The Sixteen Men Of Tain (album): Difference between revisions

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This album introduced a new band: Dave Carpenter and Gary Novak, plus a new sound: This time, it was Allan’s own tunes, but with a softer, jazzier feel, which Novak heavily underscored. Perhaps due to the band feeling, as well as what seemed like new inspiration, it is often seen as one of Allan’s best albums. The title track and “The Drums Were Yellow” stand out as guitar statements, while “Above And Below” is one of the defintive Holdsworth chord melody ballads.
[[File:16men.jpg|200px|right]]"The Sixteen Men Of Tain" is a 2000 solo album by Allan Holdsworth. The album features Allan on guitar and SynthAxe, although the latter has a relatively small role. This album introduced a new band: [[Dave Carpenter]] and [[Gary Novak]], plus a new sound: This time, it was Allan’s own tunes, but with a softer, jazzier feel. Carpenter played acoustic bass for the majority of the album, and Novak followed up. Perhaps due to the band feeling, as well as what seemed like new inspiration, it is often seen as one of Allan’s best albums. The title track and “The Drums Were Yellow” stand out as guitar statements, while “Above And Below” is one of the defintive Holdsworth chord melody ballads. The album is also notable for its use of the Roland VG-8 system, on the title track for example. The album was also been released in a new edition with the added tracks "San Onofre" and "Material Unreal" in 2003, which is the version currently available on Manifesto.


This album has also been released in a new edition with the added tracks "San Onofre" and "Material Unreal".
==Track listing==
{|class='wikitable'
|+Allan Holdsworth: The 16 Men Of Tain ([[Allan Holdsworth Discography|D]] - [[Allan Holdsworth Solo Albums|S]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kC7Fs-HuK8mPBWO7LCharCVGOXTRO6yPE YT])
|-
!
!style="text-align:left;"|Track title
!style="text-align:left;"|Composer
!style="text-align:left;"|Length
|-
!1.
|San Onofre*
|Holdsworth
|5:10
|-
!2.
|O274
|Holdsworth
|7:46
|-
!3.
|The Sixteen Men of Tain
|Holdsworth
|6:26
|-
!4.
|Above and Below
|Holdsworth
|3:08
|-
!5.
|The Drums Were Yellow
|Holdsworth/Novak
|5:57
|-
!6.
|Texas
|Holdsworth
|5:44
|-
!7.
|Downside Up (Chad Wackerman)
|Wackerman
|7:07
|-
!8.
|Eidolon
|Holdsworth
|4:36
|-
!9.
|Above and Below (Reprise)
|Holdsworth
|4:06
|-
!10.
|Material Unreal*
|Holdsworth
|2:00
|}


http://threadoflunacy.blogspot.no/2017/10/26-sixteen-men-of-tain-1994-99.html
*Bonus tracks. The track listing is for the special edition that was released on Globe Music in 2003, and which is the version that was remastered and is currently available on Manifesto since 2017.


'''Allan Holdsworth''': Guitar, SynthAxe<br>
'''Gary Novak''': Drums<br>
'''Chad Wackerman''': Drums on "Downside Up"<br>
'''Dave Carpenter''': Bass<br>
'''Walt Fowler''': Trumpet on "0274" and "Texas"
=Quotes on "16 Men" summarized=
"The Sixteen Men Of Tain" represented a departure from some of Holdsworth's previous work. It was a jazzier offering, featuring a trio format with Gary Novak on drums and Dave Carpenter on bass. The album's title was inspired by the Glenmorangie distillery in Tain, Scotland, known for its single malt whiskey. Holdsworth appreciated the hand-crafted, high-quality aspect of the whiskey, which he saw as resonating with the album's music. The album was recorded and produced in Holdsworth's home studio, where he was able to experiment with different sounds and textures, including acoustic bass, to create the desired musical atmosphere. Holdsworth emphasized that the choice of musicians could significantly influence the interpretation of his original music. He appreciated the unique qualities that Gary Novak and Dave Carpenter brought to the recording, contributing to a different direction and feel. ''[This summary was written by ChatGPT in 2023 based on the quotes below.]''
=Quotes on "16 Men"=
''Note: Allan did an extensive amount of promotional interviews for this album, many of them in Europe. The below quotes do not cover all these interviews. Almost all stories from around 2000 focus on this album, so check the [[Press coverage]] page for more.''
==[[The Outter Limits: Allan Holdsworth's Out of Bounds Existence (guitar.com 1999)]]==
==[[The Outter Limits: Allan Holdsworth's Out of Bounds Existence (guitar.com 1999)]]==


