Early Holdsworth Sideman Work

[No Pride]

I never thought I'd hear rap and Holdsworth on the same track! It's kind of like a peanut butter and sardine sandwich; you'd have to have pretty bizarre tastes to appreciate it. But like I said earlier in this thread, Holdsy will probably play on anyone's record if the pay is right.

You're tlaking about the "sheets of sound" thing, which I think was a bit earlier than the Coltrane stuff I like. I'm mainly into his Impulse recordings, starting with Africa/Brass.

I like all of Coltrane's phases of development up through Transition. Once he replaced Elvin and McCoy with Rashied and Alice, he lost me too; it crossed the border of how much "outness" I could take. But I love his Atlantic records when he was morphing from bebop on steroids to the modal thing. I get the impression that Allan was enamored with that stuff too.

Another good album with Holdsworth Participating that I haven't seen mentioned is Mark Varnay Project (MVP) - Truth in Shredding

This is one of my AH albums I dont like. To my ears its mostly a contest about who can do the most hystercial solo (Gambale or Holdsworth) in compositions that I dont like, or the way they are executed. But the solos are impressing from a technical perspective.

I have it and like it (though it definitely gives the impression that the rhythm tracks were pre-made and the solos were "flown in"). I thought it was really interesting to hear Allan improvise on Randy Brecker and Wayne Shorter tunes. Gambale sounds very good on it too, but if it was indeed a competition, Holdsworth wins! He has some breathtaking solos on that album.

[Gizmotron]

Love him on Bundles, Believe It and the first two Bruford albums...bit of a square peg in a round hole in UK, to me.

I always felt he was the perfect foil for the rest of the band. Especially, I like how well his style meshes with Jobson's angular violin style.
I need to fish out a particular slide I took at one of the UK shows. He is playing an amazingly stretched-out chord. His fingers seem more like spider legs than fingers.

[No Pride]

I always felt he was the perfect foil for the rest of the band. Especially, I like how well his style meshes with Jobson's angular violin style.
I need to fish out a particular slide I took at one of the UK shows. He is playing an amazingly stretched-out chord. His fingers seem more like spider legs than fingers.

I liked him in UK too!

He's been nicknamed "The Spider" by some because of the way his hand looks while going from one impossible chord to the next. Because of that, somebody bought him a tarantula as a present once, which he kept as a pet (don't know if he still has it).

[Gizmotron]

I liked him in UK too!

He's been nicknamed "The Spider" by some because of the way his hand looks while going from one impossible chord to the next. Because of that, somebody bought him a tarantula as a present once, which he kept as a pet (don't know if he still has it).

Cool trivia...thanks!

[interbellum]

I remember someone had a avatar on Holdsworth's forum with these fingers moving towards you:

41LbJLMh5RL._SX372_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

By the way, Jobson has stated that he changed his tone of the keyboards in UK to match with Holdsworth's tone.

[Reid]

I like the taste of that peant butter and sardines musical sandwich!

[sphinx]

The spider metaphor went even further - here's the headstock of the Ibanez signature model that he had in the mid 80s
AH10hs.jpg

[markwoll]

I like the taste of that peant butter and sardines musical sandwich!

With the right scotch.

[chef0069]

He does some great stuff as sideman on some Derek Sherinian records as well, along with Yngwie, Zakk Wylde, jerry Goodman, and more.

[GuitarGeek]

The spider metaphor went even further - here's the headstock of the Ibanez signature model that he had in the mid 80s
AH10hs.jpg

Which he didn't play for very long, as I recall the model was out for only about 18 months before I started seeing him in Steinberger ads.

[interbellum]

Imagine they would have released the video from 1990 from one of the Hammersmith Odeon-concerts in stead of this one from 1992 we would have seen Allan with Level 42. Now we have to do it with Gary Husband and Jakko:



Here's a clip which features Allan:



http://www.level42.com/tag/allan-holdsworth/

[No Pride]

Here's a clip which features Allan:

You see him for about a second, but you don't really hear him.

How is that album, "Guaranteed?" I've never heard it.

[Zeuhlmate]

Not one of Level 42's best and IMO he doesnt fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FblLPJ5YuPk

[interbellum]

I think Guaranteed shows some of Allan's most melodic, emotional solo's, but I agree it's not L42's best album. There are some nice songs on it though, including a couple penned by Gary Husband.
The bootleg live recordings contains a couple of more heavy Holdsworth-solo's.