f I had to find patterns or echoes of another guitarist in Gambale's chordal progressions,
breakdowns, and eruptions into vitriolic riffs of ostinatos and legatos, all being sweep-
picking showcases - I'd have to say I keep hearing Mahavishnu John McLaughlin's style
in his Mahavishnu Orchestra daze of fusion. Listen to opening cut, "Katahdin" for
evidence. And next track, Gambale surprises me with signature Allan Holdsworth
voicings; those dream-laden, chordal noodlings and odd maneuvers of scale. This gives
Hamm room to stretch oh so mellow and expressively smooth. Gambale returns the bass
solo an answer full of strength and passion, aflame with that picking style pioneered so
long ago. To listen to Gambale hit high gear on a riff brings forth images of 12-fingered
hands with an 18-inch fretboard span!
Hamm and Smith are both monsters on bass and drums adding a huge amount
of soul and talent all around this disc. Track four, "The Throne Of Savitar" takes me back
to the flavor of Inner Mounting Flame's "Dance of Maya" and early Stanley
Clarke releases like School Days with the now, long-lost, Ray Gomez going
crazy on guitar. Excellent cut! Lotsa classic 70s distortion too, thank-you. The mid-song
break, trance-time, lets Steve Smith do some of the best skins work I have ever heard
from him to date. Bravo Steve-o!
Next few trax offer solo bass, a mellow jazz, slow tune, then a drum solo. Track
eight, "Lumpy's Lament" gets back to the "meltin'-down-the-Kenny-G-stack-o-plastic"
kind of fusion I like with heavy beat, mean drums, and overdriven crunch Gambale used
so well on the 1998 Show Me What You Can Do release. Great song but way too
short! (CDs will now hold more jams than LPs did guys.)
Remember those excellent Bill Connors' acoustic, solo guitar releases way back
when? Gambale next offers a similarly, superb acoustic guitar vignette. It is an "intro" to
the final cut, "Fugitive Aspirations" with reverby, full sustain, ethereal, soul-angst guitar,
bell-like introspective bass progression, and truly sexy brushes, high hats aglistening.
Schweet boys, that nice. Gambale excels with all his effects, channel switching,
feedbacks, loopings, back-o-the-bridge chimings/harmonics, wow, and alien invasion
guitar that sang to my soul like no other song on this disk. Frank, my good mate, Stu, and
Steve y'all done darn good by me on that performance! Please fill another CD up with
killer jams like this again! The Light Beyond is another heads-above-the-rest
fusion experience. It's a high rollin', hard-chargin', visionary work - a musicianship
tour de force! "Wake up ya smooth-jazz, limp-wristed, split-reed, weenies and
smell this espresso!" Gambale, Hamm, and Smith have done it again. Wham, bam, yes
mam!