Various Artists – Imaginational Anthem / 2005 Near Mint / 16 Tracks / http://www.nearmintrecords.com / Reviewed 20 September 2005
The reason why that cults of individuals idolize various guitar players has eluded me; a number of times, all I can hear with Vinnie Vincent or Yngwie is just a bunch of overblown guitar noodling. After putting in “Imaginational Anthem”, I can begin to understand why good guitarists have such a large following. It is not the ability to make a guitar scream that shows the skill level, but rather the arrangements and complexity of those arrangements that really shows others how good one is.
Brad Barr’s “Bouba’s Bounce” is the first true exhibition of this skill, as what originally started as a simplistic track has moved into something so dense and difficult that even listeners’ ears will have trouble trying to hear everything that ey does. Suni McGrath’s “Train Z” really ties itself into the sped-up yet intricate sound of Phil Ochs, albeit with a more “bluegrass” sound present. Where some individuals will have problems with the facts that the majority of tracks on this disc have no lyrics, I would have to respond that the guitar work does just as good (if not better) of a job telling a story on Imaginational Anthem’s tracks. Harris Newman’s “Lake Shore Drive” is a track that does not have as much of the technical virtuosity as the other tracks, but Harris’s biggest contribution to the disc is the skill in which ey brings a sense of brooding into the track. For atmospheric rock, Harris may just be at the peak of that hill. “Daemon Love Variations” by Janet Smith and Steve Mann is yet another track that tells the story, but much like the band – America – that the track aurally approximates, does so much more in musical terms than through disjointed and lackadaisical lyrics.
Sixty-nine minutes of tracks by individuals that will always surprise and mystify; what makes “Imaginational Anthem” such a strong buy is that some of the individuals bring tracks to the disc that have been out of print for decades. For anyone who honestly wants to know how to play guitar, Imaginational Anthems is a road map of individuals that are clearly at the peak of their genre. Move away from those over-blown rock gods and move over to those individuals who may not have gotten the most publicity during their careers, but are clearly heads and shoulders above the average output. Look for later volumes of this series in the following years.
Top Tracks: Brad Barr’s “Bouba’s Bounce” / Sandy Bull’s “Untitled”
Rating: 6.2/10