Since their first collaboration
\nBlack Light Syndrome<\/i> came out in 1997, fans of Bozzio Levin
\nStevens have been waiting with bated breath for their next
\ncollaboration. I include myself in that group, having named the
\nfirst release from guitarist Steve Stevens, bassist Tony Levin and
\ndrummer Terry Bozzio, as the best release of that year.<\/p>\n
Yet something is different about their long-awaited sophomore
\neffort
\nSituation Dangerous<\/i>. It’s not that it’s a bad disc; as
\nusual, all three musicians are stellar. It’s almost that the
\nspontaneous nature of the project is gone – and, with it, some of
\nthe magic.<\/p>\n
There is no doubt left that this time around, Stevens is the
\nstar of the show. His guitar work runs the gamut from full-scale
\nshredding to absolutely impeccable Spanish guitar licks, and he
\nconstantly proves himself to be more than just the guitarist who
\nonce teamed up with Billy Idol. Stevens could well be one of the
\nmost underrated guitarists out there, and
\nSituation Dangerous<\/i> makes every attempt to correct that
\noversight.<\/p>\n
But something has to suffer if one person gets the limelight –
\nand, sadly, the contributions of Levin and Bozzio often are pushed
\ninto the background. Oh, sure, Bozzio’s drum work shines throughout
\nall eight tracks of this disc, but I wish he had been given a
\nlittle room to just cut loose and throw in some fills of his own.
\nAs for Levin, he does get a chance to shine on “Endless” when he
\nsolos on the cello. It’s hauntingly beautiful, and is demonstrates
\njust how gifted a musician he really is. Yet more often than not,
\nLevin seems perfectly happy standing in the background and serving
\nas a solid rhythmic backbone.<\/p>\n
The music on
\nSituation Dangerous<\/i> is an eclectic mix which dares to even
\ntranscend the genre of progressive rock, which Bozzio Levin Stevens
\nhelped to re-champion on
\nBlack Light Syndrome<\/i>. “Dangerous” is a frenzied ride which
\nsometimes feels like someone is adding in keyboards without getting
\ncredited. (The only additional musician credited is Marcus Nand for
\nhis flamenco guitar work on “tziganne”.) “Endless” moves from an
\nalmost neo-classical piece to a jazzy swing, daring to make a
\n10-minute song pass in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n
For that matter, that’s the Achilles’ heel on
\nSituation Dangerous<\/i>. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the
\nmusic this band is creating that one quickly loses focus on how the
\nalbum’s progressing. I’ve spent the better part of two days
\nlistening to this disc, and I can’t think of one time where I
\ndidn’t find myself distracted by the music, to the point where I’d
\nrestart the disc at the first track.<\/p>\n
\nSituation Dangerous<\/i> is still a solid follow-up from a band
\nwho could easily make a career out of working together non-stop.
\nYet it suggests that not all of the promise in their debut disc has
\nbeen lived up to – although they come close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5876],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36746","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bozzio-levin-stevens","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36746"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36746"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}