I can totally see someone getting this album and being
completely disappointed with it. Unlike
the Liquid Tension Experiment album, on these songs the musicians are just
jamming away. Seriously, this stuff is
like hit the record button and run to your instrument as fast as possible and
join the jam. I have to wonder if this
one sounds at all like John Myung’s Jelly Jam, because this jam is quite
gelatinous.
That this project was seemingly going nowhere is the reason
why Mike Portnoy called up John Petrucci to join the jam (I think as legend has
it), and at that point the Liquid Trio Experiment became the very famous
Liquid
Tension Experiment.
I know that the album is called Spontaneous Combustion, and
looking back on it, that was probably a warning that this experiment wasn’t
going to work out like Transatlantic, or Office of Strategic Influence, as far
as having song hooks goes. Spontaneous
Combustion lacks the hook that would catch a fish. However, this is darned good music, and that
is how I came to look at this one in retrospective. That is as the jazz content of my cd player
increased, suddenly, the Liquid Trio Experiment’s Spontaneous Combustion album
was mixing well with Wes Montgomery, Niacin, King Crimson, John Scofield, Bill
Frisell, and so many others.
Don’t mix this one in with a mix of heavy or light song
structures that are very ridged. This
one won’t mix in that well, and it is a 4 star album rather than a 5 star album
because this one can’t take the spotlight on its own, unless it is all by
itself.
Bottom line, this really is a great album. It is not for everybody by a long shot. However, if you are a fan of progressive rock
jazz fusion moderately aggressive jamming, then this one should fit the bill
well!
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