Week 12 of 52 albums a year
Holz-Stathis: Collaborative.
Hi everyone! Another week has gone and I'm sitting here watching the sun rise over the city of Bunbury, listening to this weeks album.
This one was suggested to me by my friend John. It's called Holz Stathis: Collaborative by Bob Holz and I have really loved this one*.
Perhaps it's because of where I am.
Bunbury is a beachside town and the weather this week has been hovering around 30 degrees Celcius or in the high 80’s Fahrenheit. Some of these songs have a tropical feel and have been the perfect soundtrack for my life.
I think however that while that has helped, the truth is it's just really fucking good music. It features a bunch of well known musicians, well they are well known in jazz fusion circles at least. I'm talking John McLaughlin and Jean-Luc Ponty mainly, not to mention Bob Holz himself. Not that I know much of his music prior to this, but looking over who he has played with, the dude has been around.
When I first turned this album on though, I won't lie. I thought man, this is a bit cheesy. The opening track, Tunnel, reminds me of the kind of show they would have played on The Midday Show with Ray Martin. Seeing as this show ended in 1993, before I was 10, it's hard to say if I'm being realistic or not. But when I hear a certain synth tone, I just think oh god, what is this?
Thankfully, my mate John has often steered me towards some fantastic albums in the past, so I trusted that it would pick up. And it did, by about the 3 minute mark of Tunnel, when a guitar solo started to shred.
Island Sun Love was probably the first song that really got stuck in my head. I found myself driving along Ocean Drive after work, with the sun setting over the Indian Ocean, and it just felt like this moment was perfect. I had that feeling that I wanted to just listen to this one song over and over again, it fit the vibe I was in so well. As the week has gone on, it's still one of my favourites, but some other songs have really tickled my ears too.
The first would be World Turned Upside Down. I mean this is the Mahavishnu Orchestra reunited to some extent, a band who I heard years ago and was blown away by. If you're looking for crazy time signatures and amazing guitars, they are a band to check out. But I'm going on a tangent. Hearing this song but not knowing any information about it, there is an instant 'feel' to these guys playing together that hits around the 2 minute mark. That's the McLaughlin sound, and it made sense when I was looking at the song titles a few days later and I saw who was on it. Then of course hearing Luc Ponty's solo on violin, I should have realised who it was earlier. Or maybe not, from what I can gather it's the first time in decades they have played together. But the sound is instantly familiar.
The next couple of songs are, to my ears, smooth jazz tracks. They are enjoyable, I like listening to them, and there’s some catchy melodies to them. Side Scratch is the more guitar/riff driven of the two, while Volta initially gave me that Midday with Ray Martin vibe, it's a gentle track that fits nicely. I don’t love them, but I don’t dislike them.
Then in kicks Palo Viejo, and it's like I'm playing Mario Kart 64, specifically Koopa Troopa beach. This song is similar to track 2, Island Sun Love. I was playing Palo Viejo, enjoying my weekend driving to the beach and when I pulled up at the beach I thought man, this is the perfect soundtrack for this moment, but I don't want it to end here. So out came the headphones and back I went to the start. This song got a few repeated plays over the last weekend that's for sure!
Back To You was one that crept up on me. Perhaps because I was playing the song before so much, but it would roll into this one and I'd find myself humming the chorus. And then wanting to hear the chorus. Then the verse. I mean what can I tell you, this song is great. It's also got a ripping solo near the end too.
Oh did I say something about Mario Kart island tunes earlier? Well keep that vibe going when the next song, Wondering, hits. This is another one that had me grinning from ear to ear as I drove towards the beach. Fantastic song, and again, no lyrics, but just a great vibe.
You Can Get It is one that was stuck in my head all day at work yesterday. It's got a really quick pace to it, and just these riffs and melodies that grabbed me. They are jerky yet smooth, and they make me want to move when I hear them. There's no island sound here, this is all groove and shredding, be it guitar, bass, or saxophone.
Better Try is porn music. This is music you put on in the background, and fuck to. As I am single, and have not been meeting anyone to have sex with, it instead was a song I put on in the office at work that lead to people thinking I made amateur porn at home. It's great, but there's a level of dare I say it but cheesy sleaze to it, but I still like it.
Flight of Fancy is another song that just got stuck in my head. That riff just hits, and it hits hard! I was humming it over and over at work the past 2 days. The song has a lot of momentum and goes to some interesting places, and dare I say it, but it’s my favourite song on the album. Although that may be because I’ve slowly worked my way through a whole bunch of songs being my favourite over the week, and it’s just the last one to have hit that point.
Make Me Smile is one that I didn't love when I first heard it. Again, there's an element of cheese to it that threw me off a bit. I guess my 'normal' isn't to listen to lyrics that have words like 'I'm so happy, that you love me, life is lovely, when you're near me'. But as I listened to it more, I've found myself enjoying this song. It's light, it's upbeat, and it's nice.
Lookin' Back closes the album, and we are back to some fuck music. I mean the start of it sounds like something straight out of a porno from the 80's, at least to my ears. But that bass is just groovin, and I've found myself really enjoying the song. The melody gets stuck in your head, and I've found myself humming the horns melody long after I've turned off the album.
This album has been full of those moments. The song finishes and I just want to hear it again, I'm not done with it. I don’t want to hear the rest of the album, I want that song or that moment to go on and on and on. I’ve had that feeling on at least 5 songs on this album, and it’s one of the pure joys I have when I'm listening to new music. I never know when it is going to hit, but it's always a pleasure when I find a new song that sticks around like that. I've refrained from just bumming one song on repeat because I need to listen to the whole album for this challenge, but I have definitely given a few songs a few more listens than the rest.
So anyway, this album was fantastic to my ears. I didn't love it initially, but it very quickly grew on me beyond just enjoying a few tracks. Easy 5/5 fingers, this is a fully fisted fusion feista. It's got me contemplating diving deeper into some Mahavishnu stuff, maybe looking into Jamie Glaser some more (the guitarist on Flight of Fancy), and just learning more about Bob fucking Holz. Dude is a great drummer and I am so happy that he managed to get all of these songs together.
Anyway that's all from me. Enjoy your week everyone!
The year so far:
*as much as I have loved it, it sucks that this isn't on Bandcamp. I want to buy this album, pay for it and download it. Instead the best I can do is get it on Spotify. So apologies for the youtube links, whenever I click on them I'm liable to get a fuckload of ads and it is not how an album is meant to be enjoyed, in 2 song bursts interspaced with people selling you shit. But it's what we have, so it's what we get.