V.V.A.A.
- The Spirit
Lives On Vol.1
(The music of Jimi Hendrix revisited)
(2004 - Lion Music)
The Spirit Lives On is a tribute album to Jimi Hendrix, with various artist payin' tribute to his music.
Sun Caged starts off the cd with Freedom. Marcel Coenen and his mates rearranged the classic tune with a heavier attitude, but the playin' remains bluesy, that's sure.
Gypsy eyes is revisited by Mistheria on keys and Andrea Rivera on guitars. Cool intro with a groovy acoustic guitar and a funky feel on the whole song. Mistheria takes his solo on keys and then Rivera gets back to funk while Max Romano sings Jimi's lyrics. Cool acoustic interlude. Guitar solo at 4:16. Less groovy than the acoustic playin' IMO.
Cyril Achard plays on Highway Chile and brings his style into Jimi's song. He's the first one to play some 'over the top' lines. But his playin' doesn't sound forced into it.
Cross Town Traffic is played by Arabesque. This song is one of my fave out of Jimi's bag, and Arabesque took care of the funkier side of Jimi. Good solo with energetic vibrato.
Eric Sands challenged himself with Stone Free. Heavy version! I love this one. Wha solo. Eric Sands stays quite close to Jimi's own style.
Little Wing to Michael Harris, who changes the intro quite a lot!!!! Then the vocals come in, and his version stays quite close to the original again. Then an interlude that brings Harris' version away from the original. The solo is a good one! Only thing I dislike is Michael guitar tone: too nasal and cold. But he truly tried to change Hendrix's song, as he even added a jazzy-fusion section. Hats off to his interpretation, 'cause it's closer to the 'revisited music' label of this album.
Lars Eric Mattsson and Chris Poland Share lead guitar duties on Spanish Castle Magic (another one of my personal faves). Poland plays a solo that's not too convincing, and is heavily hidden in the mix. Lars Eric Mattsson takes his lead solo, but again it's somethin' that doesn't catch completely your attention.
Bold as Love features Regi Hendrix on vocals, and JMR on guitars, while the mighty Greg Howe takes the outro guitar solos. Regi 's voice is perfect for the song, and Jason Richardson plays his solo and the rhythm parts with a strong Hendrix feel. Needless to say that Howe is great as always, playin' groovy, melodic lines that fit perfectly into the song while bein' inventive. That's true class. One of the best tracks.
Bumblefoot and Dennis Leeflang put their crazy approach to Fire, with Bumblefoot playin' his whacky fretless lines while singin' with his deep, fat voice. What a solo!!!! The usual ot-to-lunch style you can expect from the man. Notes so high that will make your dog bark...
This one is also one of the best tracks.
Edward Box goes down hard n' heavy with Foxy Lady. Bluesy solo again.
3rd Stone From The Sun has Carl Roa puttin' a groovy spin to the intro. The only instrumental track of the album features a heavy boogie feel. I like that! =) Some whammy frenzy in honour of Jimi.
Star Spangled Banner is Randy Coven's tribute and features volleys of tappin' between the dive bombs and various noises... Yeah, even bassists want to dive bomb! =)
Richie Kotzen closes this album with Little Miss Lover. Funked rhythms provided by Lars Eric Mattsson who plays also the second lead.
Richie's solo reflects his style, which has matured into a melodic phrasing with some touch of speed here and there.
The album features some cool playin', but as it often happens in this
kind of tribute albums,
it sounds that some 'groups' where put together to just play the song
they had to, without being truly involved in the project. The goal should
have been 'Hendrix's music revisited', but many songs are just too close
to the original.
Some of the people tried to somehow reinvent the Jimi's classics, and
hats off to them.
And, yeah, it's cool to listen to Greg Howe, Bumblefoot and Richie Kotzen
everytime it's possible.
Greg And BF are the ones who truly shine in the project. Greg with his
inner class,
and Bumblefoot with his ultrapersonal approach to music.
Rating: 8,5
(reviewed by Max)