Steve Dawson - Lucky Hand (Album Review)

June 14, 2018 by Rich Barnard in Acoustic, Americana, Instrumental, Blues, Folk

In our house, space is a very precious commodity. Instrumental guitar records have to work extremely hard to earn their place on the CD shelves (yes, I do know what Sonos and Spotify are, and no, no thank you). No matter how impressive, super-noodling is not enough if there is no musical heart beating beneath. Thankfully, the latest release from celebrated Canadian guitarist Steve Dawson has that beating heart and yes, he has the hands to match.

Vangelis - Delectus (Album Review / Box Set)

February 09, 2017 by David Vousden in Album Reviews, Ambient, Instrumental, Progressive Rock, Soundtrack, Electronic, Box Set

For those of us who only associate Greek composer Vangelis with his soundtrack music, most notably the Oscar winning ‘Chariots Of Fire’ (included here) and ‘Blade Runner’ then ‘Delectus’ is a bit of an eye opener. This thirteen CD box set brings together his recorded output for the Polydor and Vertigo labels over a twelve year period 1973-1985 and really does a great job of highlighting the range and diversity of the prolific composer.

Aukai - S.T. (Album Review)

June 02, 2016 by David Vousden in Instrumental, Ambient, Album Reviews

The press release for the debut Aukai album tells us “Aukai is a Hawaiian word meaning seafarer or traveller. It’s also used as a proper name, and people who are called “Aukai" tend to have a mystical, philosophical, introspective nature.” Aukai aka Markus Sieber lives up to the ideals of the name and takes us on an introspective, aural journey that allows your imagination to decide where you are going and why.

Fuzzbee - Dreams And Other Living Things (Album Review)

February 20, 2015 by David Vousden in Blues, Classic Rock, Instrumental, Rock, Soul

One from a number of unexpected pleasant surprises that recently arrived at Red Guitar Music is the first solo album from Fuzzbee Morse a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer, raconteur and film/TV composer. Fuzzbee has worked with many of the best in the business including Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Bono, Pink, Ric Ocasek (The Cars) and Frank Zappa. I should add that his quite stunning band on this album features Jerry Marotta (Orleans / Peter Gabriel / Indigo Girls) on drums, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel / King Crimson) on bass and David Sancious (Sting / Peter Gabriel / Bruce Springsteen) on keys. The sort of players that can afford to be very picky regarding the work they undertake.

Steelism - 615 to FAME Album Review

September 11, 2014 by David Vousden in Country, Instrumental

One of the great things about music is you never know what‘s around the next corner, or the next click in this age of technology. Steelism and their debut album ‘615 to FAME’ is one of those moments when one click revealed a gem.