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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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.]
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]]
[[Category:Discography]]
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