The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever: The Allan Holdsworth Album Collection box set coming in April

Chris Hoard on the Allan Holdsworth Facebook page posted this.

"I interviewed the maestro last weekend for his upcoming box set collection on Manifesto Records."(I'm drafting liner notes)

 

Presumably they interviewed that guy from Seinfeld because there's no guitar player in the world who gets called 'maestro'.

 

My understanding is that it will be remasters of his solo albums with some bonus tracks.

 

I purchased a ticket for the Enigmatic Ocean Tour with the expectation of seeing Holdsworth. Although there was some preliminary discussion regarding Holdsworth being part of the tour, it never happened. Daryl Stuermer was the primary guitarist on that tour. Jamie Glaser was brought in to fill the 2nd guitar slot.
Enigmatic Ocean was my introduction to Allan's talents. He did a fantastic job on that album!

Daryl Stuermer was the guitarist on the Imaginary Voyage album and tour.
-----------
I'm definitely a Holdsworth fan. In many instances I like his session work better than his own albums.

Sideman highlights (in my opinion):
-The entire Believe It album by Tony William's Lifetime (1975).

-After Enigmatic Ocean, it took Allan 6 years before he appeared on another Ponty album (Individual Choice). This track is spectacular:


He appeared with Ponty for a third time in 2007 (The Atacama Experience).

Other than the Enigmatic Ocean and Believe It albums, my next favorite Holdsworth appearance has got to be Bruford's One of a Kind.

 

Thanks for the info, John.

I'm a big fan of Allan's music, and there is a unique beauty in his guitar playing.

Sixteen Men of Tain is my favorite album, I think he never played at this level before or after - just incredible.

 

I like the Soft Machine Bundles album a lot.

 

The Gong album Gazeuse! (or called Expresso in the US) is great too. Classic Holdsie all over it.

 

Also on 1984, like the end of Drop Dead Legs.

 

Absolutely ....... I hear it more in his playing on the later DLR era albums, from FW onwards.

 

Big fan here too ! First saw him for the "Road Games" tour in Cambridge, Ma. He had a vocalist, Chad Wackerman on drums and Jeff Berlin on bass.

 

We saw him that year @ Jonathan Swift's Pub! AH was outside unloading a U-Haul while we were waiting to get in. Paul Williams was the singer. Gary Husband on drums and Gary Willis on bass. This was promoting Road Games while debuting some Metal Fatigue material.

Where did you see him with Wackerman & Berlin?

 

I thought the Jonathan Swift`s show was after this one (was at both), my memory is fading.
The show I mentioned was at "The Club" (maybe this was re-named Nightstage later, don`t remember). It was Sept. 9, 1983. The Club was on Main St.

 

Googling around a bit indicates that the show you saw was earlier than the one that I saw. The one you saw is on dimeadozen, by the way.

 

Apparently Glenmorangie makes for a good muse.

 

I must have missed that on FB so I admit to being optimistic. Interesting that Hoard is back in the fold. Though, I will say that it won't be buying this, since I already have multiple copies of everything the man has ever recorded (or arguably not recorded - like Paz and Esther Phillips) and hundreds and hundreds of hours of shows. Bring Snakes and Ladders, damn it, already, since Tales From The Vault was more or less a disaster.

 

Glad you brought that up! I have a preconception that he's great on speed and technique but not so much on feeling. What recordings would you recommend to challenge that prejudice?

Thanks!

 

Listen to "Zarabeth" on Wardenclyffe Tower.

 

The compilation is now listed as 2 cds and here is the track listing posted on Amazon.

Disc: 1
1. Sixteen Men of Tain
2. The Drums Were Yellow
3. Eidolon
4. How Deep Is the Ocean
5. Nuages
6. Ruhkukah
7. Low Levels, High Stakes
8. Tullio
9. Sphere of Innocence
10. Dodgy Boat
11. Against the Clock
12. City Nights
13. 54 Duncan Terrace
14. Road Games (Jack Bruce)

Disc: 2
1. Peril Premonition
2. Distance Vs. Desire
3. Pud Wud
4. Non-Brewed Condiment
5. Funnels
6. Metal Fatigue
7. Home
8. Devil Take the Hindmost
9. Tokyo Dream
10. Water on the Brain-Pt II
11. Letters of Marque
12. Temporary Fault
13. The 4.15 Bradford Executive
14. Curves

 

Here is the track listing posted for the box set on Amazon.

