| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Track Structure | 8 |
| Interest | 8 |
| Melody | 8 |
| Performance | 10 |
| Lyrics | 0 |
| Enjoyment | 8 |
| Recording Quality | 9 |
| Commercial Appeal | 5 |
| Overall | 8 |
Suggested to me by Superhuman Dave for review, which was very nice of him.
OK, so the intro is awesome. A touch of humour and a bit reminiscent of Yankee Rose by David Lee Roth, but still an awesome intro none the less. Very clever use of different techniques to produce the different guitar sounds for the "conversation" between the axe and Carol Sue. The spoken vocal samples provided by that lady are the icing on the cake on this one. Her voice is particularly pleasant (ahem!).
The musicianship, as is expected from someone of Joseph's calibre, is nothing short of absolute perfection. There are many people in the world, including myself, who would love to be as talented as he is on his instrument of choice. An outstanding performance.
The twin guitar melody at the beginning is a superb hook, catchy, memorable and simple. I would've loved to hear more of this type of melody throughout the song with only short bursts of Joseph's "extreme" lead playing, but I suppose if you've got it, flaunt it. On a personal level, the lack of sustained melody detracted slightly from my interest and enjoyment of the track, but only slightly.
The standard of the recording is right up there. I would've spent more time on the bass guitar which sounds a bit thin to me, but that's only a minor crit. Everyone has their own different tastes in sounds.
The track is dynamically very clever with switches into Jazz and a swing feel at the end, which do hold the listener's interest. Particularly the swing feel section which comes out of the blue entirely. I was expecting a change when it turned into a Jazz piece, but I wasn't expecting Jazz which delighted me somewhat.
This track shouts four names out to me. Firstly there is Joseph Rodgriguez, who is one of the most talented people in the mp3unsigned community. Second the previously mentioned Steve Vai. There are very small hints of Van Halen in there as well, which can only be a good thing. And finally, as aonyone who listens to Joseph play will notice, Santana is a bit of an influence on him. So there have one fellow influenced by three of the greatest artists ever to exist and produces a very credible and artistic piece of music. I'm not entirely sure, however, that it could be considered commercially viable. Certainly musicians and tech-heads would lap it up, like they do with the Vais and Satrianis of the world, but I doubt it would see much in the way of commercial radio play.
So overall what he have is a very good piece of music written and performed by possibly the greatest unsigned talent on mp3u.(Well, that's my opinion of him anyway). A short, interesting piece of music with hints of humour throughout. An outstsanding performance, great recording quality, good production and arrangement, short, sharp and to the point. A joy to listen to for fellow musos, but perhaps not entirely palatable for the population at large.
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