By Jacob Beechler

Editor's Note:  TGP member "JJBoogie" is the guitar player for Arrested Development, a hip-hop band with a previous album that sold over four million copies, had a hit single ("Tennessee"), won some Grammy Awards, and which was named Band of the Year in 1993 by Rolling Stone magazine.

I was driving home the other night with my two oldest boys and decided I needed to hear a bit of Old School. I loaded up Tennessee, by Arrested Development, and pressed play, ready to sink low in my seat and turn it up way too loud - something my daughter is always yelling at me for. But my iPod apparently had other ideas. It wouldn’t play and I was left driving, seat reclined, and no Tennessee. So when I was asked to write a review of their latest album, Strong, the very next day, I of course said, “YEAH!”

Whether you call it Rap, Hip-hop or don’t call it at all there, are 2 elements that must be clear and present to ensure consistent head nodding and seat reclining: beats and rhymes. They are the soul and breath of hip-hop, and are certainly not missing in Arrested Development’s new album, Strong. But you cannot label Arrested Development (featuring TGP member jjboogie) as simply hip hop or any one single definition. I think that is what attracts me the most to this album. As you listen, the diversity between the rhymes, the styles, the music, the vocals and the tracks are ever changing, which keeps you listening and grooving. I guess that is what you get when you mash up MC’s, vocalists, musicians, performance artists and boast the oldest living man in hip-hop, Baba Oje’ at age 77.

Arrested Development’s unique outlook on life clearly bleeds into their music as all good music should, and as you’d expect from a group who has been at it since Baba Oje’ was a spring chicken in his 50’s the production and quality is excellent. Throughout the album there are positive lyrical elements mixed with strong melodies and harmonies that please the ear. Maybe it’s the melodies, maybe it’s the classic beats on songs like Freedom or the tribal rhythms on Africa We Thank You but at times you can almost sense strong ties to a past where family wisdom was passed down from one generation to the next.

The stand out track for me is “Too much Woman for Ya.” Besides the fact that I am a sucker for a fresh organ, the track is Fire!! It has an old school feel that instantly makes me smile and starts the head bobbin’. I dig their use of the live instruments and think it is a testament to why they are still around and making good music. If you appreciate a group that has diversity from track to track, hot beats and does not assume the listener has a limited musical view than Strong is an album you will want in your rotation. Stop stalling and go get it.

Arrested Development Website
Arrested Development MySpace Page

By Brian Scherzer

TGP member Nobuki Takamen first came to our attention at the 2009 Montreal Guitar Festival. Born in Japan, but now residing in New Jersey, Nobuki is attracting increasing international prominence, playing jazz festivals and high end clubs. It is always a pleasure to review a CD by one of TGP's members and From Now On, consisting of original jazz compositions, brought me an incredible amount of listening pleasure as I played it numerous times to prepare a review. What the album brings to the table is a combination of music that hit me as not only a recording that was musically solid from beginning to end, but has some exceptional engineering and production values. I admit to being an audiophile, so being able to listen to a CD that has superb sonic virtues was a blessing for my ears.

If you are a music fan who tends to shy away from jazz recordings because you just couldn't “connect” with the music, forget that bias. THIS recording just sounds right! Takamen's style is from the melodic jazz genre many of us are used to. From the opening notes on the first cut, “C.M.G.”, chordal structure and pace allow you to sit back and enjoy the music without feeling like you don't "get" what Nobuki is saying with his guitar. Yes, the music is relaxing but, in no way boring.

I could find no weaknesses in Takamen's compositions, playing or with the supporting musicians. While Takamen's guitar is obviously the dominant instrument, it sits well in the mix, allowing sufficient room for the listener to admire the stand-up bass, drums, piano and sax......each filling its own space in the wide and deep soundstage presented by this recording. At least on my audio system, the band is right in the room with you. In the case of this CD, the sense that “you are there” is truly a good thing!

Takamen's playing style is hard to define. If you are looking for blazing speed or a jazz/rock fusion style, you will be disappointed. What you get here is a well-paced sense of a player who knows how to control his guitar and chooses to have his playing fit the music. Throughout the CD there is always room left for the supporting instruments to form a foundation for the tunes. The supporting cast isn't just there to lay the groundwork; Takamen allows each musician to showcase their talents. This is especially true in the aptly titled “Nine”, which happens to be the ninth cut on the CD. Any questions about the skills of the supporting players are quickly put to rest. They are world class!

