Some quirky instrumental guitar music...

Sam · April 23, 2004, 04:18:11 PM

Just thought I'd provide some links to some fun, fairly tongue-in-cheek guiitar playing, if anyone's interested.

Ron Thal: The Adventures of Bumbelfoot

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Ron Thal's first solo album, The Adventures of Bumblefoot, was instrumental almost by accident. The year was 1995, shred guitar was not quite dead yet and Shrapnel Records still mattered to a relatively large population of guitar geeks. When approached by Shrapnel honcho Mike Varney to record an album for his shred guitar label, singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Ron Thal shut up and played his guitar, and gave the world the now-really-hard-to-find Adventures of Bumblefoot.

The twelve instrumentals, named after animal diseases, are all at once goofy, melodic, shreddy, funky and metally. Occasional narratives, vocal samples and aaaaaaahs, eeeeeeeehs and oooooooooooohs appear here and there and add variety to the songs' relatively pedestrian melodies. Pieces like "Scrapie" and "Blue Tongue" are rather typical of the state of instrumental rock guitar in the mid-1990s (cf. Darren Housholder, Scott Mishoe, Stephen Ross, Marc Bonilla, etc.), with astonishing but subdued displays of virtuosity by Thal.

The appeal of this album, however, lies in the quirks, guitar noises and supremely original segments Thal never fails to sneak between innocuous melodic verses. The guitar licks are unmistakably his, and it is obvious that his prodigious musicianship extends far beyond the confines of instrumental shred guitar; one can hear shades of Zappa/Vai ("Strawberry Footrot"), funk, metal, modern classical music (the keyboard sections in "Strawberry Footrot", again), and nouveau flamenco ("Ick").

Knowing Thal's later independent work, I get the impression that Thal was largely humoring his label and recorded these instrumentals with his tongue securely attached to the inside of his cheek. Regardless, this album is a fine listen and contains enough quirky compositions and remarkable guitar work to satisfy fans of Thal/Bumblefoot and of guitar music in general.

Review by Rog The Frog Billerey-Mosier

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Ron Thal's Bumblefoot returns with a new concept - a faux 70s lounge band playing rap/metal/rockabilly/funk/disco/Latin/oriental music. Most of the songs have a softer edge and switch genres less frantically than on his previous records, but Thal's insanity and outstanding musicianship are still plastered all over the album.

After a brief 70s lounge intro goofily showcasing Thal's remarkable vocals-to-come, the album's significantly harder first half starts off with a fast, brutal rap/metal number ("Go") peppered with one of Thal's impossible leads and a great melodic harmonized guitar break. But rap/metal is only one of the myriad stylistic elements that can be heard, as the next song ("T-Jonez") is a goofy loungey/Latin love song with poppy harmonized backup vocals, a Jamaican deathcore rap break and trumpets performed Bobby McFerrin-style - with no actual instrument. A sultry two-part Zappaesque low-voice spoken piece bookends an evil rockabilly song complete with slapback delay guitars, big band arrangements ("Crunch") and Thal's trademark Jamaican death rap break. The melodic "I Hate Me..." features a Latin melody, flutes and acoustic guitar break with a great melodic vocal bridge and chorus, a straight-from-the-hood rap break and some metal riffing in places.

"Kiss The Ring", which evokes Rage Against the Machine and Apostrophe-era Frank Zappa, marks the end of the harder first half and is followed by one of the album's best melodic tracks, the Spanish-y "Delilah", with an incredible bass line, Thal's best recorded vocals to date, and a really impressive flow overall. The second half of the album is full of brilliant melodic songs combining salsa and metal ("Ronald Is Coming Back Now"), Zappaesque instrumental sections and panned vocals (the extraordinary instrumental "R2"), funk and muzak flutes ("Mine"), Thalesque metal and superb Elvis Costello/Beatles-inspired strings ("Heart Attack"), and more genres than I should mention in this already overlong review.

While Ron Thal's overall musicianship and guitar virtuosity are far beyond comprehension, the most striking new feature on this album are Thal's melodic vocals, which are now absolutely outstanding in expressiveness, timbre, technique and variety. The confidence, versatility and power of his numerous delivery styles make some of the silliest lyrics this side of Weird Al Yankovic sound perfectly natural and convincing.

This is by very, very far the most amazing album I have heard in many months, and as such it must be obtained by all at any price. Fans of Faith No More should be the first in line.

Review by Rog The Frog Billerey-Mosier

A Passing Turk Slipper · April 23, 2004, 04:29:19 PM

Thanks, I will check those out. I recently went to a Preston Reed concert style things and for people who haven't heard of him he has this mental playing style where both hands are above the fretboard and he drums on his guitar while playing in his crazy style. He played conventionally as well but all the songs he played in his style sounded the same. He was still excellent though, I'd recommend going and seeing him if he goes near you.

JJJJH · April 24, 2004, 12:09:13 AM

It wasn't tap stylee?

A Passing Turk Slipper · April 24, 2004, 03:56:05 PM

Nah, it was a bit different. It's his own style that he made up, he's got some pictures on his website which I'm guessing is www.prestonreed.com or something.

lazyhour · April 24, 2004, 05:47:45 PM

I recommend Derek Bailey and John Fahey for fantastic guitar mentalness. That's all, really.

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Some quirky instrumental guitar music...

Sam

A Passing Turk Slipper

JJJJH

A Passing Turk Slipper

lazyhour