[ Album Cover ]

Step It
by Bill Connors

Released 1994
Label: Evidence Music
Catalogue: ECD 22080-2

[ Reviewed January 2003 ]

I spotted the name Bill Connors on the internet years ago on an Allan Holdsworth mailing list under the heading "If you like AH you might like these." I saw this album cheap and at the time vaguely remembered having him on my mental list of people to check out.  Seeing that Dave Weckl was on drums swung it and convinced me to part with the cash.  Let me say at the outset I'm not going to accuse anyone of copying anyone else; it's perfectly possible that two guitarists are independently following very similar paths.

This is an album of full-on jazz-rock with the guitar being the main focus and no sign of a saxophone anywhere, and as such is right up my street.  But as soon as I put it on I got the strangest sensation.  The first track starts off with a quiet rising processed guitar or synth sound that is exactly what AH uses when adding atmosphere to his music.  And I mean exactly.  Straight after this the guitar comes in proper and the sound takes you straight back to AH's 1985 I.O.U. album.  And unbelievably Connors even performs the same kind of fluid soloing, again using an identical sound.  I have to say that it isn't as smooth and musical as the master but it's still pretty good.  This track could be an I.O.U. out-take.  Okay that's the first track out of the way.  We then move onto the 9-minute A Pedal which again is in that certain mould but is of a good length and allows for some excellent bass playing and soloing by Tom Kennedy (there are no keyboards anywhere on the album).  At this point I had a closer look at the recording date of the album and although it has a release date of 1994, the music was created back in 1984 - yes you've guessed it, even around the time of I.O.U.!

The rest of the album has plenty of those tell-tale AH-isms but as it progresses some of the tracks display more jazz tendencies which I find a bit difficult to listen to.  Take Cookies for example; the bass and drums lay down a groove and Connors solos over the top, using more typical jazz phrasing before repeatedly returning to the more musical 'chorus'.  Connors does a bit to vary his guitar sound at least, for example introducing an "Andy Summers in The Police" mode on some tracks.  On the whole it's pretty musical with some tunes that seem nice at the time but are perhaps not that memorable.  I have a lot of praise for Kennedy on bass who shows plenty of thoughtful playing when given the chance (check him out on Titan).  I'm not so happy with Weckl who puts in a solid tight performance but just doesn't sound very interesting; he's mainly keeping time, where someone like Chad Wackerman would be playing with much more freedom in and around the music.  Weckl's drumming sounds pretty harsh as well.  He does make a bit more effort on Titan though.

To sum up then, after the initial shock of hearing a clone of one of my heroes, I started to enjoy the album for the music on it.  Although a fair proportion of it is slightly too jazzy for me - I can't learn and fully appreciate the guitar solos.  They often sound like AH but more rambling and a lot more ragged.  At 44 minutes this is short by today's standards - I assume it was also an LP, but it's a solid 44 minutes and better that than an hour of waffle.  It's turned out to be a welcome addition to my collection.  In fact it's worth having it so that you can play it to your Holdsworth-conversant mates simply to amaze them with the similarities in sound.  Okay I admit that having these sort of mates is pretty unlikely.

I wouldn't mind trying another of his.  Shame about the cover though.

Tracks:
1.Lydia3:36
2.A Pedal8:52
3.Step It4:34
4.Cookies4:51
5.Brody4:15
6.Twinkle5:59
7.Titan6:36
8.Flickering Lights5:11
total time 43:51

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Copyright Steve Bachini