Greg Howe by Greg Howe *****

Too Good to Gain Him a Following?

It is nothing but a mystery to me that with this album Greg Howe did not gain much of a following.  It makes me want to cry foul!  This album, and just about every album Greg Howe has put out is just as good as anything Joe Satriani has ever put out, and in my opinion actually better.  There are definitely a lot of notes on this album, but it is not just an album for musicians.  It’s catchy.  This album is definitely a different style that what he put out in his later work, but it is every bit as good.  Perhaps, racism was the reason he never got as popular as some of the other guitar virtuoso, but that is water over the dam.  This album established Greg Howe as being among the best in the world on guitar, no arguments are possible to be made to that claim.  He has toured with Michael Jackson, and though Michael Jackson is not my favorite artist, at the time, he could have afforded any guitarist that he wanted, and he chose Greg Howe.  Who is Greg Howe?  People that know their good guitar albums know that he is among the 5 best today.  People that don’t know guitar have probably never heard of him.  My favorite of his albums is Introspection.  Introspection has more of a jazz fusion sound, while this, his first effort is more rockin’ in the Joe Satriani style though his signature style is instantly recognizable from any guitarist I know of.  By the time I have recommended the Red Hot Chili Peppers to someone who likes sophisticated music, he would have probably already written me off before I could tell him just how good, and sophisticated Greg Howe is!

Review of Greg Howe- Introspection. Greg Howe’s Best *****

Hey kids! Get this album. Then say, excuse me teacher, “You said it had to be jazz or classical in order to be good music. Greg Howe is perhaps the greatest guitarist ever, and this is my favorite album that he has.

1st 100 Disc Changer 2008 The Key to Enjoying Music Is to Develop Your Ears

This is a part of the 100 Disc Changer series. A part of being a good musician involves listening to good music. Even if you want to be in the audience, listening to music will help you enjoy music. However, sometime it is not obvious what is good. So I invite you to check these out because if you listen to them enough, they will improve your ear. Every so often I update my 100 disc changer list. I try to review the albums I take out of it. I also post album reviews at Facebook.com, Amazon.com, and Rdio.

Queensyrche – EP and The Warning

Wes Montgomery – On The Go and Movin’ Wes

Wes Montgomery – Fusion

Simon Phillips – Another Lifetime

Queensyrche – Rage for Order

Queensyrche – Empire

Eric Johnson – 7 Worlds and Souvenir

Eric Johnson – Bloom

Eric Johnson – Ah Via Musicom

Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Soup

Megadeth – Rust In Peace

Megadeth – Greatest Hits: Back to the Beginning

Megadeth – Cryptic Writings

Jimi Hendrix – Blues

Jimi Hendrix – South Saturn Delta

Planet X – Quantum

Derek Sherinian’s Planet X

Planet X – Moonbabies

Plantet X – Universe

Tony MacAlpine – Freedom to Fly

Iced Earth – Days of Purgatory disc 2

Metallica – Ride the Lightning

Dream Theater – Once In a Livetime disc 2

Dream Theater – Live at the Marquee

Dream Theater – Live Scenes From New York disc 2

Tony MacAlpine – Chromaticity

Tony MacAlpine – Madness

Chroma Key – You Go Now

Tony MacAlpine – Evolution

Iced Earth – Days of Purgatory disc 1

Chico Hamilton – Man from 2 Worlds

King Crimson – In The Court of the Crimson King and In The Wake of Poseidon

Chick Corea’s Elektric Band – Light Years

The Misfits – Walk Among Us

Greg Howe – Introspection

Iced Earth – The Dark Saga and The Melancholy EP

The Best of The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Iced Earth – The Blessed

Dream Theater – Official Bootleg: A Saucerful of Floyd

Fates Warning – Disconnected

Dream Theater – Score disc 2

George Benson – Beyond The Blue Horizon

Al Di Meola – Land of the Midnight Sun and Tour de Force

A mix of pop radio music, like stuff you hear on WPXE

Porcupine Tree – Deadwing

A mix of metal music

Led Zepplin – A mix of live songs and songs that were scratched from my Led Zepplin cds

Gipsy Kings – Greatest Hits

The Best of Kenny Burrell: The Blue Note Years

Shadow Gallery – Prime Cuts

Hammer Fall – Glory to the Brave

Return to Forever – This is Jazz 12

The Very Best of Testament

Iced Earth – The Damned

The Very Beast of Dio

Herbie Hancock – Manchild and Dedication

James LaBrie – Elements of Persuasion

A Nirvana bootleg

Fates Warning – No Exit and A Twist of Fate

King’s X – Gretchen Goes to Nebraska

An Evening with Jordan Rudess and John Petrucci

Drained – No One In Control

Rush Tribute – Working Man

Sting – Ten Summoner’s Tales

Rush – 2112 and Hemispheres

Apocalyptica – Plays Metallica by four cellos

Transatlantic – Live In America

A mix of Jazz standards

Liquid Tension Experiment

Fear Factory – Soul of a New Machine and Fear Is The Mind Killer

Greg Howe – Five

Scorpions – 20th Century Masters

Victor Wooten – A Show of Hands

A virtuoso guitar mix including, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteem, The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton and George Benson

Korn – Greatest Hits Vol. 1

Simon and Garfunkel – Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme

The Very Best of Santana

Richie Kotzen/Greg Howe – Project

A mix of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

Return to Forever – Romantic Warrior

Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Roy Hanynes – Question and Answer

Derek Sherinian – Blood of The Snake

Van Halen – 1984

Bela Fleck and The Flecktones – Greatest Hits of the 20th Century

Alter Bridge – One Day Remains and Creed – Human Clay

Dennis Chambers – Outbreak

Hammer Fall – Legacy of Kings

Garsed, Helmerich, Willis and Chambers – Uncle Moe’s Space Ranch

Rush – Caress of Steel and Counterparts

Emerson Lake and Palmer Tribute – Encores Legends and Paradox

Van Halen – Van Halen II

James LaBrie’s Mullmuzzler – Keep It to Yourself

Django Reinhardt – Retrospective 1940-1947

The Best of Chick Corea

Judas Priest – British Steel

Steve Morse – The Introduction

Wes Montgomery – Ultimate

Skid Row – Slave to The Grind

Evanescence – Fallen

Medeski Martin Wood – Last Chance to Dance Trance