After being mostly overlooked on his previous album, Tones, guitarist Eric Johnson scored with the hit "Cliffs of Dover" on his third solo effort "Ah Via Musicom." Eric is a phenomenal guitarist yet plays with a lot of restraint. His style represents a wide variety of styles including rock, pop, blues, country, and jazz. This recording has reached near-classic proportions within the guitar community and because of this I feel that "Ah Via Musicom" is Eric Johnson's best album.
Here's my take on the tracks:
1. Ah Via Musicom: a very spacey, almost Hendrix like intro with backwards guitar that runs right into the next track.
2. Cliffs of Dover: This is Eric's signature song and probably greatest hit. Extremely catchy melodies along with well played lightning quick lines. Sensational!
3. Desert Rose: One of Eric's vocal tunes on the album. He doesn't have the greatest voice but it definitely doesn't get in the way of the music. His guitar solos on this song have more of a bluesy flair to go his own signature styling.
4. High Landons: Starts out with some very cool flanged out guitar and another song with him singing. Very cool bluesy guitar soloing on this one that reminds me a little bit of that Texas Blues that Stevie Ray Vaughn made famous.
5. Steve's Boogie: Eric has revealed that this song is dedicated to Austin pedal steel guitarist Steve Hennig. This song is very reminiscent of country/western chicken pickin' style guitar playing and just sounds ridiculously fun to play!
6. Trademark: Johnson gets back to Instrumentals with this song. It's got a bit of a laid back feel and draws you in with some more great melodies and atmosphere.
7. Nothing can keep me from you: Back to singing once again, Eric switches nicely from vocals to playing some real nice guitar melodies. Sometimes he makes his guitar sound almost violin like, and this is a great example of it.
8. Song for George: Another song on the album dedicated to a friend, this time to his guitar buddy George Washington. This is a very nice solo acoustic guitar piece and is a nice change of pace for the album.
9. Righteous: Now Eric get's back to more of a rock feel with this one. He picks up the tempo a bit and let's out some more of those nice Texas Blues style guitar lines as well as a bit more riffage than in the previous tunes.
10. Forty Mile Town: Eric returns to singing and this is probably the closest to a ballad on the album. He uses some very nice clean guitar tones as well as some guitar swells for atmosphere. Not much soloing in this one.
11. East Wes: Last song on the album and it's kinda surprising that he would pick this for last since for the most part it's on the subdues side. Still a very nice melodic tune with elements of jazz and blues sprinkled throughout.
Eric puts his ego aside and really plays for the song, which is rare for a guitarist of his caliber. His music is made for both fans of guitar and for the casual listener with this album being a prime example. That's why, to me, Eric Johnson's best album is "Ah Via Musicom!"
Here's my take on the tracks:
1. Ah Via Musicom: a very spacey, almost Hendrix like intro with backwards guitar that runs right into the next track.
2. Cliffs of Dover: This is Eric's signature song and probably greatest hit. Extremely catchy melodies along with well played lightning quick lines. Sensational!
3. Desert Rose: One of Eric's vocal tunes on the album. He doesn't have the greatest voice but it definitely doesn't get in the way of the music. His guitar solos on this song have more of a bluesy flair to go his own signature styling.
4. High Landons: Starts out with some very cool flanged out guitar and another song with him singing. Very cool bluesy guitar soloing on this one that reminds me a little bit of that Texas Blues that Stevie Ray Vaughn made famous.
5. Steve's Boogie: Eric has revealed that this song is dedicated to Austin pedal steel guitarist Steve Hennig. This song is very reminiscent of country/western chicken pickin' style guitar playing and just sounds ridiculously fun to play!
6. Trademark: Johnson gets back to Instrumentals with this song. It's got a bit of a laid back feel and draws you in with some more great melodies and atmosphere.
7. Nothing can keep me from you: Back to singing once again, Eric switches nicely from vocals to playing some real nice guitar melodies. Sometimes he makes his guitar sound almost violin like, and this is a great example of it.
8. Song for George: Another song on the album dedicated to a friend, this time to his guitar buddy George Washington. This is a very nice solo acoustic guitar piece and is a nice change of pace for the album.
9. Righteous: Now Eric get's back to more of a rock feel with this one. He picks up the tempo a bit and let's out some more of those nice Texas Blues style guitar lines as well as a bit more riffage than in the previous tunes.
10. Forty Mile Town: Eric returns to singing and this is probably the closest to a ballad on the album. He uses some very nice clean guitar tones as well as some guitar swells for atmosphere. Not much soloing in this one.
11. East Wes: Last song on the album and it's kinda surprising that he would pick this for last since for the most part it's on the subdues side. Still a very nice melodic tune with elements of jazz and blues sprinkled throughout.
Eric puts his ego aside and really plays for the song, which is rare for a guitarist of his caliber. His music is made for both fans of guitar and for the casual listener with this album being a prime example. That's why, to me, Eric Johnson's best album is "Ah Via Musicom!"
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