Customer Reviews

Tritone Fascination

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

 

 

I'm perhaps one of the few who were disappointed with the "Powers of Ten" album after I finally got my hands on one, because... well, I'd heard "The Tri-Tone Fascination" first. The subsequent release of "Powers of Ten - Live" didn't alter that appraisal: though the track "Drum & Guitar Solo" on the latter was jaw-dropping, the original P.O.T. compositions will always seem like Lane's first steps into long-form composition - the formative quality of them undercuts their promise. The suite had its moments but it never quite gelled with me. Like "Tri-Tone Fascination" there are tantalizing - now agonizing - hints of the brilliance in composition that were bubbling to the surface of Shawn Lane's work but were only just beginning to mature.

In "Tri-Tone Fascination," however, the decade of experience that Lane had gained - during which he'd toured extensively and laid down the phenomenal recordings "Abstract Logic," "Temporal Analogues of Paradise" and "Time is the Enemy" with Jonas Hellborg, Kofi Baker and Jeff Sipe, as well as the sets that became the later-released "Personae" - really shows in the maturity of the compositions and the elusive mix of raw creativity and accessibility that he achieved so well on it.

"The Tri-Tone Fascination" dispenses with the suite format but nevertheless maintains a thematic feel over songs of wildly disparate styles.

There are glowing gems on this disc, like "Minarets," a tune co-written with Luther Dickinson. It begins as a slow, ominous groove, slows for a brief, quiet interlude that hints vaguely at themes to appear later on the disc, then abruptly ignites and blasts off in a frenzied repeating theme over which Lane lays down some spellbinding, ecstatic guitar improv that can only be described as a fusion of music and complex mathematics. It's as if he's turning the music inside out, upside-down, then rearranging it into some entirely unexplored dimension of human knowledge. I vaguely remember a news story on the tube awhile back about a Japanese mathematician who had somehow proved the existence of a dimension beyond the three familiar ones - using origami. "Minarets" is a lot like that, only with music.

"The Way It Has To Be" is a sweet yet powerful piece that expresses at turns intense longing, triumph, joy, hope - and throughout, a palpable warmth that resonates in the incredible tone of his lush chording;

The track "Hardcase," co-written with John Eatman, is on the first pressing of "Tri-Tone Fascination" but for whatever reason has not been included (as of this writing,) on subsequent pressings. That's unfortunate, because it's a great composition that fuses powerful melodic themes with brilliant instrumentation, including accenting keyboards, mandolin-like trills, and a stratospheric flight on guitar.

"Trois Cept Cinq," "The Hurt, The Joy," and "One Note At A Time" always seemed to form a three-song suite of sorts to my mind, perhaps because the songs actually seque into one another, and here is where you will experience a bittersweet pang of wonder at what Mr. Lane might have created had he lived longer. Here is sheer brilliance in melodic composition, incredible virtuosity and above all a potent mix of benevolence and awe-inspiring enthusiasm fairly bursting at the seams. "3-7-5" is like a guitar prelude in themes evocative of a great 20th Century showtune or sountrack for some untold drama; "Hurt/Joy" begins with a lyrical, romantic melody, then advances to an incredibly uplifting secondary theme with Shawn scat-singing tastefully over it; "One Note" begins with a casual, almost playful feel, then builds and builds in a structured explosion of joyful melody, culminating in a brief solo guitar break that is one of the most dazzling combinations of melody and blinding speed that I've ever witnessed or am ever likely to. There's a quieter bridge section played on acoustic guitar, an ascending transition to the main theme, then the ending on the same casual note as it began. Incredible - and again, one can only speculate longingly at what might have been, had he lived to build on this kind of brilliance.

The only track I dislike on the disc is "Maria," a light jazz tune that has Lane scat-singing the melody throughout, which though interesting at first becomes somewhat annoying and undermines an otherwise bright, sunny composition.

This disc occupies one of those Twilight Zones of music production, slipping into and out of availability without warning - and again, the disappearance of "Hardcase" from later releases of the disc is lamentable, hopefully to be remedied on future pressings.

If you can find "The Tri-Tone Fascination," pounce on it and consider yourself very fortunate - it's pure treasure, one of the first great musical releases of the 21st Century that, sadly, will likely go unnoticed for decades before a more inquisitive and perhaps more civilized generation of people finally unearth it.

I have been listening to Yngwie's music for 20 solid years. Although there are other brilliant guitar shredders out there like Steve Vai,Vinnie Moore, Joe Satriani, Michael Angelo Batio, Theodore Ziras etc with similar or different style, it is not an easy thing to dethrone him without effort! Last months I found SHAWN LANE. The fact is, that he can play more technical, faster & cleaner solos than Yngwie and every one else. Check his videos in YouTube.

"Maria" & "One Note At A Time" are my favourite tracks from this CD.

This album, as good as it is, clearly only hints at the genius of Shawn Lane. It's a bit of an odds-and-ends affair, with several tracks having been left over from his work on "Powers of Ten." Overall, "Tri-Tone" is the superior release, since it veers more often into new and uncharted territories and is less concerned with being commercial. Both albums feature a healthy dose of Shawn's one-of-a-kind ability on guitar. I believe he had musical abilities on parallel with people like Bird and Coltrane, but had the misfortune of working at a time and place that did not treasure such genius.

Shawn was never able to make a truly definitive solo album. I think his limited studio resources hampered his efforts on both studio albums. If he had been able to work in a better studio situation with first-call jazz/fusion musicians, I can only imagine what kind of amazing gifts he would have given us.

For people new to Shawn, I would recommend checking out his work with Jonas Hellborg first, especially "Abstract Logic" and "Time Is the Enemy". Then come to "Tri-Tone Fascination" and get a glimpse of a beautiful mind at work.

If you know Shawn Lane's work, this is a must own recording. If you are new, this is a great sampler of Shawn's style and passion. "The Way it has to be" is a song I can listen to again and again and never get tired of. It's just beautiful. We were blessed to have such a wonderful musician on this Earth, even if for such a short time.

3 1/2


Often eschews virtuosic selfishness for more cohesive group interaction.

I just wanted to add... it's pretty silly that anyone would utter the names "shawn lane" and "yngwie malmsteen" in the same breath. Yes, Shawn Lane is technically proficient, but his playing and musicality is closer to that of Allan Holdsworth than Malmsteen. It's a very different level in terms of depth, musicality, creativity and just general humanity. Try finding two similar chord passages in Lane's material, and see how his soloing differs... then do the same with the likes of Malmsteen. You will find that in one case actual, meaningful, music is ocurring. In the other, not so much.