Disc: 1
1. The Things You See
2. Where Is One
3. Checking Out
4. Letters of Marque
5. Out from Under
6. Temporary Fault
7. Shallow Sea
8. White Line

Disc: 2
1. Three Sheets to the Wind
2. Road Games
3. Water on the Brain-Pt II
4. Tokyo Dream
5. Was There?
6. Material Real

Disc: 3
1. Metal Fatigue
2. Home
3. Devil Take the Hindmost
4. Panic Station
5. The Un-Merry Go Round (In Loving Memory of My Father)
6. In the Mystery

Disc: 4
1. Non-Brewed Condiment
2. Funnels
3. The Dominant Plague
4. Atavachron
5. Looking Glass
6. Mr. Berwell
7. All Our Yesterdays

Disc: 5
1. Sand
2. Distance Vs. Desire
3. Pud Wud
4. Clown
5. The 4.15 Bradford Executive
6. Mac Man

Disc: 6
1. City Nights
2. Secrets
3. 54 Duncan Terrace (Dedicated to Pat Smythe)
4. Joshua
5. Spokes
6. Maid Marion
7. Peril Premonition
8. Endomorph (Dedicated to My Parents)

Disc: 7
1. 5 to 10
2. Sphere of Innocence
3. Wardenclyffe Tower
4. Dodgy Boat
5. Zarabeth
6. Against the Clock
7. Questions
8. Oneiric Moor
9. Tokyo Dream
10. The Un-Merry Go Round (Part 4)
11. The Un-Merry Go Round (Part 5)

Disc: 8
1. Prelude
2. Ruhkukah
3. Low Levels, High Stakes
4. Hard Hat Area
5. Tullio
6. House of Mirrors
7. Postlude

Disc: 9
1. Countdown
2. Nuages
3. How Deep Is the Ocean
4. Isotope
5. None Too Soon (Part 1)/Interlude/None Too Soon (Part II)
6. Norwegian Wood
7. Very Early
8. San Marcos
9. Inner Urge

Disc: 10
1. Son Onofre
2. 274
3. The Sixteen Men of Tain
4. Above and Below
5. The Drums Were Yellow
6. Texas
7. Downside Up
8. Eidolon
9. Above and Below (Reprise)
10. Material Unreal

Disc: 11
1. The Duplicate Man (Intro)
2. The Duplicate Man
3. Eeny Meeny
4. Please Hold on
5. Snow Moon
6. Curves
7. So Long
8. Bo Peep
9. Don't You Know

Disc: 12
1. Zone I
2. Proto-Cosmos
3. White Line
4. Atavachron
5. Zone II
6. Pud Wud
7. House of Mirrors
8. Non-Brewed Condiment
9. Zone III
10. Funnels

If this track listing is correct, it doesn't look like there is much in the way unissued/bonus material on the set.

 

Weird that the box seems to be arranged chronologically, but the two disc set is not.

 

Nice to see that all of the Japan-Only extras will be included for those that didn't get those at the time. Good news for those that missed out.

 

This has more tracks and looks like a better track listing than the previous 2 cd compilation The Best of Allan Holdsworth: Against the Clock. However, that one contains some unreleased and rare material.

 

If I am not mistaken all cds have been remastered. I just wonder how is it possible to make Secrets and Wardenclyfee Tower sound better. I doubt they will.

 

A more update to day transfer with better A/D converters or maybe they simply did the transfer at a higher bit rare either way I already ordered this set and am looking forward to it.

 

Given the dynamic range compression, ofttimes excessive, applied to all Allan's releases [except for Road Games] since 1995 I do think you are correct. The key with this new release is not to let ones heart cloud ones mind. Since I do not want another Against the Clock" situation, I for one will wait for data and SAMPLES before making the purchase.

P.S. There may be more than one Secrets mastering? I have the original Intima but I once heard the re-release and remember it being much louder. If anyone has the non-Intima and posts peaks I'll do the same for the Intima.