If tone is important to you, Takamen's guitar and playing highlight the purity of a clean guitar sound played with impeccable precision. He seems to enjoy a minimalist style, yet can sweep with the best of them when the music calls for it. All but one tune was played using Nobuki's 1998 Gibson ES-335 '63 reissue model. That Gibson has been his primary axe for more than 10 years. He played his Taylor 714 for Nebergall Loop. The amp setup included use of an Acoustic Image Clarus SL-R and Raezer's Edge Stealth 12 speakers. Effects used were a Boss DM-2 for a few songs and Carl Martin Surf Trem for one song. Takamen likes to use his DM-2 as kind of reverb so you don't hear a delay sound on the recording.

The key to my enjoyment of this wonderful CD is that Nobuki Takamen shows a maturity in his playing that is well beyond his chronological age. In my opinion, he constructs his compositions with an ear to the sum of all instruments, not to highlight his own skills. This creates a beautiful gestalt between the different musicians. From Now On is not a CD for the listener who wants a guitar hero. It is not a CD to buy if your concept of jazz consists of bands like Weather Report or Return To Forever. If you like a clean guitar and technical skills more than fiery, overdriven sound with a relaxing style, I highly recommend From Now On.

To listen to clips or purchase the CD, please go to THIS link.

By Brian Scherzer

Brian Kahanek, A longtime TGP member, has released his newest CD, One True Thing. Kahanek (the musician) has a wide range of musical credits that include recording guitar and mixing for such artists as Tim Mcgraw, multi-platinum Latin group RBD and Virgin recording artist, Betzi. When you add in that Kahanek also has numerous credits as an ADR recordist and mixer, including Pixar's Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, and Peter Jackson's King Kong, what you are left with is an incredibly talented and diverse artist.

One True Thing is Kahanek's third CD release and is, by far, the most difficult to pin down in terms of genre. Just when you think you have a sense of where Brian is heading, a new flavor appears in the tracks on this recording. The material, written by Kahanek, covers a wide spectrum of styles. The tracks are unpredictable in the best sense of drawing the listener's attention. From the very first track, Bottle Rocket, it was clear that Brian wanted varied musical textures and dynamics to stand out. He succeeded! Elements of the first cut bring forth whispers of Jeff Beck, but it's all Kahanek and nothing but Kahanek. This isn't a "I want to sound like this guy" album. Rather, you walk away from the listening experience with a sense that Brian refuses to allow himself to be painted by a single brush. Brian features both his guitar playing and his vocals in this recording. The musicians who join him are deeply talented and help to bring a strong pulse to the tunes presented. The production qualities of the CD are excellent, with no instrument pushing out the others and all blending well, while filling their own acoustic space.

Kahanek did not set out to present listeners with a fireworks display of his guitar playing. This is not a "showoff" recording. It is a selection of songs that appear to speak from the soul. Yes, there ARE some guitar fireworks to be found in the tunes, but it was obvious that Brian is more about the tune than accolades for being the next "guitar wizard". There are layers of guitar on some tracks, including some incredible sounding acoustic playing where you can almost see the wood of the guitar if you close your eyes! Effects are used tastefully throughout on the electric tracks, sometimes leaving me with a desire to hear more of the pure guitar/amp/hands that I have heard on past Kahanek CDs. Yet, the interplay of guitar textures and willingness to allow dynamics tell the story make this CD a joy to listen to. By the end of the CD I decided that Kahanek is not "just" a guitar player and vocalist. He is an artist who writes great songs and this CD is well worth the price of admission!

To hear soundclips or purchase, click HERE.

By Scott Auld

Before the Fire, an amazing new album from rock band The Rival Sons, mixes an honest love for the roots of rock with an intense, modern take on where music can go from here. In many primitive cultures, important ceremonies took place "before the fire". The Rival Sons are attempting to set rock and roll back on fire.

The first track, Tell me Something, kicks off with duel guitars playing an insistent riff in both channels. Then you are hit with the first vocals on the album, and you can't help but wonder if the band found the second coming of Ian Astbury. When the chorus hits you, and you don't have to wait around for it, you are assaulted with a huge sounding harmony of attitude and guitars, making you forget that this is a pure four-piece band.

Jay Buchanan has turned in an amazing collection of powerful, yearning vocals. This seems even more amazing when you learn that Buchanan joined the band after the majority of the album had already been recorded. When guitarist Scott Holiday (TGP’s "fuzzbird") found Buchanan, there was no way he was going to let him NOT join the band, and they re-recorded the entire album with Buchanan's strong voice. The instruments were all recorded "before the fire" really got started, when Jay's joining was the final piece of the puzzle falling into place.

