This is a bold album for Guardian's six-string slinger. It's 1998 and it's been ten years since neo-classical albums by guitar heroes like Vinnie Moore and Tony MacAlpine were standard items in the album collections of musicians and metalhead fans alike. In some ways, it's not "cool" or "in" to be noodling away with the guitar like this, but it's also fairly timeless to create and play instrumental tracks with proficient playing skills and an ear for a good melody - especially when it comes to a Texas blues song like "Tom's Cat." Tony, of course, has a great ear for songwriting and great fingers for soloing. Much like the solo operatic genre, which is a "make or break" situation depending on how good the voice sounds, this guitar album niche is for showcasing a guitar that can sing. Tony's fingers indeed sing like a bird. Apparently, this album was written over a ten-year time span, with several different and legendary musicians adding their drum and bass chops. Sometimes in this genre you'll hear an obvious drum machine and the kind of rhythm section that is barely propping up the lead guitar playing. Overall, this doesn't seem to be the case. And over all the overall, this playing is good and I like it. I like it a lot.
Other coverage for this album
The Lighthouse Unsorted 1999Reviewed by Alex KlagesIn the last couple of years, Christian labels have finally caught on to the fact that not all instrumental albums need to be extremely, well, mellow. Phil Keaggy's fine album, 220, gave an excellent demonstration of what could be done by a soloist on a major label. And guitarists such as Jeff Scheetz and Rex Carroll have done their duty in promoting a certain excellence in string bending. Tony…
