Sand (album): Difference between revisions
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[[File:Sand.jpg|200px|right]]Following in the footsteps of "Atavachron", "Sand" leans even more heavily into the SynthAxe: The only guitar playing on the entire album consists of two guitar solos on "Pud Wud" and "The 4.15 Bradford Executive". The album is all instrumental, with even more jazz weight, while also perhaps being even more influenced by classical music. "Sand", "Pud Wud", and "Clown" are continuations of the direction from "Atavachron", with ensemble pieces with themes that lay the foundation for improvisation. But on "Distance vs Desire", Allan plays a SynthAxe duet with himself in a rubato tempo. It is perhaps one of his emotionally most moving pieces. "Bradford Executive" is like a genre all its own, starting with a soundtrack-esque train ride programmed on Allan's computer, before moving into a free flowing improvisation with Chad Wackerman, and one of Allan's longest and most cinematic guitar solos on record. The album ends with the peculiar "Mac Man", where Allan once again applies a sequencer on an avant-gardish composition. Here, he even plays his SynthAxe through a Marshall stack! | [[File:Sand.jpg|200px|right]]"Sand" is a 1986 solo album by Allan Holdsworth. Following in the footsteps of "Atavachron", "Sand" leans even more heavily into the SynthAxe: The only guitar playing on the entire album consists of two guitar solos on "Pud Wud" and "The 4.15 Bradford Executive". The album is all instrumental, with even more jazz weight, while also perhaps being even more influenced by classical music. "Sand", "Pud Wud", and "Clown" are continuations of the direction from "Atavachron", with ensemble pieces with themes that lay the foundation for improvisation. But on "Distance vs Desire", Allan plays a SynthAxe duet with himself in a rubato tempo. It is perhaps one of his emotionally most moving pieces. "Bradford Executive" is like a genre all its own, starting with a soundtrack-esque train ride programmed on Allan's computer, before moving into a free flowing improvisation with Chad Wackerman, and one of Allan's longest and most cinematic guitar solos on record. The album ends with the peculiar "Mac Man", where Allan once again applies a sequencer on an avant-gardish composition. Here, he even plays his SynthAxe through a Marshall stack! | ||
This album also represented something new in Allan's working method: For the first time, he took the basic tracks with him home from the studio, and overdubbed in his garage on a rented tape machine. Here, he was allowed to spend as much time as he wanted on his guitar sound. He built himself custom speaker boxes that allowed him to record the amps at full volume, while not keeping the neighborhood awake. | This album also represented something new in Allan's working method: For the first time, he took the basic tracks with him home from the studio, and overdubbed in his garage on a rented tape machine. Here, he was allowed to spend as much time as he wanted on his guitar sound. He built himself custom speaker boxes that allowed him to record the amps at full volume, while not keeping the neighborhood awake. | ||
