Against The Clock: The Best Of Allan Holdsworth [Original recording remastered]

Allan Holdsworth | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 24, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Alternity Records
• ASIN: B0007S680Q
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,023 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

(2-CD set) Contains over 130 minutes and 26 tracks of guitarist Allan Holdsworth's selected favorites digitally remastered from 11 studio albums he produced. The collection also includes some Holdsworth rarities, including the special Japan version of Tokyo Dream, and two new studio recordings, Shenandoah, and Let's Throw Shrimp, never before released. Includes a 12-page art booklet of rare photos and tributes from other masters like John McLaughlin, Bill Bruford and Joe Satriani.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great music mastered too loud!!!, June 13, 2007

By 

El Marco (SF Bay Area USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Against The Clock: The Best Of Allan Holdsworth (Audio CD)

I like the selection of tracks on this collection. However the sound quality is impaired compared to some of the originally released versions of these tracks. The mastering engineer used too much compression/limiting when assembling this collection. The sound lacks subtlety and texture as a result. (Try comparing the "Spokes" track with its original version on the Secrets CD)

Don't get me wrong - this is great music by a great musician. It's just that it could have been sonically better. Non audiophiles are unlikely to notice.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the loneliness of the long distance guitarist, August 16, 2005

By 

Peter Baklava (Charles City, Iowa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against The Clock: The Best Of Allan Holdsworth (Audio CD)

I will have to admit up front that I am not, and never have been a fan of fusion music. The only fusion album that I ever listened to and enjoyed thoroughly was Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow".

Still, I find Allan Holdsworth to be an intriguing guitarist. As this compilation demonstrates, he consistently plays with great beauty and precision. On the face of it, Holdsworth's music seems deeply introverted and meditative. Evidently he's a bicyclist--one composition is titled "Spokes", and another titled "Sunday" features the sounds of a derailleur shifting. Bikers are often loners, and that is the suggestion I get from these compositions.

My favorite tracks are "How Deep is the Ocean" which is fairly 'boppish', and "Sphere of Innocence", a really gorgeous tune that is similar in feel to the music on Joni Mitchell's "Hejira" album.

Holdsworth really seems to be more concerned with being a musician than with just being a great guitarist. The plangency of his playing at times reminds me of the work of Toots Thielemans, the great jazz harmonica player. Strange to say that of an electric guitarist, but Holdsworth really does come at things from a different angle than most.

This collection is probably best taken in small doses. A little of it goes a long way.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe The Best, December 29, 2005

By 

John Terry "musiclikerguy" (Kansas City, Mo) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Against The Clock: The Best Of Allan Holdsworth (Audio CD)

You just might be able to get me to say that Allan Holdsworth is the best there is. Yesterday, today and probably tomorrow too. Yes, I know about Jimi and Stevie Ray, B.B. and Duane. I don't know, I've just never heard anything quite like Allan. Why isn't he better known? It seems like it's just other guitarists who know him and they're frustrated because they try to reproduce the same sounds and can't. I'm sure being regarded as a "jazz fusion" player doesn't help either. Maybe if we called it "instrumental rock", it would draw a bigger crowd? Probably not. Allan may be doomed to be revered by other musicians and guitarheads like me while the rest of the world gets it's fill of the teenaged sensation of the week or the flavor of the month rap star. Record comapnies really don't have a clue as to why sales are down, do they? Could it be the crap they try to force down the throat of the general public?