I.O.U.

This Allan Holdsworth record has it's signature sound for sure, and it borrows a bit more from the classic jazz sound but its all Holdsworth so... we can count on this album being atonal and extremely unique in its own sense. Allan Holdsworth was the master of Atonal Jazz Fusion, a musical genius unlike many other. This album doesn't yet feature the Synthaxe, so we are here listening to Allan play his electric with his signature tone. This album also features Paul Williams on vocals, Gary Husband on drums, and Paul Carmichael on bass, all are respective masters of their instruments. As a drummer, I praise Gary Husband for his intricate drumming style in Jazz Fusion and his keyboard playing as well. Paul Williams is a very good singer and I've always appreciated his tone, his ability is also top notch as he can keep up with Allan's rapid chord changes. Paul Carmichael is a very respectable bassist who can clearly keep up with Allan as well, he is also very technical and has his moments where his bass playing really shines.

As for the tracks on the album, 'The Things You See' was borrowed from the album titled 'The Things You See' by Him and Gordon Beck. This track might actually be the strongest on the album, it's got the most ear grabbing chord progressions, and it's very well sung. The writing on this entire album is very good, it's not a totally developed sound but this album has its own sound in Allan's discography. The production is what I expect from an Allan Holdsworth album, the right mix, the right tones on all instruments, and everything sounds pretty clean.

I find that listening to this album is very comfortable and more accessible than his upcoming records. The vocals really help bring the accessibility factor into play, Paul Williams manages to make all the songs he sings catchy.

My conclusion is, even though this album is accessible and more classic, I think that it's still a very well written album overall. Allan knew what he was doing during the writing process of the album, he polished the sound and came out with this work of genius. Could this album be a tad better? Perhaps, but in all honesty I don't think it needed to be improved, it had it's style and it had it's great pieces, but still... better was yet to come.

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