None Too Soon (album): Difference between revisions

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Allan sometimes referred to this as a Gordon Beck album with himself guesting on it. That’s because Gordon did all the arrangements, picked tunes and wrote the title track. Allan still leaves his mark, such as on Coltrane’s “Countdown”, with a chordal arrangement. This listener always liked “Nuages” and the two Joe Henderson tunes the best. Kirk Covington and Gary Willis play on all tracks.
[[File:Nonetoosoon.jpg|200px|right]]"None Too Soon" is a 1996 solo album by Allan Holdsworth, featuring Allan mostly on guitar, with a couple SynthAxe tracks. It is very different from any other of Allan's solo albums, in that he did not write any of the material himself. Most of the album is comprised of jazz standards by John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Django Reinhardt and Bill Evans. In addition, there's an arrangement of "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles, and two originals by Gordon Beck. Allan sometimes referred to this as a Gordon Beck album with himself guesting on it. That’s because Gordon did all the arrangements, picked tunes and wrote the title track. Allan still leaves his mark, such as on Coltrane’s “Countdown”, with a chordal arrangement. This listener always liked “Nuages” and the two Joe Henderson tunes the best. Kirk Covington and Gary Willis play on all tracks.
 
==Track listing==
http://threadoflunacy.blogspot.no/2017/09/21-with-heart-in-my-song-none-too-soon.html
{|class='wikitable'
|+Allan Holdsworth: None Too Soon ([[Allan Holdsworth Discography|D]] - [[Allan Holdsworth Solo Albums|S]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nsy89_9h0ew6-HPCnVMYcByi1hD-hfbv4 YT])
|-
!
!style="text-align:left;"|Track title
!style="text-align:left;"|Composer
!style="text-align:left;"|Length
|-
!1.
|Countdown
|Coltrane
|3:11
|-  
!2.
|Nuages
|Reinhardt
|5:41
|-  
!3.
|How Deep Is the Ocean
|Berlin
|5:29
|-  
!4.
|Isotope
|Henderson
|5:41
|-  
!5.
|None Too Soon Pt I/Interlude/None Too Soon Pt II
|Beck
|7:44
|-  
!6.
|Norwegian Wood
|Lennon/McCartney
|5:55
|-  
!7.
|Very Early
|Evans
|7:42
|-  
!8.
|San Marcos
|Beck
|3:24
|-  
!9.
|Inner Urge
|Henderson
|6:14
|}
'''Allan Holdsworth''': Guitar, SynthAxe<br>
'''Gordon Beck''': Keyboards<br>
'''Gary Willis''': Bass<br>
'''Kirk Covington''': Drums


=Gear=
''[Note: This info is based on the quotes reproduced below''.] For "None Too Soon," Allan mainly played his Steinberger guitars through Mesa Boogie amps, specifically one of which was a Dual Rectifier.


=Allan's quotes on "None Too Soon"=
==[[Creating Imaginary Backdrops (Innerviews 1993)]]==
==[[Creating Imaginary Backdrops (Innerviews 1993)]]==
Last time I spoke to you, I suggested you finish up your Restless contract with a live album so you wouldn’t have to waste any new compositions on them. But you said it was too valuable.
Last time I spoke to you, I suggested you finish up your Restless contract with a live album so you wouldn’t have to waste any new compositions on them. But you said it was too valuable.


Line 38: Line 96:


"I was mainly playing my Steinbergers through a couple of Mesa Boogies, one of which is a Dual Rectifier, although I’ve actually switched to Carvin guitars just recently. Bunny Brunel (bass player, ex-Chick Corea) came over with this amazing Carvin bass guitar. I know they always had this reputation of doing high quality guitars at a lower price and all that stuff, but this guitar was really pretty amazing. Bunny suggested that I talk to them and see if they would make me an instrument. It turned out that they were interested in doing a special one-off custom guitar, but the bottom line was that if they weren’t able to make a guitar that I was going to play, then it was no deal. So they came up with several prototypes and they kept changing them and modifying them. I got two of the 1 advanced prototypes just a few days ago and they’re absolutely amazing. I’m really happy with them, so that’s what I’m going to be playing from now on. I used one for a recording yesterday and it sounded great!"
"I was mainly playing my Steinbergers through a couple of Mesa Boogies, one of which is a Dual Rectifier, although I’ve actually switched to Carvin guitars just recently. Bunny Brunel (bass player, ex-Chick Corea) came over with this amazing Carvin bass guitar. I know they always had this reputation of doing high quality guitars at a lower price and all that stuff, but this guitar was really pretty amazing. Bunny suggested that I talk to them and see if they would make me an instrument. It turned out that they were interested in doing a special one-off custom guitar, but the bottom line was that if they weren’t able to make a guitar that I was going to play, then it was no deal. So they came up with several prototypes and they kept changing them and modifying them. I got two of the 1 advanced prototypes just a few days ago and they’re absolutely amazing. I’m really happy with them, so that’s what I’m going to be playing from now on. I used one for a recording yesterday and it sounded great!"
==[[A Different View (Modern Drummer 1996)]]==
RF: Who is on the album you just did?
AH: About a year ago, I was asked to do a track on a Mike Mainieri album, which was a collection of different guitar players doing Beatles songs. It was pretty much last-minute, so he said, "Just pick a Beatles tune, record it, and send it." I called Gordon Beck, a fantastic piano player who was in from England, and he said he had a cool arrangement of "Michelle." I knew the tune was going to be in a straight-ahead vein, and there's only one bass player who comes to my mind when I think of that: Gary Willis. I know how it is with drummers and bass players, so I asked him who he wanted to play with. He said Kirk Covington, which was fine with me. We did the track and I sent it off. They liked it and it came out. I enjoyed working with those guys, so I decided to do an album that was slightly different than my normal projects. I hadn't written any new music, so it was perfect timing. There's only one original on the album, but the rest of them are jazz standards—a John Coltrane tune, a couple of Joe Henderson tunes, familiar tunes. I'm pleased with how it turned out.


