)
Fire Garden Suite (Fire Garden)

Part 2 of the Vaifest, here are more proggy efforts by the axemaster. Sisters is a beautiful song, helped out by the great Stu Hamm. Frank is a tribute to Zappa, a well written song that he would have been proud of. And the Suite is best song Vai has ever written, with Mike Mangini on drums and Steve Vai on keys, bass, and guitar. Great stuff.

Frank Gambale - The Great Explorers

Frankly Speaking
The Final Frontier
The Jaguar
The Great Explorers
Duet Tuet
She Knows Me Well
thunder Current
Pathfinder
Dawn Over The Nullarbor
Cruising Altitude
Naughty Business

The "thunder from down under" comes up with a gem. This is in my top 20 CD's. I can't throw out enough superlatives about this one. Stu Hamm (of course!), Jonathan Mover, Tom Coster, and Freddie Ravel all back up Gambale. A perfectly smooth fusion feel with some blistering leads. The title cut is one of my favorite tunes.

No vocals again this week, save for the occasional interruption by me.

[teermin8r]

Wow, 28 shows already. Congrats Rick, your doing a great job.