Customer Reviews

Electric World

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An artful blend of fusion, synth and world music styles. The best fusion guitar I have ever heard. It made me realize a lot of those searing and soaring leads from early '70s Santana albums were Neal Schon's chops, not Carlos Santana's. If you like Larry Carlton, John McGloughlin, and Carlos Santana, or either of Neal Schon's previoius bands, Journey and Santana, then you will find Electric World to be an undiscovered, gleamingly- polished diamond. 2 CD, all instrumental.

I have always liked Neal's playing. He seems to be different than your run of the mill guitar star. Sure, he can play fast and heavy, but he has always been more musical than most others. That being said, I don't know why I was as surprised as I was. I still expected much more overt flash than I got at first listen.
Its there, but in different ways. His talent as a producer and composer is very evident in this collection. Spectacular soundscapes. Very interesting noises and tones. Strong compositions. Good, solid, inventive guitar work as well. Very highly recommended. A rare 5star cd.

My brother gave me this for my birthday a couple years ago. This recording is really top-notch, 2-CD recording, although I guess I've played CD 2 more than CD 1: "One and Only" is a great instrumental ballad!

Schon's playing is a tasty as ever on this CD. Although not as heavy as his day's with Journey, this CD offers more melody that the average guitarist can supply. Worth buying if you like melodic guitar and chops.

this is a great double cd. it is full of atmosphere and feeling. all instrumental from the "journeyman".if you are looking for mood music neal schon is always the man!

It's big. You might not have time for this much perfection. Every guitar note has been purified by some magical studio magicalness. If you're looking for raw it ain't here. However, I've listened to it enough to think it may have afflicted my playing. Kind of like that Craig Chaquico guy. I have to say "Wow. I don't play anything like that." Both on Higher Octave, of course. I think actually that's where I heard Buckethead too. On one of their samplers. Anyway, two discs of this is a bit much, even though there are quite likable tunes, even memorable ones. But spread it out. Maybe over a few months.

Though released on a new age label (Higher Octave), the music encompasses a wide variety of styles. It demands to be closely listened to because of the complexity of the music. Just an amazing performer! This is one of my 'desert island' picks because I never grow tired of listening to it.

If you like this, you will probably also like the first 3 Journey albums (Journey, Into the Future and Next), before they went "pop".

This double CD, which I'm not positive but think came out right after "Beyond the Thunder" has some of the best guitar playing on it that you will ever hear. "Electric World" exhibits an incredible sound. Schon is one of the world's greatest guitarists, it really shows on this album. "Gypsy Dance" is one of the best songs I've ever heard. This music has shades of rock, jazz, the blues and even new age. A lot of the guitar work equals or exceeds the Journey albums. Eventually, you don't especially care what the names of the songs are because this all goes together so well. You will definitely like some portions better than others but this is good all the way through. As I said about "Beyond the Thunder": I wish rock music had taken this direction.

Happily freed from Jonathan Cain's drippy grip, Neal Schon reaches his full potential on this double-album. I think that, among other things, the percussion, and the sheer energy evident on this album help push it far beyond what was accomplished on Beyond the Thunder (beautiful though that album was). This is probably my all-time favorite CD in the category of guitar-players-gone-solo. Muy excelente!

I have quite a few instrumental CDs, but this has got to be in my top 3 of all-time. I love to put this on at night, when I'm going to bed, or anytime I want some cool background music. I have kids, so my first copy got all scratched up, so I ordered it again. I would do the same over and over again, if I had to. I can't imagine this not being in my music collection.