Log in
register
View From The Great White North
Canada has always had plenty to offer to the world of guitar playing, in all styles, over the decades. Names like Lenny Breau, Ed Bickert, Bruce Cockburn, Don Ross, Liona Boyd, Frank Marino, Alex Lifeson and Jeff Healey are instantly recognized for their contributions to and their achievements in their particular areas of expertise.
And as is always the case, there is a vibrant collection of up and coming as well as never quite made it unsung heroes, toiling masterfully to achieve that vaunted upper echelon. Names like Philip Sayce and Dave Martone immediately come to mind as players who may soon, deservedly so, make that giant leap. This column intends to discuss events and happenings in the “Great White North“ particularly as they relate to players of quality from both categories mentioned above.
Berklee bred Canuck guitar wizard Dave Martone is currently label shopping his latest self produced instrumental CD “When the Aliens Come“ (the long awaited follow-up to his outstanding 2002 album “A Demon’s Dream“ on Lion Music) for an early 2007 release. When I chatted to Dave this past year during the development of this project, he had this to say about it:
“The sound I would say is more groove oriented (than Demon’s) there are stranger textural sounds happening on it. There is a theme or feeling on it, how should I word it, like ancient Egypt mixed with aliens. That is the kind of visual situation I am trying to make come up in your brain when you are listening to it. The past, the present and the future all combined.”
Like when the aliens came to build the pyramids?
“Yes!! (Laughs) I don’t really know how to explain it, but that was the feeling I was getting when I was working on this one. There is one track in particular called “When the Aliens Come“, I have played it for some people and they looked totally shocked after hearing the sounds. I enjoy that.“
Sounds like something to look forward to for sure! We look forward to interviewing Dave again in the near future and hearing more of his unique sonic tapestries. In the meantime, visit Dave’s website for a link to a complete song sample from his upcoming release called “Oh My God I’m Swell“.
Frank Marino
Canadian guitar legend Frank Marino currently performing across the U.S. (Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush 35th Anniversary Tour) will release re-mastered versions of the first three seminal Mahogany Rush albums (Maxoom, Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe) October 31st on Just In Time Records:
Frank, as usual was 100% responsible for the re-mastering process. He had this to say about that process on his website:
“Almost 100% of the “re-releases” of any artist are simply “re-masters”, made from the original 1/4-inch mixes and simply re-EQ’d. Very rarely will you see a “re-mixed” release, usually because of the costs involved with the whole process.
Now, to my own situation: My re-releases are “re-masters”. They were made from the 1/4-inch tapes of original mixes. Nothing is remixed.“
Frank went on to discuss the problem that he, along with many other ’60’s and 70’s artists, have with rights and access to master recordings:
“My first three albums (Maxoom, Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe) are owned by a third-party, and I have every reason to believe that the 2-inch Masters still exist (as do the 1/4-inch final mixes), but they are not available to me at all, nor do I expect that they will ever be made available to me. As a matter of fact, I can’t even truly be certain that the Multi-tracks do exist… I just assume they do, but it is entirely possible that they, too, were destroyed… albeit for different reasons than the Columbia Albums (seven albums of material for which the masters have been destroyed). What I do have access to for these albums (Maxoom, Child Of The Novelty and Strange Universe) is the 1/4-inch final mixes, and it is from these that I re-mastered the records.“
The albums can be ordered from Frank’s website and should be available first week of November!! We look forward to chatting with Frank very soon about these re-issues and other exciting upcoming projects!