Tales From The Vault (album)

This was meant to be a crowd sourced project where Allan would pull stuff from his vault, plus finish some unfinished recordings. What we ended up with, was one new track written by Virgil Donati, a lot of alternate mixes and lead vocal takes from “Road Games”, two new SynthAxe numbers, an early version of “Abingdon Chasp”, and a recovered IOU recording of “Water On The Brain”.

https://www.facebook.com/AllanHoldsworthArchives/posts/749330075240888

Posts by Allan from the Pledge campaign

The following are the posts signed by Allan from the Pledge campaign for "Tales From The Vault". They contain some interesting facts, both about the nature of the released tracks, but also about material that remains unreleased. Posts made by Allan's management have not been included here, but the campaign was severely delayed and ran into all sorts of problems, which the management responded to. Some oft he problems are apparent from Allan's updates. The Allan Holdsworth Information Center would prefer to focus on music and creativity and verifiable facts. "Tales From The Vault" is problematic in that regard, as it's hard to tell exactly what happened. Hopefully we'll know the complete story someday. NB! Although these posts have been signed in Allan's name, it is highly unlikely he actually posted them himself, and there is the possibility that they have been edited by someone in Allan's Pledge team.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/49301

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 02 MARCH, 2015

Many thanks!!

Hey gang it’s Allan. Just taking a minute to say thanks to all of you for supporting this new idea I’ve had for ways to release some new tracks and merch with the Pledge folks. So far so good! Thanks to you. I am really humbled by your support and the incredible response so far.

Just to clarify since there have been some questions as to what people are receiving as the first “downloads”, I originally recorded the basic tracks for two albums’ worth of material over the last 10 years or so with different trios. One with Joel Taylor and Ernest Tibbs (the one and only recorded version of this amazing trio) and the other with one of favorite trios Gary Husband and Jimmy Johnson. All new music.

Due to record industry changes and some personal stuff I went through, I never completely finished them and so never released them. Some of you may know that the original title for one of these albums was “Snakes and Ladders”. “Snakes and Ladders” in now part of these tracks. None of this music has been fully mixed, edited and mastered until now. Your pledges allow me to finish these tracks, add some new solos, edit/tweak the tracks, mix and master them and then have an outlet that bypasses the traditional way I have released albums over the years.

As I finish each track(s) in the coming months, I will be releasing one or two each month over the next 6 months for download in high res formats. Towards the end of 2015 I hope to release ALL of the tracks from both unreleased albums in special cd and vinyl sets available only through Pledge. Each will have technical notes from me, rare pictures from my career, liner notes written by me, audiophile sound, amazing packaging and some other very cool surprises.

Thanks to all of you for all the support! As I move through this process I will posting video of the final recording processes, answer questions and give you general updates over the coming months.

My thanks to the Pledge folks, Benji, Michelle, and Leigh, Leonardo “Nardini” Pavkovic of MoonJune Music and John McCracken from JMG for all their help in this. Also, Mark Kiesel and Jeff Kiesel at Carvin Guitars, Chris Van Tassell at Rockett Pedals, and Lorenza Coco at LaBella Strings. I feel this is the way of the future for many musicians and I’m excited to be part of it.

Look for the first tracks coming very soon. I am very proud of this music and as always, the contributions of Joel, Ernest, Gary and Jimmy are truly brilliant. I can’t wait for you to hear it!

Later this week I will be posting a video update from Carvin Guitars.

Cheers, Allan

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/49623

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 08 MARCH, 2015

Cheers and thank you Hey everybody, once again thanks to all of you for making this a very successful campaign so far. The fan support has been unbelievable and very gratifying to me and all those working on this with me.

Please look for some special videos coming this week from a few “special guests”. I will also be at Carvin/Kiesel Guitars on Tuesday in San Diego and will post an update then with my good friends Jeff and Mark Kiesel, owners of Carvin.

We will try to answer all of your questions over the next few weeks too. Sorry for slow response but I’m working hard in my new studio to get the first tracks completed for download. Coming soon!!!

And thanks for all the great memories from many of you that I’ve seen on tours over the years. A lot of beer under the bridge, ah ha!

All the best!

Thanks!!!!

Allan

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/52566

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 01 MAY, 2015

New Track Coming Soon

GREETINGS everyone,

Just wanted to keep you posted as to what is happening. Here it is!

Because it has been “so long” since I released a studio record I have decided to release a brand new track from the New Studio Record.

Whilst this track will appear on the new album, it will be dramatically different. Therefore it will be a truly unique track, and only available to you, the Pledgers.

The piece of music I chose is a beautiful piece written by Virgil Donati and lends itself perfectly to multiple arrangements / versions.

The piece is called EARTH. This version features Jimmy Johnson on bass, Virgil Donati drums and myself on Guitar and Synthaxe.

