Bozzio Levin Stevens - Situation Dangerous
Magna Carta - 2000
By Rodrigo
/images/covers/BozzioLevinStevens_situation.jpg
I will be honest here; I am not the biggest fan of instrumental albums. I do like hearing instrumental songs in albums but I usually do not like hearing an entire album of just instrumental music. So when I got Situation Dangerous I felt that listening to it was going to be a real drag. Well, I will gladly pull the shoe out of my mouth because this is one excellent and fun album.
The first aspect for me not liking these sorts of albums is that I felt they were too "cold". For these types of albums that I have heard, it just felt that there was no emotion and feeling in the music. I felt that the band members were playing music just for the sake of playing music. Well that is certainly not the case with Situation Dangerous. Terry Bozzio (drums & percussion), Tony Levin (bass), and Steven Stevens (guitars) have created an album filled with a lot of passion and accessibility. They show great chemistry and the songs show structure rather than just a lot of jamming. The production is very crisp and excellent. Each instrument has the ability to breathe and interact with the other instruments. The music itself is a combination of various styles like flamenco, rock and fusion and there is a general groovy and fun vibe to it.
One of the greatest aspects of Situation Dangerous is the fact that each song has so much going on. I have probably head this album over 10 times now and I still find something new. This is an album that demands a lot of listens in order to hear all that it has to offer. One of the songs that I like a lot is "Dangerous", the first track. This song has two aspects or themes. The first one is the driving heavy part where the main lead guitar riff is very similar to Led Zeppelins "Immigrant Song". The second part is the slower, darker fusion section. Another great song is "Tziganne". The title is French for gypsy and the music is Spanish flamenco. One great aspect about it is the very cool piccolo tom drum solo by Terry. "Spiral" is an all-acoustic piece and it also has a flamenco flavor to it. "Crash" is a driving blues-y rock song. I especially like the part that first starts at 36 seconds into the song and its repeated a couple of more times during the song. Tony gets the chance to shine with a very cool bass line solo and at the same time there are some really nifty drumming beats. Finally, "Endless" allows the guitar work of Steven to really be the spotlight. As the song progresses the tempo speeds up and through out the song Steven belts out a slow melodic solo, a faster solo and some heavy guitar riffing and leads at the end.
This is the sort of album that can change the minds of people regarding an all instrumental album. I admit I really had no desire to really listen to it but I am very glad that I have. Situation Dangerous may not be an album for everyone but for those who do want to listen to it, get ready to listen to a real treat.
Magna Carta - 2000
By Rodrigo
/images/covers/BozzioLevinStevens_situation.jpg
I will be honest here; I am not the biggest fan of instrumental albums. I do like hearing instrumental songs in albums but I usually do not like hearing an entire album of just instrumental music. So when I got Situation Dangerous I felt that listening to it was going to be a real drag. Well, I will gladly pull the shoe out of my mouth because this is one excellent and fun album.
The first aspect for me not liking these sorts of albums is that I felt they were too "cold". For these types of albums that I have heard, it just felt that there was no emotion and feeling in the music. I felt that the band members were playing music just for the sake of playing music. Well that is certainly not the case with Situation Dangerous. Terry Bozzio (drums & percussion), Tony Levin (bass), and Steven Stevens (guitars) have created an album filled with a lot of passion and accessibility. They show great chemistry and the songs show structure rather than just a lot of jamming. The production is very crisp and excellent. Each instrument has the ability to breathe and interact with the other instruments. The music itself is a combination of various styles like flamenco, rock and fusion and there is a general groovy and fun vibe to it.
One of the greatest aspects of Situation Dangerous is the fact that each song has so much going on. I have probably head this album over 10 times now and I still find something new. This is an album that demands a lot of listens in order to hear all that it has to offer. One of the songs that I like a lot is "Dangerous", the first track. This song has two aspects or themes. The first one is the driving heavy part where the main lead guitar riff is very similar to Led Zeppelins "Immigrant Song". The second part is the slower, darker fusion section. Another great song is "Tziganne". The title is French for gypsy and the music is Spanish flamenco. One great aspect about it is the very cool piccolo tom drum solo by Terry. "Spiral" is an all-acoustic piece and it also has a flamenco flavor to it. "Crash" is a driving blues-y rock song. I especially like the part that first starts at 36 seconds into the song and its repeated a couple of more times during the song. Tony gets the chance to shine with a very cool bass line solo and at the same time there are some really nifty drumming beats. Finally, "Endless" allows the guitar work of Steven to really be the spotlight. As the song progresses the tempo speeds up and through out the song Steven belts out a slow melodic solo, a faster solo and some heavy guitar riffing and leads at the end.
This is the sort of album that can change the minds of people regarding an all instrumental album. I admit I really had no desire to really listen to it but I am very glad that I have. Situation Dangerous may not be an album for everyone but for those who do want to listen to it, get ready to listen to a real treat.