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"We played everything together. But it used to be that you’d go into the studio and be terrified that you might play something you liked, but somebody else would hate their track so you couldn’t use it. So now I just go in there and let what happens happen. Usually I just keep doing it until the other players get it dead right. And if I like what I’ve played I’ll keep it, if not I can do another solo."
"We played everything together. But it used to be that you’d go into the studio and be terrified that you might play something you liked, but somebody else would hate their track so you couldn’t use it. So now I just go in there and let what happens happen. Usually I just keep doing it until the other players get it dead right. And if I like what I’ve played I’ll keep it, if not I can do another solo."
==[[Allan Holdsworth (NPS Radio transcript)]]==
PH: If I listen to the new album and I listen to some of the stuff that you’ve done previous, now, I see that you’ve come to a completely fresh area. There are not many guitar players I can listen to now and say it’s comparable to. You’ve always had your own style but now you’re in a different space, you can hear that...
AH: Well I’d like to think so, it’s just to do that learning thing and making any musical progress, trying desperately not get stuck, and the desire and that longing to continue. I always follow my heart, I never follow my head - I mean I do that in basic life anyways, that’s why I’m always in trouble, haha - but that’s just the way I feel about it, and with this album, particularly after I played with Gary Novak and Dave Carpenter, and I knew Dave Carpenter played acoustic bass, and I knew that I was trying to refine this electric guitar sound and I felt this would be a really good backdrop for me to write some original music for, and have the intensity in the music, but have a slightly different texture to it, you know, softer kind of feel. And I liked the way it turned out. I wasn’t sure, you’re never sure, but when I went away from it after I’d mixed it - cause mixing drives me nuts, you hear it so much you can’t hear the music anymore - but then by the time it was mixed, and then I didn’t listen to it for awhile, when I went back to it, I heard the music again and it was alright.
PH: Did you go out on the road first with Gary and Dave?
AH: Yeah we did 2 tours of Europe and some gigs in the States before I recorded it, but when we came back off the tour I didn’t have a record deal - I lost my record deal -so, my manager loaned me the money to pay the guys to play on the record so I could document it, cause I felt like, you never know where these guys are gonna go. In fact, Gary went off on the road with Alanis Morrissette, so it was a good decision, and I wouldn’t’ve been able to get him, so the beauty of it was we’d done the playing live, then we went into the studio and they came down and did it on the weekend - and luckily I have a studio at home - so we did Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I recorded, and then just basically shelved it, until such time as I’d gotten a record deal where I could finish it. But I’m really glad that I did that, because I knew that there was something about that group that I liked, and I also knew that Dave Carpenter, although he played electric bass on most of the tour, was playing acoustic bass, and I thought that would just be a little icing on the cake – and I think it was.


==[[Allan Holdsworth interview (Abstract Logix 2004)]]==
==[[Allan Holdsworth interview (Abstract Logix 2004)]]==
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MM: I would hope some program directors would give you more than thirty seconds of the first tune from albums like None Too Soon, Flat Tire, or '''16 Men Of Tain''' .
MM: I would hope some program directors would give you more than thirty seconds of the first tune from albums like None Too Soon, Flat Tire, or '''16 Men Of Tain''' .


AH: Well yeah, there’s a ballad on 16 Men that there’s nothing offensive about the track and could even be played on a smooth jazz station, really. Too many people are telling the public what they are going to like.
AH: Well yeah, there’s a ballad on '''16 Men''' that there’s nothing offensive about the track and could even be played on a smooth jazz station, really. Too many people are telling the public what they are going to like.
 
=Links=
YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kC7Fs-HuK8mPBWO7LCharCVGOXTRO6yPE
 
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/master/18394-Allan-Holdsworth-The-Sixteen-Men-Of-Tain
 
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixteen_Men_of_Tain


Discogs, special edition: https://www.discogs.com/Allan-Holdsworth-The-Sixteen-Men-Of-Tain-Special-Edition/release/6577649


Ed's blog: http://threadoflunacy.blogspot.no/2017/10/26-sixteen-men-of-tain-1994-99.html
[[Category:Solo albums]]
[[Category:Solo albums]]
[[Category:Discography]]
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