Customer Reviews

True Obsessions

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

 

 

marty friedman is always a guitar genious, this album had lot of melodic stuff just like his previous release but also got some hardrock tune , rock box is my fav track
he's playing is always good

When i first listened to this album I really didn't like Marty Friedman's style. I put the album aside and left it for a while. A few months later I went and got Dragon Kiss and really thought it was brilliant and Friedman's style came through there. So I got True Obsession and put it on and absolutely loved it. It provides a good mix of guitar instrumentals and lyricized stuff with some beasty, 'Marty Friendman' style solos. Fave track off the album 'Hands Of Time'. Definitely a great album for any Friedman fans and some people looking to be introduced to his stuff.

This album didn't really dissapoint me at first. There is some good playing and some interesting ideas. However, it tyres rather quickly. I feel Marty was experimenting a little too much. The album just doesn't flow. Some songs start off quite well and just become messy and jarring (eg. "intoxicated and "the yearning"). Also the songs with vocals sound a bit too 80's for me, but I guess that isn't always a bad thing. "True Obsessions" is no way near the standard of "Scenes" where he was really trying to emote feelings through his playing. All the same it is still rather good. Songs such as Rio and Fairwell hit the spot. If you liked Marty's other albums you will probably like this one.

It's hard to review Friedmans solo work within the context of his previous life as a Megadeth shredder given how varied and ... complete his solo albums feel. Released in 1996 this album of ten mostly instrumental numbers sounds like a number of his others in terms of the combination of quicker runs (there is only a little genuine shred here it should be noted) and emotive `highs'. Marty Friedman and Steve Fontano and it certainly comes across as clean as a Shrapnel Records release should. A range of interesting musicians are slotted in about the place such as old `Deth buddy Nick Menza, we get Gregg Bissonette and Carmine Appice as well and bass was taken care of by Tony Franklin and Jimmy Haslip. It should be noted that this a tunes with vocals on this disc which is quite the rarity for one of Martys' platters and Stanley Rose has an appropriate voice for the rock idiom.

To be perfectly blunt, to compare this to a number of his other albums I would rate this as of vastly less interest to shred-a-holics than his Dragons Kiss albums from so many years ago. It is quite varied and often slow and in certain places classically tinged. However I don't feel this album connects with the listener as well as Music for Speeding does, just a lack of some indefinable X factor - perhaps this is just a little too much `weeping' guitar for me personally but I found the Music ... album to be more lively and a better musical companion. Just IMHO.

Friedman fans should pick this up if they can score it cheap as it is a nice listen from the amiable six stringer but it's not the first album I'd throw a newcomers way.

A third version of the "Thunder March" piece shows how much potential Marty's music has, and makes this album a very rewarding experience. The rest of it ain't gonna disappoint ya either.

C'EST ALBUM EST INCROYABLE CÔTÉ MELODIE,MARTY EST TRES DOUÉ POUR COMPOSER DES LICKS ACROCHEUR AVEC SES GAMMES JAPONAISES ET ORIENTAL.IL EST UN PEU PLUS ROCK QUE LE PRÉCÉDANT MAIS JOUÉ AVEC BEAUCOUP D'ÉMOTION.MARTY EST UN VIRTUOSE DE LA GUITARE QUE JE RESPECTE ÉNORMÉMENT.SI VOUS VOULEZ UN ALBUM MÉLODIQUE AVEC DE BON SOLOS ACHETER CET ALBUM.