Customer Reviews

Vertu

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I received Vertu for Christmas and just listened to it for the first time. I`ve listened to Fusion since the mid-70`s and was pleasantly surprised by this CD. There are actual compositions, not just chord changes for romping over. Parts of it seem more progrock than jazz/rock fusion. Like it or not, it seems as though mixing genres is where music is headed. I liked their sound, especially the violin.They covered lots of musical territory, but that`s the way I like it.If you are a purest about style,you probably will not care for Vertu.But I think Clark, White, et al have done excellent work here, and I`m already looking forward to their next effort.

I'm ashamed to admit that I did not know of this CD until 2001. This from a fusion fan who has an extensive Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White collection. This album is awesome. It is reminiscent of the hey days of fusion, yet it strikes me as being very cutting edge. "V-Wave" is one of my favorite cuts as well as "Toys" and the remake of "After the Cosmic Rain" from the RTF album; "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy". Kudos to Stan and Lenny for assembling these great musicians and bringing Fusion into the new Millenium.

I wish there were more stars that I could give this, because they deserve it. THis is the best fusion CD that has come out in a while. The mixture of all these different styles creates such a texture. Kotzen breaks from his usual metal background and plays melodically and beautifly. Great Cd - I definitely recommend it.

This album smokes. I bought it after reading an interview with Stan and when i put it on my jaw dropped. i've only listened to it about a dozen times so this may be too early to review it. The first two songs are very strong fusion in the classic style. By the way, the second song is not a rehash of "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy", rather the second song on the Hymn album called "After the Cosmic Rain". They take the original song and blow it apart here, it is very well done. The last two songs are also very good. In fact they all are. I'm not sure either about those vocals! They seem kind of out of place, then again they (almost) always do in fusion music. Kotzen's guitar is intense. But what really shines here is Karen Briggs' violin playing. I have never heard her before but she is terrific. A lot of her playing here has a strong middle eastern influence to it. Rachel Z's keyboard work is excellent but not dominant like in Return to Forever's music. Stan and Lenny still know how to rock and sound better than ever. If you like fusion you will love this album.

I was blown away by this disc!! Being a big fan of viruoso guitar-playing, I knew I would dig Kotzen's work, but the whole band dug into this one. Karen Brigg's violin solo in V-Wave was nothing short of unbelievable, and it's just a given that Stanley Clarke is going to smoke. The thing that impresses me the most is that these songs really sound like songs, and not just ego-trip noodling. Clarke, Kotzen, and Rachel Z all have incredible tones, and the overall production-work is superb.

I think it goes without saying that White and Clarke make for an extremely intriguing rhymic backbone!!

The first review. Oh, the pressure!

There's nothing I love better than music that challenges me as a listener, and this disc has several tracks that do. While my purchase decision (Amazon, of course) was based on my appreciation of Stanley Clarke and Lenny White from their Return to Forever days and Stanley as a solo artist, this is a fully-realized amalagamation of five big talents. There's some seriously blazing riff trading, some fine acoustic tracks, an interesting spoken lyric in Spanish, and, if I'm not mistaken, an homage to RTF's Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy on one track. One cut featuring guitarist Richie Kotzen on vocals seems out of place -- nothing at all wrong with the tune, it just seems to belong on some other disc.

Definitely worth your time. Hope there's a tour. Hope it comes through Houston.

The second and third reviews!... Oh the pressure!! You know a quarter century on I find I play a lot of my old fusion classics as much as ever, as vituosity in an artistic setting seems to be timeless and inspiring. I bought this disc with little expectation, mainly because I heard Stanley Clarke was working with Producer Dennis MacKay and the great Lenny White. What I didn't expect was to find a fully unified band effort where all involved shine equally. These folks really stretch and always within the context of the song, some great evocative writing here. What vocal work there is, is well done and kept to a minimum so don't allow that to keep you away from this fine disc. With a nod to the past with the homage to Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy and an eye cast to the future this work isn't so much fusion for the millenium (as the ads have been saying) as it is fusion for right now!

I'm ashamed to admit that I did not know of this CD until 2001. This from a fusion fan who has an extensive Return to Forever, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White collection. This album is awesome. It is reminiscent of the hey days of fusion, yet it strikes me as being very cutting edge. "V-Wave" is one of my favorite cuts as well as "Toys" and the remake of "After the Cosmic Rain" from the RTF album; "Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy". Kudos to Stan and Lenny for assembling these great musicians and bringing Fusion into the new Millenium.

this disc smokes.. a must have for anyone who breathes. amazing compositions. unmatched technical ability presented in an innovative musical masterpiece.

I came across this cd in my usual cd store in Caracas, just seeing Stanley Clarkey in the label I knew it would promise best class jazz. However, I was not prepared for the powerful performance of all the masters. Fusion, post-fusion whatever it is, its just wonderful music. As a travelling salesman on the road this is the kind of music that sets you in fire and makes the road the ideal stage to let it sink in.

Guitar reminded me of that 70's spanish virtuso Max Suñé who led the barcelonean group Iceberg. My only question is, why did they stop recording?