ALLAN HOLDSWORTH & GORDON BECK: THE THINGS YOU SEE

Kindred souls who first met through Ian Carr's Nucleus project gatherings (Belladonna) finally get a chance to collaborate.

1. "Golden Lakes" (4:45) both gents show a marvelous ability to express in gorgeous melodies--in tandem and separately--and then to return to them occasionally thus keeping the listener tethered to the song. And this is from piano and electrified acoustic guitar! (The main melody does, however, sound familiar.) (9/10)

2. "Stop Fiddlin'" (2:53) a song of bluesy piano-sounding electric piano. (8.5/10)

3. "The Things You See" (4:29) beautiful Fender Rhodes and electric guitar interplay that remind me of BOZ SCAGGS' "Harbor Lights." 50-seconds in we are spliced into a completely different track on which Gordon is playing acoustic piano in a kind of Chick Corea/George Gershwin style while Allan scurries around on an acoustic-sounding electric guitar. At 2:45 the music then splices back to the opening instrumental sound palette with someone playing a "fretless"-sounding bass line (methinks it Gordon's Fender Rhodes). I love these acoustic duets the most--wish they would stay away from the electric stuff (and stay away from the bluesy, N'orleans sounds and stylings). (9.33333/10)

4. "Diminished Responsability" (8:14) fast Chick Corea-Al Di Meola-like acoustic piano and acoustic guitar playing off one another à la the song "Romantic Warrior" if sped up and/or juxtaposed with something more classical in origin-- not unlike something that John McLaughlin would do were he paired up with pianist wife Katia Labèque while on his steel-stringed acoustic guitar. Allan's guitar sounds so Stanley Jordan like in his solo voce section whereas Gordon's piano sound and styling sounds like a very serious, classically-oriented Chick Corea. (13.375/15)

5. "She's Lookin', I'm Cookin'" (11:54) despite the continous "wandering" feel of this one--where the piano and acoustic guitar continuously feel as if they are feeling each other out, trying to figure out whether to dance or run--the beauty of this "get to know me" conversation is reminiscent of some of John McLaughlin's most tender "conversations" with other musicians (and himself). At the end of the fifth minute Gordon switches to electric piano kind of freeing Allan to explore his own inner ruminations and inspirations. Gordon gets to do some of the same with his right hand on the piano in the second half of the song--over the course of both of the main motifs employed by the songwriters. I just don't like it when Allan goes to warp speed or when Gordon moves into his blues-based chord and phrasings. Otherwise, this is a great, beautiful, enjoyable song. (23/25)

6. "At The Edge" (3:15) I specifically looked this one up because I saw that Allan sings on it. (I LOVED his voice and vocal stylings on the 1969 'Igginbottom album.) This one-man song reminds me of both 'Igginbottom's lone album and the softer parts of "Nevermore" and "Mental Medication" from the debut UK album. (9.25/10)

7. "Up Country" (4:15) almost some stride New Orleans-style piano. Allan plays more reactively than in a planned, composed fashion--though two separate tracks mirroring each other illustrates some rehearsal and planning pretty well. (8.75/10)

Total time 39:45

I have to admit that Allan Holdsworth's unique and sometimes abrasive melody choices become much more tolerable and even enjoyable and, believe it or not, soothing when delivered from an acoustic guitar. The electric guitar sound that he discovered in 1977 that became his "iconic" signature sound (until he discovered the SynthAxe and other guitar synthesizers) is well and good but sometimes setting him so far apart from the other instruments (and musicians) in a song that you really do feel as if the man is just a visitor from another planet or another dimension. The acoustic guitar humanizes him.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of more traditional acoustic blues and jazz duet play between two amazing virtuosos.

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