I now own three of Paul Gilbert's instrumental albums: Get Out of My Yard, Silence Followed By a Deafening Roar, and the recently released Fuzz Universe. Paul Gilbert is a monster player: superb chops, interesting phrasing, and seemingly a fun guy to be around with a good sense of humor who doesn't take himself too seriously. However, everyone else should, because Fuzz Universe is quite possibly Gilbert's finest work to date!
For shredding ferocity this album should satisfy the most finicky listeners out there...as Paul tends to have the ability to do. But I think it is the quality of the songs on this album that sets it apart from his previous work. As a player, I've always been impressed by his songs for the "Wow" factor, but Fuzz Universe is chock full of songs that you will actually want to listen to over and over, because they're good songs!!
Let's be honest folks...anyone and his brother can upload shred videos on Youtube hoping to impress with crazy licks they hope no one else can play. But the true test of a musician is the ability to write interesting songs; songs people actually enjoy listening to more than once. I can remember all kinds of great guitar players who tried to put out instrumental albums only to fall flat because the songs were rubbish...nothing more than excuses to play one hundred mile per hour licks. There was nothing interesting about them...nothing memorable.
Consider the songs that have become classics...they are catchy, memorable, contagious. That's the burden of a real musician: to compose music listeners actually want to hear. Paul Gilbert has achieved that with Fuzz Universe. Worthy of notice is the fact that Paul incorporates Wah Pedals for the first time on this album. He's a master and it adds so much to his playing! Don't regress Paul. His tone is phenomenal, and the songs are a lot of fun. Buy it now, shred fans, you won't regret it!
No comments:
Post a Comment