Again thank you all so very, very much, for your tremendous support, it is truly appreciated.

All the very best wishes, Allan

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/52571

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 02 MAY, 2015

Clarfication GREETINGS again everyone.

There seems to be some confusion about TALES FROM THE VAULT. Let my try to clarify.

“Tales from the Vault” is a collection of previously unheard tracks that are ONLY available to Pledgers. It will not be available to anyone else!

The idea is to give you guys eventually a full album’s worth of music revealed track by track “One By One”. Then, when there is approximately 1 hour of music it will also then be available as a fully mastered HI RES DOWNLOAD, CD and VINYL to Pledgers ONLY.

I am also (simultaneously) trying to complete a new studio recording of current material separate from the Vault music.

So as I said in my last post this “new” track will be added to the Vault, as its form is very different from the version on the “New” album and unique to Pledgers only.

Therefore ALL “Tales From The Vault” music will not be available elsewhere. (Including this particular version of the new track.)

I hope this helps or maybe I am making it more confusing. I surely hope not.

Cheers for now, Allan.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/54828

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 17 JUNE, 2015

Greetings GREETINGS everyone. We are starting mixing on Wednesday for “Earth”, so it shouldn’t be too long now. Usually the first mix takes a little longer as it becomes the set up for the rest of the tunes, so they will come much quicker.

Anyway thanks again for all your support and your patience!

Best wishes to all, cheers for now.

Allan.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/55659

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 02 JULY, 2015

Sorry for the silence GREETINGS everyone.

Virgil just returned from Australia, while he was there the engineer he was working with came up with some different plug in – eq stuff and Virgil was very pleased with them. So I am going to give them a listen and choose to make the switch or not. Also, just received the additional mixing console I needed to complete “Earth” and then the other tracks to come. Very very close to finishing the final master and then it will be yours. We will announce the release date early next week.

Anyway once again thanks for your understanding and patience.

Cheers for now, best wishes, Allan.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/57074

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 31 JULY, 2015

HELLO Everyone.

Well you will be happy to know we’re done! So you should be able to download next week. I really hope you like the music. The first track is “Earth” as has been announced. It was written by Virgil Donati (drums) and features Jimmy Johnson on bass as well. There will be two versions, one with and one without guitar solos. I think the solo-less version stands on its own. I hope that you will find it interesting as its own complete track.

Thank you so much for hanging in there. Your support has been so inspiring to me and means a lot to me and all of us working on this project. I am forever grateful.

More music to come!!

Best wishes, Allan

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/58514

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 31 AUGUST, 2015

From Allan about Earth HELLO everyone. I am so sorry this took so long, I wont go on with excuses. I really do have a hard time with computer based recording. I am an old geezer used to another world. Anyway I hope you can enjoy the track. The reason I chose to do this first was simply because of the fact that it has been so long since I did a studio recording that I didn’t want to just dig up some older music (which actually may have been just fine). I decided to do an arrangement of Virgil’s tune Earth.

I found it compelling so I re arranged the tune (not the form that remained the same) just a little re harmonization here and there. So there you have it. The other version is very different as you will hear. In fact I think I arranged myself out of it because of all the cheese I put behind the guitar solo first (that I had to play around).

I had already done a previous solo that the computer didn’t like and torched it. Oh well. Don’t be fooled by the short (largely diatonic) solo theres plenty of guitar on the rest of the tunes. I just loved the piece..thats what this was about.

Anyway on to the next tune. I may ditch the computer, still debating…

Thank you all so much for your support, I have no words, Lots of love to you all, Allan.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth/updates/64844

ACCESSPASS UPDATE 20 JANUARY, 2016

Allan Update January 20 Hello everyone.

Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa!

I profusely apologize for the delay with the next two tracks, Gas Lamp Blues and Lanyard Loop. As you probably know we were on the road for a bit with the Cruise to the Edge and a few gigs in Florida. I have also been struggling with converting my digital recording setup back to analog. There have been many hiccups along the way but I have finally silenced the gremlins.

As many of you know by now, I take a long time. Far too long in this case and I do truly apologize. I always want things to be “just” right and I labor over the smallest things. Things that perhaps only I hear. (HaHa.) And since other than “Earth” I have not released any new music in such a long time, I am trying to make these tracks the best I’ve ever done, especially for all of you who’ve been so supportive in this process. It has meant a lot to me. Truly.

So, thank you again for your tremendous patience. It’s my fault and no one else’s. My team will update you asap as to when the new tracks will be coming. I promise “soon”.

Also we will update all the merchandise issues this week as well.

Hope to see some of you at NAMM at the Carvin booth on Saturday.

Plus, I would like to wish you all a fantastic and belated Happy New Year.

Cheers for now, Allan.