==[[Med Siktet Innställt På Total Kontroll (MusikerMagasinet 1996, Swedish language)]]==
==[[Med Siktet Innställt På Total Kontroll (MusikerMagasinet 1996, Swedish language)]]==
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Holdsworth cut band tracks for his most recent album, '''None Too Soon''' (1996), at the Brewery. He also used the studio to record his guitar tracks for Heavy Machinery (1996), an album he did with former Yngwie Malmsteen sidemen Anders and Jens Johansson: "They just sent me (8-track) ADAT tapes. I played to the tapes and sent them back. It was kind of cool. The tapes had stereo drums, stereo keyboards, and bass, That gave me two or three tracks to mess around with. It can be hard, trying to play an overdub so it sounds like it really belongs on the track. So I try to get a feel for the shape of the tune before I even begin putting anything to tape."
Holdsworth cut band tracks for his most recent album, '''None Too Soon''' (1996), at the Brewery. He also used the studio to record his guitar tracks for Heavy Machinery (1996), an album he did with former Yngwie Malmsteen sidemen Anders and Jens Johansson: "They just sent me (8-track) ADAT tapes. I played to the tapes and sent them back. It was kind of cool. The tapes had stereo drums, stereo keyboards, and bass, That gave me two or three tracks to mess around with. It can be hard, trying to play an overdub so it sounds like it really belongs on the track. So I try to get a feel for the shape of the tune before I even begin putting anything to tape."


==[[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)]]==


Guitar.com: What was your attitude going into this project?
Guitar.com: What was your attitude going into this project?
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AH: Well, it’s really related to the kind of music. When I did the album '''None Too Soon''' and then 16 Men of Tain it was a challenge to put a distorted guitar sound in that musical setting which was basically acoustic bass and drums. If I was to take the sounds I was using on albums like Hard Hat Area which was mostly the Boogie’s and stuff, when you stick that in with acoustic bass and drums it just doesn’t seem to work. It just doesn’t seem necessary to use the same amount of distortion. When Gary’s playing it works because it’s aggressive and has got that edge in that setting. But something softer and more delicate like on '''None Too Soon''', it just didn’t sound right. It was a real challenge to make that work and sound right and I was pleased that I was able to do that in that setting. Now I don’t use that much distortion but I still use it to get sustain and but I get more of a controlled thing. The new album will be a return of stuff I used to do, more aggressive sounding.
AH: Well, it’s really related to the kind of music. When I did the album '''None Too Soon''' and then 16 Men of Tain it was a challenge to put a distorted guitar sound in that musical setting which was basically acoustic bass and drums. If I was to take the sounds I was using on albums like Hard Hat Area which was mostly the Boogie’s and stuff, when you stick that in with acoustic bass and drums it just doesn’t seem to work. It just doesn’t seem necessary to use the same amount of distortion. When Gary’s playing it works because it’s aggressive and has got that edge in that setting. But something softer and more delicate like on '''None Too Soon''', it just didn’t sound right. It was a real challenge to make that work and sound right and I was pleased that I was able to do that in that setting. Now I don’t use that much distortion but I still use it to get sustain and but I get more of a controlled thing. The new album will be a return of stuff I used to do, more aggressive sounding.


