STEP IT

Of the three Bill Connors solo albums I own, this one has his best compositions. Not content with just soloing, Connors here shows that he can also write a fine melody.

His sound here is somewhere between Pat Metheny (just about every fusion guitarist at that time had to try to imitate his sound) and Allan Holdsworth (Connors' fluidity and ability to solo around the most complex chord patterns always bring him to mind). Bassist Tom Kennedy (later known for his work with Planet X) simply astounds with some of his crisp bass lines. And drummer Dave Weckl is always workmanlike whenever I've heard him.

So this is another worthy fusion album from this Return To Forever alumnus.

Bill Connors is probably best know for being the guitarist on my favourite RETURN TO FOREVER album "Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy". He's got Tom Kennedy on bass, he'd later play with PLANET X, plus Dave Weckl on drums and he'd play on one of Chick Corea's projects. This was recorded at a studio in NYC in June and October of 1984. I really like the way the album kicks off, in fact the first three tracks would be my top three favourite songs on here. "Lydia" does have those outbursts that don't do a lot for me but man when they get into that steady groove I'm all in. The guitar solos over the bass and drums starting around 1 1/2 minutes but not for long as we get more outbursts along with that steady groove. Good start.

"A Pedal" opens with bass and drums as we get some atmosphere. I like this a lot. The bass and drumming really impress. The guitar starts to solo after 2 minutes then a calm with bass leading. Another guitar solo before 5 minutes and again the drumming is outstanding but then so is the bass and guitar. Players! "Step It" has some surprisingly heavy guitar as the drums and bass support. The guitar turn clean and man the drumming really blows me away on this one. There's some other good tunes like "Twinkle" with that long guitar solo or that high pitched tone to the guitar on "Titan" early on as the bass and drums crush it as usual. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like this album and it's 1984!