Search - Carmine Appice :: Guitar Zeus (Mlps) (Shm)

ROCK & ROLL !!!

Nightmoves | California - USA | 04/23/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who has followed Carmine's career from the beginning to this time (1999) knows he rocks (and we have grandchildren). The fact that this music has been around for 5 years and I didn't know about it is criminal. I'm here to say if you (male/female/child/teen/adult/elders) rock, this is for you. I'm listening to it for the first time as I write this and I'm only half ways thru it. What does that tell you? I picked up both volumes on faith in Carmine and now I can't wait to play volume two. Only 2 words to summarize ...ROCK & ROLL !!!"

Overlooked gem

H. P. Keable | Chicago, IL | 07/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I recently revisited this and the the follow-up after not having listened to them for a few years, and although I know I originally bought them for all the guest guitarists, I was blown away all over again by the astounding writing and playing of the core group of Kelly Keeling, Carmine Appice and Tony Franklin. I love really hot bass sounds and Franklin's fretless literally growls on most of these tracks, plus his patterns and fills are very, very creative. I know he's been a number of other albums, but I can't recall him ever showing his stuff the way he has on these two albums, especially this first one.



But there's more...... Keeling's writing and singing here is absolutely first-rate. Doug Pinnick does an excellent vocal on one track, and the rest are all Kelly. And yet he manages to sound like two or maybe three different singers throughout the course of the album. Once again, I think his performance (and writing) here is a cut above just about anything else he's done.



And then of course there's Carmine..... Guitar Zeus? How about Drum Zeus!

What else can you say, he's easily one of the top rock drummers ever, living or dead. Plus he's been heavily into writing and production for the last 20 years or so, and doing an excellent job at that as well. Not exactly sure why he put his name out front on this project, but I guess he's earned the right to a little vanity.



And last but not least there are the guest guitarists, which would probaly be the main selling point for most buyers (as it was for me) until you get into it. My personal favorites were Paul Gilbert and Doug Aldrich for sheer creativeness and technical flair. Steve Morse's tone is unmistakeable, but I though his solo could have been just a little hotter.

The rest of the soloists were just fine, but the performance of the core group jumped out at me much more than they did.



It's too bad they didn't carry this project on with a permanent guitarist.

The quality level here is very high. Get yourself a copy, you won't be disappointed."