Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Mr. Big: The Stories We Could Tell

Billy Sheehan & Paul Gilbert continue to be the bench mark for all things shred in a band context- it's peppered all over this release, no doubt about that. All those speed & precision- preserved, in tact, for your classic reference.

There isn't any song in this collection which is top-40 material. The implication- no strong ballads (despite having more than one slow & acoustic-laden numbers), no landmark rock anthem, in fact none forceful & memorable to sufficiently rival Green Tinted 60s Mind. Maybe that's indicative enough of the standards set here.

Moving on to the guitars & stuff, I'm pretty much sick of Paul Gilbert's fuzz introversion by now. With all due respect, PG has ample relevance for that in his personal interpretation of where his guitar tones are heading. However in the shred context, hard clipping drive isn't that suitable for fast servings. We understand how the fuzz is when it comes to signal attack; it's not as immediate as you'd want it to be but perfectly awesome for music genres that see the guitar players taking their sweet time to have individual notes going. As such I hear too many mucked-up notes in this album especially the ultra fast licks & solos. The case in question is the track The Monster in Me which I believe is the most potent track in this collection but listen to the solos- arguably awful. Enough said, not a hit with me.

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