senes de-evolution of theory

Released: 08 November 2010 Label: DR2 Records

Steve Senes is an official guitar hero, as Guitar Player Magazine's 2009 Superstar. So there’s no doubting the quality and diversity of his skill and style as a guitar player. He is very, very good.

If you’re now expecting an album of instrumental guitar that will excite, thrill and make you want to bounce around the room, then you will be disappointed. For all the skill and virtuosity on display, this is a very dull album. On my first listen through, I got as far as the fifth track when I realised I wasn’t listening to it any more, and that doesn’t bode well.

Like so many other tracks and albums that are dominated by superlative intricate and fast guitar work, I consider this to be a bit self indulgent, played for the satisfaction of the player, not the buying customer. I take the view that any album dominated by one instrument, be it guitar, drums, cello, violin, piano or voice is destined to sit uncomfortably on the ears of the average listener, and that the really good albums work because they are a balanced blend of instruments and voices.

This album, even with the variations in style on show, does not achieve a balance, and is likely to remain in a niche for full time students of guitar and for those who can appreciate the effort and skill that goes into the playing without worrying about how it makes them feel.

There’s a mix of styles from progressive rock through to 1980s cop show style music (think Starsky & Hutch, or Shaft, that kind of thing), some lovely classical guitar through to classic rock, but it just doesn’t impact or interest.

On a technical level, there is absolutely nothing wrong in this album. The playing and production can’t be faulted. It is, though, with only one exception, dull. The upbeat Jam Bomb, encapsulating a pounding bass line and an electro-beat, as well as that self indulgent widdly guitar solo is a lonely high spot on an otherwise featureless plain of sound.

I don’t buy music because it’s technically good, I buy because it makes me react at an emotional and physical level. Then again, maybe I’m not musician enough to appreciate the technical qualities on display, so the deficiency is in me, not in the music. 

by Alan Thomson