METAL FATIGUE

One of Allan's more universally-acclaimed solo albums. IMO he's still not there--he's still bound and restrained by the demands of the record industry--still not free to express his mind-boggling talent and genius to the fullest extent.

1. "Metal Fatigue" (4:54) despite the blues-rock baseline and technologically relevant synth support and a lot of space given to Paul Williams' vocals, you can definitely hear, feel, and sense the genius of both Allan's guitar skill as well as his compositional skill. Just wish it were more about his guitar, less about fitting into the rock world. P.S. Nice drumming and drum sound, Chad Wackerman! (8.75/10)

2. "Home" (5:29) strolling into the realm that Pat Metheny was making up at the time, we have a nice instrumental chord-walk down some interesting jazz-rock phrasing using some leading-edge guitar sound. Gentle, with an unusual sense of melody and (!) Allan playing some acoustic guitar (!), this is a decent song but nothing to really write home about. (Again: Pat Metheny had been doing this stuff for almost a decade.) P.S. I really like Jimmy Johnson's bass sound and playing style. (8.667/10)

3. "Devil Take The Hindmost" (5:33) using the same synth guitar sound as the previous song, Allan steps it up a notch in terms of speed and jazziness--that is, until he slows it down in the second minute. At 1:45, the real Allan steps into the limelight to display the melodic technical skill we've all come to know and love him for. Again, great work from Chad Wackerman. Jimmy Johnson's funky bass work feels a bit contrary to both Allan's guitar play and Chad's drumming. Too bad. (8.667/10)

4. "Panic Station (3:31) incredible chord play from Allan's Robert FRIPP/SIMPLE MINDS-sounding rhythm guitar over which Paul Williams sings innocuously and Allan riffs on his lead guitar in between. A top three song for me. (8.75/10)

5. "The Un-Merry-Go-Round" (14:06) great rolling bass play among Pat Metheny Group-like music (and sound palette) over which Allan plays between and against Alan Pasqua's keyboards and Gary Husband's drum clinic. As impressive as Gary is, I really came to this to hear Allan's guitar genius. A solid stop at the 4:30 mark allows for a reset. The new, fully-formed song coming out the break is really nice. At 5:34, however, they change style and tempo--quite radically, actually--and then again at the six-minute mark. This kind of bait and switch tactic is used so extensively--ad distraction and confusion--throughout the song that it finally sends me away. This is a song? Not even multi-movement classical music pieces are as fragmented and disjointed as this. Too bad cuz some nice motifs and instrumental performances, just not a cohesive, coherent song. Can't denigrate the instrumental talent here but I can't rate this song very high as a memorable, engaging, "put on replay" kind of piece. (24.667/30)

6. "In The Mystery (3:49) in the funk-jazz-pop style that was popular at the time (popularized by the likes of Al Jarreau, Narada Michael Walden, Hiram Bullock, Manhattan Transfer, and many Soul R&B acts in the early 1980s) -sound alike Paul Korda sings over some really nice bass play from Jimmy Johnson, computer drums and R&B-styled rhythm guitar. Allan takes a solo in the requisite "C" part of this ABACAB-formatted song. (8.5/10)

Total Time: 37:22

Finally, Allan seems to be gelling with a cast of collaborators--all of whom seem to be on the same page with his musical ideas and needs. It's too bad he hasn't yet found the confidence or support to move totally into his preferred experimental jazz-rock fusion realm of instrumental music because one of the things detracting from these songs are the vocals--not so much the performances or messages but the space that is required to give up for the vocalists to do their job--space that could be filled by Allan and his amazing guitar playing. (See 1989's Secrets to understand better what I mean.

B-/3.5 stars; after a good start, and some great guitar, bass, and drum performances, this album only represents a legacy of flawed competence. Good but not essential.