Track two, Lucky Girl, tricks you into thinking you have this band figured out, but this is an album of curveballs. Every step in this journey is followed by another step in a different, yet somehow familiar, direction. The expedition passes through Beatle territority without seeming nostalgic, skirts near The Who without sounding trite, jumps onto the Smithereens' bus but only to use it as a launch pad for soaring higher into a new brand of modern rock.

Bassist Robin Everhart fills every nook and cranny with tasty, thoughtful parts. Like the late (great) Berry Oakley, Everhart's bass playing is extremely musical. Everhart knows when to stay low, then slyly pops his head up for a look around, then ducks back down and surprises you again with his murdering groove, locking in with drummer Michael Miley in a way that makes you think they’ve been together for decades.

Each song is an exploration of new sounds and tones, so you can't escape the feeling that you're getting a tour of a really nice collection of gear. The aptly titled Memphis Sun explores slide guitar and a driving bluesy feel, but never leaves its pure hard rock sound completely behind. Producer / mixer / songwriting collaborator Dave Cobb lets this track breathe so you never feel cramped by the music's claustrophobic lyrics.

The Rival Sons' Zeppelin influence shows with the intro to Pocketful of Stones, but the band only uses this as a reference point, adding their own infusion of energy and strange sounds that takes the band into sonic territory formerly unexplored by rock bands. This album shows that the trio is not afraid to step outside the box, and has no qualms about drifting into the truly trippy. You simply can not get bored listening to this album.

Rival Sons shows their vulnerable side with The Man Who Wasn't There, then hits you hard with Pleasant Return, made up of sixties psychedelia-meets-Black Crowes, with a very live-feeling arrangement. Holiday says the majority of the album was recorded "as if live" with many arrangement ideas coming to them in the process of recording. This explains why the album does not sound processed or like it came from a factory. This is living, breathing, rock and roll.

The Rival Sons, named after the recurring theme of sibling rivalry that shows up over and over in history and religion, believes that modern rock & roll has become stale and homogenized, and that nobody seems to want to make it fun any more. The sons have made it their mission to change that, and this solid album goes a long way towards reintroducing the quirky, fun, and most of all, surprising, to rock.

Click here for more information.....

Review By Scott Auld

Imagine yourself being magically transported into an alternate reality where music has no constraints, where the lure of pop music has not choked the life and soul out of music, where artistry dominates over sales figures as the driving force behind creativity.

That is the reality where Ed DeGenaro seems to live. His new CD, Less is Seldom More, appears to have been spawned directly from his soul, with no bowing to commercialism or Top 40 hit-craving record execs in suits. For music lovers, this is a very, very good thing. This is music the way it used to be, the way it's supposed to be: pure creativity.

Less shifts gears between genres & styles so effortlessly, and so frequently, that you will wonder if someone is just flipping through the channels on a radio. But the shifts are so fluid and well-executed that you hardly feel the transitions - you just find yourself suddenly listening to techno-inspired mecha-rock, then beautiful fusion-jazz, then classical music, then suddenly world-beat/new-age chants, or country shredding ... it's all there, but Ed pulls it off without the self-conscious sense of apology found on many instrumental albums.

Parts of the album have a way of making you feel the way you might have felt the first time you listened to some of the pioneers of progressive guitar-oriented music - early Zappa with Vai comes to mind at one point - but unlike those albums, this music is so creative & inspired that it will appeal to non-players as well as musicians. For example, during the playing of Joe Z, my eastern-asian-world-music-loving wife looked at me suddenly and asked, "What's the title of this song???" The appeal will really be across cultural boundaries. How this was accomplished is truly beyond me ... I've just never heard an album that jumps so effortlessly between genres. Just when you think you are listening to a Sonny Landreth track, you are suddenly hearing what you think must be Wes Montgomery. Or, in another example, during the modern musical assault that is Avenue D, trumpet player Satish drops in with phrases that you would swear come from a classic jazz album from 1960.

Production values on the album are outstanding. This could have been recorded, mixed & mastered at any of the big shops. This is probably a tribute to the endless list of collaborators on the album, and Ed's apparent openness to the ideas of his recording partners. The two collaborations with Matte Henderson are an example: Matte's Bible Camp is almost a religious experience, while Yes Man is a fun reminder of Zappa's "Stevie's Spanking" - the two tracks couldn't be more different, yet they stand easily together on an album that demonstrates so much diversity. Or, check out the way that the classic-rock organ stylings of George Whitty - who also mastered the album - holds up against the lightning-fast guitar work on Southern Flyer.

Less is Seldom More is a treat for music lovers of all stripes. If we're lucky, this CD will influence others to release music straight from the gut. The results are spectacular.

To listen to sound clips and find info on how to purchase, click on the following: http://eddegenaro.com/html/ed_s_store.html