Johnny A. - Get Inside
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Free Music Notes for Get Inside
Free Music Review: "One of the Quintessential Electric Guitar CD's"
Hit: 5 Stars
From 1999's "Sometime Tuesday Morning" until the release of this CD, Johnny's following grew in leaps and bounds. Steve Vai signed Johnny to his Favored Nations label, and Gibson Guitars designed and built him a signature model, which is the featured instrument throughout(as of this writing, I have ordered one for myself-an amazing guitar).
Johnny's material (originals and covers) is much stronger this time; the rhumba feel featured on "Hip Bone";
The foot tappin'/ fingersnappin' of "I Had To Laugh";
The smoothness and beauty of the Johnny Rivers classic "Poor Side Of Town;
The swing / country backbeat of "Sing Singin'";
The moody, yet punchy rhythms of the title track, "Get Inside"
The country-rock of "Bundle Of Joy";
The inventive, funky arrangement of Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary" ;
More country-rock is apparent on "Ignorance Is Bliss";
The cool, melodic approach used on "Sway A Little" and "Another Life" makes for a pleasurable listen.
For me, though, the CD's two finest moments are "Stimulation" which combines double-stop picking with a heavily saturated rock guitar sound, all over a heavily percussive beat-jazz fusion meets Chet Atkins: fabulous.
The absolute best for me is "Krea Gata", which is a Johnny A. 'Mini-clinic' in one piece of music; the jazz octaves of Wes Montgomery; the british blues of Eric Clapton or Peter Green; the howling distortion and frenetic fingers of a Gary Moore or Stevie Ray Vaughan all wrapped up in one neat package.
Note: Johnny plays many of these tunes in his live act, which is absolutely brilliant. I met him at a Philadelphia show, and he autographed this CD for me.
Good guy, great guitarist. For any lover of the spectrum of playing capable on an electric guitar, this CD is a must-own. 5 stars.
Free Music Review: Sometime Tuesday Afternoon
Hit: 5 Stars
"Get Inside" is the sophomore release for Johnny A. If you were a fan of "Sometime Tuesday Morning," you'll enjoy this follow-up album. Johnny A. keeps to what worked for his first album, a myriad of musical styles ranging from blues to jazz to country. There are some similarities between songs from the two albums, most notably "Sing Singin'" mirrors "Oh Yeah" quite a bit. Even with these resemblances, this is still a pretty good album full of great guitar work and variety of styles.
The highlight for me is the cover of Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary", but as Johnny A. covered the surf classic "Walk, Don't Run" previously, he has taken some liberties here as well. The song is jazzed up, and sped up as well with staccato chords, sweet playing and a trumpet in the middle provided by Garret Savluk. This is a very cool rendition of one of my favorite Hendrix's tunes. "Hip Bone" is rocked out jazz that opens the album well before touching a little country with "I Had to Laugh." He slows it way down with the bluesy "Krea Gata," where each note is slow and meaningful as Ron Stewart uses brushes on the drums. They kick it up into high gear, and Johnny A. rips on the guitar and Stewart bangs on the skins before bringing it back down for the finish. I think he has a little more of a country flare on this album than the previous, but is stellar on the guitar just the same.
For a second album, I believe Johnny A. dodged the sophomore jinx, and put out a very nice effort. I'm still big on "Sometime Tuesday Morning," but as I listen to this more and more, it's climbing up there with the first one. Johnny A. fans will appreciate this new release.
Free Music Review: Food For Your Soul
Hit: 5 Stars
I had no idea what to expect, other than some competent guitar work, when I walked into the Rosewood Theatre, Morgantown, WV (Go Mountaineers) in April, 05 to hear Johnny A. Apparently, few knew something big was up, as my buddy and I took the table in front, nothing but six feet of air between us and the wooden stool on stage. Three hours later I left that room in a daze, my musical universe spinning crazily. My taste in guitar music has generally gone to electric blues, eg. SRV, Allman Bros, C. Montoya, KWS, etc. What the hell did I just see/hear? I'm a blues guy and sometimes it was bluesy, but I'm not a jazz guy (am I?) but sometimes it was jazzy and, OK, yeah, well that sounds like Chet Atkins, and there's a little Mark Knopfler, oh wait, THERE'S Stevie, floating right next to Jimi and on and on. I don't know how else to describe it, I don't know anything about guitar other than what I like, Johnny wasn't exactly copying anyone else, his music with his influences and experiences just seem to flow from him. His guitar is truly his voice. He did most or all of Get Inside and some of STM. Please, please buy this CD, do it for your soul. Listen to it many times, you will hear more each time and somehow it becomes more powerful with each listening. I am absolutely hooked on this guy, he's a treasure. I've often chided myself for never seeing SRV. I feel better now.Free Music Review: Johnny A gets better and better...
Hit: 5 Stars
My review of Johnny A's 1st album (Sometime Tuesday Morning) was titled "Tasty, refreshing, melodic guitar". His new album is more than tasty - I compare it to a fine, reserve Cabernet versus "Tuesday's first vintage. Here's why:- Tone: If it is possible, Johnny's tone on this album is even better than before. Lush and full, clear and soothing, biting and intense... always just right for the song and mood.
- Style: I noted Johnny's influences in my first review (Atkins to Wes, Jeff Beck, Hendrix...). In Get Inside, Johnny has gone beyond these influences - they are still there, but now so seamlessly and organically invoked that what stands out is Johnny's own trademark style, not his roots.
Range: This is adult music, in the most positive sense. If you want guitar posturing/made-up attitude/derivative flash and trash, look elsewhere, punk. "Get Inside" has depth and soul, emotion, joy - the kind of music you can write a movie around.
Quality: Every track shines. Every track is exactly true to what the song is conveying. The package is very nice. My only quibble is that I would have liked to know which tracks used the Johnny A Signature Gibson!
Overall, a disc to savor and share with friends. On a Robert Parker-like wine scale, I give it 94/100. The only reason it didn't score higher is that I wanted it to come out sooner!
Free Music Review: Superb ......
Hit: 5 Stars
90% of my purchases are guitar instrumental albums, the rest are guitar albums which include singing, such as Sonny Landreth. In most cases, after reading, and buying on the strength of reviews, I have high expectations which are only rarely met.In this case, those expectations are massively surpassed ( as they were with Joe Bonamassa, Andy Timmons and Greg Koch ). Johnny A really knows how to 'swing', and that is a feel that is so sorely lacking in most guitar music today.
After listening to "get inside" for the first time, there were only a couple of tracks that did not instantly bring a smile to my face. This is not GUITAR music ... it is MUSIC which happens to be played on the guitar - brilliantly
His tone is, or should I say, tones are simply fantastic. Johnny A has a unique ability of mixing several tones within phrases which add a huge amount of interest to whatever he is playing.
STM took some time to grow on me, whereas GI is instant. I think this is because of the groove he sets up right from the start, and even in "the wind cries Mary" he maintains his own inimitable sense of rhythm and turns a brilliant song into a completely different, brilliant song.
What a wonderful album ... and a lesson to a whole host of admittedly fantastic guitar players turning out, what is basically, the same CD over and over again.