9.11

Originally to be titled "Guitars Suck," Bumblefoot (a New Yorker) changed the title to 9.11 to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks and decided to donate all the profits to the American Red Cross proving that Mr Foot is a humanitarian as well as a bonafide talent in the world of music

This is his 5th release (if you count the French Uncool) and his 3rd as Bumblefoot. This is another solid album that I would call a masterpiece! One interesting thing about this release is that the wonderful track R2 is here which had already been released on Uncool (French version). For those of us who were fans at the time of release this may be a little redundant but since that version was not released internationally I guess it was felt it could find a home here. Another solid album where the creativity is turned up to 11 and the performance up to 12.

1 Fly In The Batter..... Funk guitar alternates with grungy slide guitar. Great bridge, great solo, great song

2 Lost..... Very progressive. Odd time signatures. Guitar alternates with xylophone until a spoken word section begins about being lost in the forest. All this repeats with another awesome solo in the middle

3 Raygun..... Basically a blues song but the guitar effects actually sound like a raygun. Very cool

4 Hole In The Sky..... A short distorted instrumental. Pleasant and just the right length.

5 Children of Sierra Leone..... A strange instrumental that kinda sounds like tortured souls

6 Don Pardo Pimpwagon..... Way cool! I guess this is based on the theme to "The Newlywed Game" TV show or something similar. It has a theme show sound to it. Don Pardo is the voice you hear on "Saturday Night Live." This is a soloing masterpiece. Not only does Bumblefoot remind us he's still a virtuoso of the first degree but that he does it with a sense of quirkiness that makes him so unique. Matthias IA Eklundh contributes his guitar skills as well making this an amazing track!

7 Legend of Van Cleef..... Now for something completely different. Maybe a theme song for medieval knights conquering new lands? Or maybe a Monty Python spoof of the whole thing. Another interesting track

8 Guitars SUCK..... And you thought "Don Pardo" was the showcase of his guitar skills. Well this one takes the cake. This is the most sophisticated neoclassical guitar wankery since his own "Chopin Fantasie." He proves he is indeed in the same league as Vai, Malmsteen, Jason Becker etc. Lightning fast and precise and well-composed. Dizzifying

9 Hall of Souls..... Interesting short acoustic instrumental. Really makes you feel like the title suggests

10 Top of the World..... This is a bluesy gospel based song about a girl jumping off a ledge to end her life. Awesome solo by Dweezil Zappa

11 R2..... Also on the French Uncool album as well as Forgotten Anthology. This sucker gets around. An instrumental that reminds me of the Swingle Singers with a Latin band, a flautist and a virtuoso guitarist. Very cool, I mean uncool.

12 Time..... An interesting track. Acoustic with backmasking, subdued vocals. It's all about how we're living on borrowed time. Reminds us our lives are on the clock. Agressive fade out. Strange but awesome

I came across Bumblefoot aka Ron Thal long ago with his guitar frenzy, Zappa-esque release of The Adventures of Bumblefoot. My youngest daughter quickly "borrowed" the disc because of its comical side but I missed hearing it because of Thal's amazing guitar playing style. Not only does he play unique riffs that rival Vai and Satriani but he physically mutates his axes into bizarre and surreal things. I cannot really describe them except to say think, Dali, Bosch or Pee Wee's Playhouse.

"What the -- ??"

This release was to be titled Guitars SUCK but with the unforgivably insane madness of the terrorist attack on America by u-know-who on 9-11-01, Thal re-named the release to 9.11, marking the tragic event, and to raise money to help lessen the dire straits of the victims and their families. 100% of the profits from the sale of this release go to the American Red Cross.

If you are into pumping and hard-slamming axe with killer solos laced throughout you'll love this release. There are seven way-cool instrumentals showcasing Thal's magic-man fret stunts and a bevy of techniques. And there are five tunes with lyrics and yet again more crunch-worthy explosions of Thal's fingertips. This is not shred nor aimless noodling jams without soul. Thal bursts out of each track with exuberant guitar pyrotechnics that show form and function in just having fun playing.

Some moments of this CD are light-hearted and others rip out with angst. It's all here, the heaviness of Prong's Tommy Victor, some acoustic splendor, and mainly the riff-tech rock mirroring Vai yet this work remains uniquely Thal. Frank Zappa tips his fez to you Bumblefoot. Good stuff. High recommendations for Thal's noteworthy guitar and his obvious mastery.