Already right at opening sounds it seems that he has listened well to this Briton. Those typical open chord sounds, which also can be heard on holdsworth albums as Road Games or the widely-acclaimed Wardenclyffe Tower, are the departure point of each composition on this album of Elewout de Raad. But there are also a number of essential differences. First of all there is the guitar sound of de Raad. His chordal playing has been clearly influenced by the master, but as soon as he starts soloing it's another story. Elewout knows how to get a beautiful warm guitar tone which is notable particularly by the superb low sound; it has a type of fuzzy edge (I, m probably wrong about that, but that's how it sounds to me) And in the higher regions he has that tone that enables him to make his guitar sing beautifully. It is a long time ago that I have last heard a soloist with such an extreme range but nevertheless a warm tone.

Moreover, his colleague musicians stand out strong on this disc. Bass player Jorrit Godeke acts as the anchor of the band. He also has been blessed with a beautiful tone; deeply bubbling he keeps the band together along with drummer Hendrik Mulder. This last one is moreover wall-to-wall present on this album and is a real pleasure to listen to. I have the idea that this album has virtually completely been recorded live in the studio because of the way drummer Hendrik Mulder interacts with Elewout de Raad, which is a true joy to listen to. Regularly you hear him play accents and cross-rhythms which emphasise and drive ahead certain passages in de Raad's playing He balances on the edge ' overplaying ' but that's just the thing that makes it so exciting.

And then there is still the second large difference with Holdsworth. His music becomes as the years progress always more intangiblely; cleverly composed and the man has a fabulous technique, but it just doesn't touch me so much. And that's just the thing in which Elewout succeeds on The Cross. Often with jazz-rock it's about the compositions to be an attractive basis to build different solistic passages and not so much about pleasant melodies or high levelled constructions. But Elewout knows how to build his solos in which he entirely exploits his distinct guitar sound. The most beautiful example of it is the title number, The Cross, which opens as a jazz-rock ballad after which comes a heavy part dominated by heavily distorted guitar sounds which slowly works towards a climax (or should you take it as a catharsis ?) and suddenly Elewout switches back to that glorious guitar tone whereupon he lets his guitar sing in an almost euphoric way. It seems to come right out of his soul and that knows how to touch me right in my heart. Beautiful ! The Cross has been recorded well, filled with top notch jazz-rock, made in The Netherlands! Let's hope it will find its way to people who enjoy this kind of music and that we'll hear more of this jazz-rock trio.