{"id":44668,"date":"2016-11-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/theme-from-a-perfect-world\/"},"modified":"2016-11-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T00:00:00","slug":"theme-from-a-perfect-world","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/theme-from-a-perfect-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Theme From A Perfect World"},"content":{"rendered":"

The path of the instrumental rock guitarist is not an easy one. Not only will you inevitably fall short of the popularity and appeal of rock music with vocals, but the gold standard in the genre has long since been well-established by the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Ronnie Montrose. To play in that league, you need to be world-class in at least two of the three chief components of instrumental guitar music\u2014tone, speed, and composition\u2014if not all three.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s your punchline: Andy Timmons ranks with the best players going today in all three categories.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a decade since the veteran guitar-slinger\u2019s last album of original music, 2006\u2019s superb Resolution<\/i><\/a>, with a stop in between for the cover album Andy Timmons Band Plays Sgt. Pepper<\/i> (2011). You\u2019re reminded almost immediately of what makes Timmons special as a guitarist; besides possessing phenomenal tone and feel and the ability to reel off tremendously nimble solos at the drop of a hat, he\u2019s a terrific songwriter. While there\u2019s plenty of room to stretch out, solo, and explore, tunes like buoyant opener \u201cAscension\u201d and its driving companion piece \u201cWinterland\u201d feature something close to verse-chorus-verse structure, and prominent hooks. \u201cLift Us Up (Something Wicked This Way Comes)\u201d similarly surges and falls back more than once before breaking down and returning for an extended, skyscraping solo in its final act. <\/p>\n

Sitting third on this 10-track, 53-minute outing, the title track eschews the propulsive approach of the first two tracks for more of a limber, flexible, spacious, thoughtful feel\u2014at first. Timmons\u2019 ridiculously pure, rich tone reminds of Satriani in places, but where Satch defaults into mind-blowing solos and effects, Timmons will pause to focus more on melody and flow and the results are very appealing. That said, he\u2019s as eager to cut loose as the next guy, and promptly does so around 3:10 in this seven and a half minute tune, moving through four distinct segments before circling back around for a summing-up reprise at the close.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanctuary\u201d and \u201cThe Next Voice You Hear\u201d offer microcosms of the above approach, pairing quieter, bluesier sections with explosive power chords. The invaluable support of bassist\/co-producer Mike Daane and drummers Rob Avsharian and Mitch Marine makes it possible for Timmons to shift gear at will, exploring moments of delicate, restrained tension (the opening to \u201cThat Day Came\u201d), elastic mid-tempo explorations (the very pretty \u201cFirenze\u201d), and galloping hard rock (the steady-building, propulsive \u201cWelcome Home\u201d). \u201cOn Your Way Sweet Soul\u201d closes things out on a serious note, a spacious, elegiac number that\u2019s flat-out gorgeous in places, with majestic ascending lines that repeat and evolve.<\/p>\n

The other thing about instrumental guitar music is, you have to be in the mood for it, ready to receive its wordless wisdom. The magic Andy Timmons performs again and again is to deliver songs so well-constructed, delivered with such passion and absolutely superb tone, that you barely notice the absence of vocals. In a genre where the bar has long since been set at absurd heights, the Andy Timmons Band\u2019s Theme From A Perfect World<\/i> clears it with room to spare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7753],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-44668","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-andy-timmons-band","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44668","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52002,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44668\/revisions\/52002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44668"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44668"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}