The Jazz Owl
  • Travis Rogers, Jr. -- The Jazz Owl
  • A Love of Music
  • Music Reviews
  • Reviews on Travis Rogers Jr.
  • Meetings with Remarkable People
  • SoulMates by Candlelight
  • Music in Portland
  • Toshi Onizuka
  • The Arts: Film, Literature and More
  • A Love of History
  • Baseball Stories
  • Personal Reflections

Allan Holdsworth's "FLATTire; Music for a Non-Existent Movie" -- finally a worthy edition

9/8/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
“FLATTire; Music for a Non-Existent Movie” was first released in 2001 to be re-released in 2007. Finally, MoonJune Records has released a splendid edition with updated liner notes reflecting Holdsworth’s more clear-sighted understanding of what was going on with him when the music was first recorded.

This album represents Holdsworth’s desire to write film scores. The question immediately rises as to what sort of film this might be. Given the knowledge that Holdsworth has revealed about his experiences and frame-of-mind during the writing, imagery begins to emerge during the hearing of this remarkable album.

In 2001, he “had gone through a difficult divorce and was experiencing a lot of pain and feeling very lost and introspective.” That pain is revealed in the anguished introduction entitled “The Duplicate Man (Intro).” It is the only guitar part on the album and the solo guitar may very well reflect his emotions at being left alone with just a guitar. He had sold most of his studio equipment and much of his synthesizer collection and other instruments.

From the beginning, therefore, we are brought into his world of loneliness and deprivation. For those who have followed Allan Holdsworth for many years, that revelation alone is enough to create an aura of pain and isolation.

The album is certainly not without its jazzier moments when Dave Carpenter joins on acoustic bass for “Eeny Meeny” and “Bo Peep.” Plus, the virtuosity of Holdsworth’s musicianship and the single-mindedness of his compositions are evident at every turn.


PictureAllan Holdsworth with the Synthaxe
His astonishing work with the Synthaxe is on display through every piece after the introduction. In fact, aside from the guitar in that introduction and the twice-occurring bass of Dave Carpenter, the Synthaxe and drum programming are the sum total of the instrumentation. It is the Synthaxe that allows Holdsworth to go beyond the limitations he may have felt from the guitar alone. As much as Holdsworth admits to truly disliking drum programming, the effects he employs are impressive.

While guitar fans, Synthaxe fans, Jazz fans and Holdsworth fans will find everything to celebrate on this album, it is the “de profundis clamo ad te” of the album that makes the greatest impact. It is emotional and it is revealing.

“Please Hold On” is a lament that begs the question as to whom the entreaty is intended. Is it to the departed spouse or is Allan begging this of himself? It is painful in the most personal of ways.


“Curves” brings the listener along with a nice groove and then breaks away into almost disjointed reverie before returning to the introspective groove through the rest of the piece. No piece, however, is more reflective than “So Long” which follows immediately after.

Picture
“So Long” begins with the sound of the rain followed by a car starting and driving away as the rain continues to fall. Forewarned with the knowledge of what surrounded Holdsworth during the composing and recording of this album, the listener is pushed into a personal reflection of similar experiences until the rain closes out the piece as it began.

“Don’t You Know” finishes the album in the most heart-breaking of ways. Big chords and swells release the listener from the experience but a few runs before the end break the melancholy, if only for a moment.

After hearing this remarkable recording, one is left wondering if the title is a double-meaning of Flat Tire as in “rendered unable to proceed” or more like “resentment on full display” as in FLAT IRE. Both ways work.

MoonJune Records has done what two previous record companies failed to do. Only slightly remastered, the recording has been “sonically enhanced” to create the experience that Allan Holdsworth intended in the first place.





The MoonJune Records 2013 re-issue of this splendid album can be purchased here.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    A Love of Music


    Join Amazon Prime - Listen to Over a Million Songs - Start Free Trial Now

    Archives

    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    April 2020
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2017
    December 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011


    Categories

    All
    3rdegree
    Aimee Allen
    Allan Holdsworth
    Ambrosia
    Annette Aguilar
    Beginnings
    Berta Rojas
    Bob Arthurs
    Bobby Sanabria
    Brand X
    Dann Zinn
    Dan Robbins
    Darrell Marrier
    David Sancious
    Dewa Budjana
    Don Cornelius
    Dweezil Zappa
    Eleanor Rigby
    Eugene Marlow
    Farnell Newton
    Flash
    Grammys
    Hristo Vitchev
    Igor Atalita
    Jarrod Lawson
    Jenika Marion
    Jimmy Johnson
    Joe Derose
    Kevin Louis
    Louis Maser
    Marcus Reynolds
    Mary Lou Williams
    Melissa Aldana
    Murray Low
    Naras
    Neil Portnow
    Paquito D'rivera
    Patrick Moraz
    Paul Creighton
    Peter Banks
    Reinhardt Melz
    Rock And Roll
    Ronnie Ciago
    Rosewater
    RUNA
    Shannon Lambert-Ryan
    Steve Lamattina
    Steven Kroon
    Stevie Wonder
    The Left Banke
    The Soulmates
    Toshi Onizuka
    Vinnie Colaiuta
    Zappa Plays Zappa


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.