Victim Of Emotion (album)

"Victim Of Emotion" is a 1985 album by soul singer Rege Burrell. The credits list Allan on rhythm guitar on the track "Stuttering", but he is inaudible in the mix. It's hard to tell if his part is present at all. It surely is a strange item in Allan's discography. However, it does have an interesting history, which is detailed in this copy of an Allan Holdsworth Archives post on Facebook.

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH DISCOGRAPHY: A RARE APPEARANCE WITH REGE BURRELL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvgXTGOnAEk

If you were to rate Allan’s appearances on record from most well known to least, ”Devil Take The Hindmost” would probably rank very high on the list of well known. On the other side of the scale, very few people probably know of his steel guitar noodlings on an Ester Philips record in 1977, and only hardcore fans would probably be able to name a tune off “Flat Tire” in 2001.

Allan himself disowned a lot of the recordings he appeared on. That hasn’t hindered collectors from seeking them out, and as long as Allan got paid and the record was legally released, this is not really a problem.

In some cases, Allan’s appearances are so obscure that they fly under the radar of even diehard collectors. One such case is his appearance on the Rege Burrell song “Stuttering”, from the album “Victim Of Emotion”, released in 1985.

I probably first became aware of this recording on some forum a couple years ago. The only place where there is information on this online, is at the discogs website. This site contains user generated content, and as such is not 100% trustworthy. The album itself is out of print, and has never been released on CD or digitally, to my knowledge.

https://www.discogs.com/Rege-Burrell-Victim-Of-Emotion/release/2148274

Through online connections, I was able to get a copy of the track in question. Allan’s playing is usually highly recognizable – this is, after all, one quality which appeals to his fans. And usually, when a producer called Allan for a session, it was because they wanted that special sound. This does not seem to be the case when hearing “Stuttering”. The song is typical 80’s synth pop/soul, which gives me a “Miami Vice” vibe. It’s hard to pick out anything that could be Allan’s guitar, let alone ANY guitar. So maybe this was just a fake credit?

Looking at the credits for the album, there were no names usually associated with Allan. The only connection was that the album featured some production and performance by one Chris Currell, who I found out was a guitarist, and also a SynthAxe owner. Chris played SynthAxe with Michael Jackson on the “Bad” tour, as shown on this picture on his website:

http://www.audiocybernetics.com/picc.html

So, I reached out to Chris, and asked him about Allan’s involvement on “Stuttering”. Chris replied with a post on the Archives, which you can find in the comments section here:

https://www.facebook.com/AllanHoldsworthArchives/posts/742620042578558

With Chris’s permission, I’m reposting his story here:

Christopher Currell: “I co-produced this album with Paul Brown. I can verify that Allan indeed played on this album. He played rhythm guitar on the track "Stuttering". Originally, Allan did an amazing guitar solo on this song too but it was later replaced by a sax solo by Ernie Watts. I voted to keep the solo but the record company out-voted me on this. Allan recorded the track in the control room of the old Warner Bro recording studio. We later went out to eat Indian food where Allan proceeded to tell me about his new book which, was coming out soon. He had been talking about it all during the sessions. I was excited to hear about what amazing guitar secrets he would reveal in the book. To my surprise, at the restaurant, he told me it was about brewing beer.

Allan came by the studio a few times during the production of "Victim of Emotion" and we had many discussions about the guitar synthesizer. He was playing the Synth Axe and I was playing the New England Digital Synclavier digital guitar. Allan was so excited that at one point, he suggested we put a band together using these instruments...he envisioned the music being similar to Genesis. The idea was later nixed by his then manager who thought such an idea was not commercial enough!”

Thanks to Chris for sharing this story!

Links

"Stuttering": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvgXTGOnAEk

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/2148274-Rege-Burrell-Victim-Of-Emotion

AH Archives: https://www.facebook.com/AllanHoldsworthArchives/posts/750929785080917