Customer Reviews

Cab 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Made in USA in 2000, Serial# TC-40142, Playing Time 72:26

Following in the footsteps of their first collaboration (CAB), this albums presents some great performances by MacAlpine, Brunel, Chambers and Auger(who contributed on the 1st album, without making the band's name).

While the first album was somewhat a fusion of jazz and rock (leaning more on the jazz), this second effort is a lot jazzier. These 4 virtuosos perform instrumental tracks, and showcase their respective talents, but without trying to outshine one another. It's more like a discussion, where the performers take turns at expression their opinion.

The melodies are fresh: it doesn't sound like they've rehearsed things to death, with just the right dose of improvisation, but still following a song structure. The "tunes" are generally a bit longer than on their first album, allowing for a bit more room to extrapolate.

I'm not a big fan of jazz in general, but the performances on this album show how musicians with great talent can demonstrate their art with complicity, instead of showmanship. There's enough complexity in here so that you'll notice different subtleties with each listening instance.

While I would not rate this disk as highly as some people, I also do not think it as bad as some reveiwers have stated. I am a fan of some jazz fusion so my review might be slightly biased. Part of the reason I purchased this disk is that I am a fan of both Brian Auger and Dennis Chambers. While Auger is present, I wish he would have been a little more prominent in the recording. His early seventies albums are good examples of keyboard dominated jazz/funk/rock fusion. Chamber's playing is excellent as usual and Brunel is no slouch on bass either. What surprised me most about this disk was the guitar playing of Tony MacAlpine. He was one the infamous shred guitar heroes of the eighties. However, his playing while not as jazzy as John Scofield, Mike Stern, or Larry Coryell, is lot more restrained and melodic than I expected. My favorite songs on the disk are "For Joe", "Top Spin", & "Wah Wah". The disk is slightly above average modern jazz fusion. While jazzbos will complain that the music is not jazzy enough and rockers not flashy enough, you can't please everyone. I am impressed enough to consider purchasing more jazz fusion disks from the Tone Center label.

All the arm chair critic snobs here who can't play, should just break out their old IOU and Stanley Clarke albums, have a Coke and a smile, and admit that they have become their parents. Yeah, you're old!

The whole band is amazing, the tones are rich, the playing stellar, and Tony MacAlpine is the God of Hell Fire. This is a nice move for Tony. From Neo-Classical to Planet X, (Have you seen him with Vai!!!) and now this. He's pushing the envelope and his guitar tone on Cab 2 is the best he's ever had. It's very refreshing to hear Tony play with more sense of funk, and with Dennis Chambers on board how could he not?

Dennis Chambers?! Oh my God! Brian Auger?! Oh Yeah! Bunny?! Boo-Ya!!!

If only Scofield could play more like this. Like he had some fire in his belly (Mustard in his soul!) and stopped playing tired, cerebral, scholastic, white bread, funk jazz.

MacAlpine comes from a whole other direction joining this band which makes it so fresh. I dig that he's not coming from a post bop clone school attempting to break free of it like so many others. MacAlpine brings the fire of Malmsteen and the jaw dropping facility of Holdsworth but sounds like neither. In context, the band in on a whole other level because of their different influences.

It's the mixing of genres that makes it special. Not a bunch of Miles Davis alumni being allstars with nothing to shake anyone up with.

Greg Howe's Extraction with Dennis Chambers and Victor Wooten wasn't even this successful. Howe wants to be so hip when he should just shred and let the rhythm section do their thing. It's the contrast in musical styles that makes projects like this special. Not everyone coming from the same place.

We need more unadulterated shredders doing projects with funk jazz guys. Enough with the bop clones trying to impress dead people.

I will definetly be buying more Cab releases.

I love this disc. I have owned it for nearly a year now and still enjoy
listening to it. I feel sorry for the other reviewers that they can't
seem to catch it. I have gotten alot of satisfaction out of listening
to these guys. Dennis is one of my favorite players of all time.
Brian Auger (who I listened to alot in the late 60s and early 70s)
also is a nice addition to the band. Great stuff, even just for listening.

This disk is exelent better than the first release and of course shows how Tony can handle with every style of music (in his particular way)... Come on, face it.. he is better and he can play any kind of music... a true musician....
Chambers... the master of rythm ( i can't wait hear him in his next job with Greg Howe)...

I wouldn't say this one is as bad as some of the reviewers have stated here, but it sure isn't all that good, either. The playing is superb and it's hard not to be impressed by the sheer chops of all the players here, especially Tony MacAlpine. But I get the sense that MacAlpine is more of a rock player than a jazzbo and it becomes apparent that something is lacking there in this kind of a format. The compositions are really average or even below average here and there with nothing really to keep the interest going. It's not a bad album by any means because the musicianship is obviously superb, but in terms of melodic content, originality, creativity, feel and these other less tangible areas, I find nothing to keep me stimulated for a whole listening.

Its always fun to listen to Macalpine tear it up. His technique is just sick. Other than his solos, i dont really find much else worth listening to on this album. For better Macalpine, check out Live from Oz by Planet X.

This was nominated for a Grammy for a reason , It's that good . I took this to a party full of musicians one night and it left them all slack-jawed ! It didn't scare the rest of the room either . This disc is consistently good with flashes of brilliance through out . This is one of the best Fusion releases in history .

This one should be viewed as an improvement over the first CAB album, but not by much. I was hoping for a marked improvement but it seems this genre in itself just doesn't have room to grow. The musicianship is typically superb but dry and clinical. There are no real melodies to really speak of, just your typical disjointed fusiony lines that showcase musical "discipline". An album like this should be of interest only to musicians playing the same kind of stuff. For listening, I think it's so boring that it will be useful for fighting those occassional nights of imsomnia.

Basically there are no words to describe this cd. What can i say? Awesome, fantastic, amazing, fabulous? I believe that these words aren't enough. 4 of the best musicians of the world gathered in one cd. Do you want even more? 73 minutes of music in 10 masterpieces. The one song is better than the other. The ones who already have the first cd, will buy this one too and there is no need for them to check out any review. The others must pay attention to this " beyond imagination " project and try to get this cd as soon as possible.