**** Live at Budokan by Dream Theater – Spotty. Buy It If You Are A Fanatic. Skip It If You Are Not.

This was my first indication that the album 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence was not a total loss. Score proved that without a doubt, and so did 4 Degrees of Radio Edits. Score is a 5 by any standard, and those that criticize are not correct, they are wrong, but that is not this album.

Now, I know that I am in the minority, as most fans loved 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence. My major criticism of that album, 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence, is that the songs on it are too repetitious. For some reason on Live at Budokan, songs from that album don’t bother me as much.

There are definitely some tracks on this one that are not as good as they could have been. If they took Live at Budokan into the studio, and worked some magic, I might have loved this album. For example, “In the Name of God,” has an absolutely incredible guitar solo, but LaBrie is a little lacking on that song, and there are a few times when it sounds like the show nearly falls apart given a little improvisation. That is how this album goes. Usually, it is not perfect like a studio album, and Dream Theater is the type of band that needs to sounds perfect, or else they sound like they are playing under their own ability levels!

Sometimes Jordan’s keyboard sounds cheesy, sometimes John Petrucci’s guitar sounds cheesy, James LaBrie’s voice sometimes sounds awesome, other times it needs some help, and the bass is almost non-existent. Mike Portnoy comes across very well.

This is not an essential Dream Theater album IMHO. With Dream Theater, you can expect to hear flawlessness, especially with their studio albums, but as usual, and with Live at Budokan, the live albums Dream Theater releases are spotty.

**** Scenario by Al di Meola – Good Music During the Techno Jazz Fusion Period

This album can definitely stand as a marker in time and that is why it is 4 stars and not 3. The techno sounds that where incorporated with the music now sounds like the music that comes out of children’s toys, or primitive video games. Seriously, I could totally bet some of this music could be swapped for something on the NES (original Nintendo Entertainment System) and I doubt anyone would notice a difference in quality.

So yes, this dates back to early attempts to fuse techno with music. However, this effort though it does have some good songs, really only serves as a relic, such that people can point to it and say, “That is what music used to sound like.” These particular sounds used on this album have largely vanished from good music because they seem to lack the overtones that come with actually playing a wooden guitar without some effacing sound for example. To put it bluntly: The sounds on Scenario are too cheesy!

Also, though this music is dated, Al di Meola’s performance on it is often quite good. It is the other stuff, such as the processors, even the guitar processors, that subtract from the goodness of Scenario. It is a good album, but you have to put up with primitive techno that sounds like something out of Super Mario Brothers, and that is why it loses a star.

**** Spontaneous Combustion by the Liquid Trio Experiment – Mixes Well With Modern Jazz Fusion

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!

**** Spontaneous Combustion by the Liquid Trio Experiment – Mixes Well With Modern Jazz Fusion

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 rigged.  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!

***** Metanoia by Porcupine Tree – Top Notch Rock Jazz Fusion That Is Not for Everyone

Lol. I was reading on the internet that this album, Metanoia, has been called the opposite of Stupid Dream, but every bit as good. That is so accurate! Why they didn’t release it first as a regular Porcupine Tree album is beyond me…well sort of…this music is great, but it doesn’t sound at all like Stupid Dream, which is often called Porcupine Tree’s best cd, especially by those that don’t commonly listen to progressive rock.

Stupid Dream does not lend itself very well to jazz blending. Stupid Dream’s songs are written seemingly to catapult the band to the fame of bands like Rush. Rush is one of those bands that plays a song again, and again, and again, until they get it correct, and then the song is played exactly the same way for the rest of all time.

Also, if you are looking for something with lyrics, then this one will fail you.

If you want to know how good jazz fusion can get, I highly recommend this album. This is like the sound Miles Davis was trying to achieve in his later years. In fact, Metanoia reminds me a little of the Miles Davis album Bitch’s Brew, except in my opinion Metanoia is better.

Metanoia has some fantastic jams.  In fact, they go really well with the other album I am reviewing today, "Spontaneous Combustion," by the Liquid Trio Experiment. You just have to give it a chance though. If you don’t like this one on first listen, I completely understand. However, if you walk away from this album with a negative opinion of it, I judge that you are not a fan of good music. If you don’t like Metanoia, go listen to it when you drink or something, as for me I like this one sober.

***** The Best of by Earl Klugh by Earl Klugh – Really Good If Smooth Jazz Is Your Thing

If smooth jazz is not your thing, then this one is not for you.  End of story.  Don’t argue with me.  I don’t want to hear it.  This is the rating.  This is as good as it gets for the smooth jazz genre.  This belongs right next to Kenny G, a musician who has been tremendously popular, so far as jazz is concerned.  It is very likely that if you have heard of Kenny G, then you may or may not have heard of Earl Klugh.  Earl Klugh never achieved the popularity of Kenny G, and by many people’s standards Kenny G is fairly obscure.  I rate Earl Klugh higher than someone like Kenny G because he is obscure.  I root for the underdog even though this is genre is not my particular taste.

Most jazz musicians will admit that they didn’t get in to music to play on their instruments in that way that they could just totally fall into the background at a party, and nobody would really notice the musicians there, but that the party goes on as the ladies sip Zinfandel, Riesling, or some other dessert wine, while cracking into some lobsters and getting a tan in the evening sun at an expensive restaurant or beach house.  That is the niche of the Earl Klugh band.  Primarily, that is what this disc consists of; music that is semi-sophisticated background music.

I am pretty sure that this is the only smooth jazz cd in my collection.  I purchased it because I wanted to know what Earl Klugh sounded like as I am a guitarist, and I play and listen to jazz.  I’ll take a chance on most any artist.  In my opinion, though I don’t think all jazz is good, I do believe some of it is better than others.  This just happens accomplish its goal.  It mixed in well with my 100 disc changer for the time that I had it in the mix, but now it is time to move on.

While I won’t say this cd lacks chops at all, he is not playing as fast as Yngwie Malmsteen and for some people that is a good thing and for others it is not.  I would venture to say that most folk would think that this is a good thing.  However, I just think that it is a thing, and that it is what it is, nothing more, and nothing less.  

**** Listen By Jordan Rudess – Excellent, But Not Jordan’s Best

If you like Marillion, then chances are that you will like “Listen” by Jordan Rudess. My guess would be that if you have heard of and listened to Marillion before looking for this more obscure work, as it is his first album, predating his more famous work with Dream Theater, but times are a changin’, and Jordan Rudess has achieved super star popularity in the band Dream Theater, far more popularity than Marillion ever had.

If you are looking for something that reminds you of Dream Theater, while this music is still quite technical, I would have to urge you to look somewhere else. This album has hardly any resemblance to Dream Theater. If you are interested in collecting all of Dream Theater’s and their members solo projects, then this one might be a good one to own in the way that James LaBrie’s Winter Rose is worth owning (both of these pre Dream Theater efforts are really good.) I do have to admit, though the rest of the band does not remind me of Dream Theater at all, by the time Jordan produced Listen, a good deal of his technical style, which so far as I know was uniquely developed by him is possibly a result to the musical doors that had been unlocked to him through keyboard technology. Some people find this technical stuff, sounds that only could be produced by a keyboard played with what seems like high precision randomness to be annoying, others, like me, love it.

This album is not a 5 star work though. It is not an essential album in any way. It is the music of a serious young musician, someone well on the path toward being virtuoso, if not even a virtuoso by this album. I can’t quite put my finger on why this work falls short of 5 stars from a technical point of view. Dare I say that it is the song craft that makes this a 4 star album; I think so. That’s it. If you believe this is a 5 star album, I understand if you disagree with me, however.