==[[None Too Soon (Guitar Club 1997), English]]==
GC: Let's start with the last "None Too Soon", including some personal remakes of songs by important authors like Irving Berlin, John Coltrane (Countdown), Django Reinhardt (Nuages), Bill Evans (Very Early), and even Lennon/McCartney (Norwegian Wood)?
AH: With me, in the album he plays an exceptional trio of Gordon Beck on keyboards, Gary Willis on bass and Kirk Covington on drums. The idea of "None Too Soon" came from Gordon. One day he takes me aside and tells me "why do we record a collection of songs known and loved by people, family for most of them? So that they can more easily approach and appreciate what your music is?” [Machine back translated.]
So, if you want, a double purpose: to present songs that belong to our lives, which are now part of us as men and artists, and to be in some way introductory to my way of playing and interpreting music. This is because, speaking of original pieces, those who listen often do not have reference points to better interpret structure and meaning. Especially if the type of approach is not the easiest, the simplest, as in my case. [Machine back translated.]
GC: At that point you chose the authors. Following which criterion?
AH: [xxx] I had a precedent to watch, an album released three years ago, at least I think, for the Japanese market, where guitarists of different musical extractions engaged in a free re-reading of Beatles songs. I think it was called "Come Together". The idea, in its simplicity, seemed immediately brilliant. At that time, Gordon often came to me, we were frequenting each other fairly because they were both engaged in similar projects, and the speech fell on that record. We therefore decided to take advantage of the favorable moment. We therefore called Gary Willis and Kirk (Covington) and began to choose the material. Of course the repertoire to draw on was very vast. We then restricted the field to those authors that we all felt closer, common passions cultivated over time. And so the final playing list came out. Personally, I immediately proposed How Deep is the Ocean by Irvine Berlin for me one of the greatest great composers in the history of music, and Nuages by Diango Reinhardt, another authentic monster of skill and creativity. [Machine back translated.]
Of course, everyone puts the titles on which, in 99% of cases, we immediately agreed. Like Isotope by Joe Henderson or "Countdown" by Coltrane: pillars of our artistic formation. Thinking of Come Together we also focused on a Beatles song, opting for "Norwegian Wood". One of the most particular episodes of the repertano (discovery?), either for the then novelty of the sitar or for the harmonic structure and the melody for once much more important and pre-eminent than words. The remake and result spot on, atmospheric. One of the most profound and touching moments of the collection, perhaps together with Henderson's "Inner Urge." [Machine back translated.]
GC: On the album you almost always use the faithful Steinberger, plus the SynthAxe in two or three tracks. You were a pioneer of synthesized guitar sound. Giving SynthAxe an Aura of Credibility?
AH: Used in three tracks ("Nuages", "None Too Soon" and Very Early), with excellent results. I consider myself neither a pioneer nor a great talent just to be able to produce nice and interesting sounds from this instrument! I never understood the mistrust and indifference that is even worse, towards the SynthAxe. Contrary to what one hears, although its admirers are as numerous as the detractors, this tool is useful and interesting. [Machine back translated.]
=Gary Willis on "None Too Soon"=
What was it like to work with Allan Holdsworth on his last album None Too Soon?
It was fun. Because of the constraints of his studio, it wasn't like we were playing with Holdsworth, because he didn't track. He added his stuff later. It was kind of a weird recording process. But it turned out fine as far as what he put on there. Part of it was his constant insistence on his mediocrity—he didn't want to be playing along, or whatever. He says he wouldn't keep anything anyway. The other thing is the size of his studio—it only had room for drums, and then me and keyboards in the control room. There wasn't actually a place to set up guitar for any useful purpose.
What did you mean by Holdworth’s "constant insistence on his mediocrity?"
He has this habit of anytime you bring up his playing in any way, especially when it's a compliment, he'll go on and on and try to quadruple the amount of time you spent complimenting with self-deprecation.
What do you think of the album?
The main problem was, we probably would have gotten a better overall vibe if we had recorded in a studio with an acoustic piano, because that's more where Gordon Beck's coming from. You know, he's an amazing keyboard player, but his whole thing is getting sounds out of a grand piano as opposed to a MIDI instrument. So that was the negative that came out of it, maybe. As a sideman, I didn't envision anything to start out with, you know. I was there to play. I can't really pass judgment on what it could have been, I don't really like to think about it that way.
But what do you think of the end result?
What it is is pretty cool, considering we were tracking without guitar and we were tracking with MIDI instead of a grand piano, which would have left it with a stronger jazz vibe, or a better feeling overall. So if you take into consideration those two factors, I think it came out pretty well.
https://www.innerviews.org/inner/willis.html
=Kirk Covington on "None Too Soon"=
DB: What was it like working with Allan holdsworth, in None Too Soon?
Kirk: The truth is I will always be grateful for the call, especially that it might be the only ‘bop’ record he ever does. Who knew he could swing that hard? Gordon Beck was a bit out of place on a piano controller instead of a grand, but nice record…
https://www.abstractlogix.com/drummer-kirk-covington-interview/
=Links=
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kZarGrO0pktIEFqO_ZzquRrbVTU0uFyts
Ed's blog: http://threadoflunacy.blogspot.no/2017/09/21-with-heart-in-my-song-none-too-soon.html
Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/master/155544-Allan-Holdsworth-None-Too-Soon
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_Too_Soon


[[Category:Solo albums]]
[[Category:Solo albums]]
[[Category:Discography]]
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