Simon McBride - Rich Man Falling

Simon McBride’s reputation precedes him: at 15 he won the UK Guitarist Magazine's ‘Young Guitarist of The Year’ against stiff competition from all corners of the globe. Quickly joining Irish rockers Sweet Savage (notably Vivian Campbell’s – of Dio/Def Leppard fame – first well known band) Simon recorded two albums and played some major festivals with the outfit. Since then Simon has toured the world as guitarist for many diverse acts. Now, in 2008 Simon’s debut album is released...has he delivered the goods?

Overview!

Opener ‘Down To The River’ sets out his musical stall with aplomb – groovy riff infused and melodic. With a rich tone filled voice that belies his still comparatively tender years, and a crack band this is a shining example of great playing, great songs and great musicianship.

As a player Simon has very much his own identifiable: a combination of high energy tone rich blues phrasing with more of a rock edge than many of the other players on the Nugene records label. Fans of hard rock players such as Michael Schenker, Viv Campbell and even hints of early to mid period Gary Moore will find much to enjoy here, along with the more usual bluesy suspects such as Walter Trout, Jeff Healey and the Joe Bonamassa.

In the latter tracks such as ‘Tell Me Why’, ‘You Got A Problem’, ‘DC’ and ‘Power Of Soul’ elements of players such as rockier Eric Johnson and even Guthrie Govan enter the equation: and incredibly fluid combination of speedy pentatonic wig outs, sinuous legato, super accurate alternate picking and wide interval licks abound – and all topped off with a glorious rich tone and killer vibrato. His sense of timing warrants special note – slipping behind and ahead of the beat with great elasticity and incorporating some very cool outside lines reminiscent of some of Scott Henderson’s rockier work Simon is a very serious player indeed!

Highlights include the aforementioned tracks as well as a great version of Paul Rogers ‘Be My Friend’ and the melodic ‘So Much To Give’ – but, in truth, the standard is so high throughout this album that to mention any particular tracks isn’t really necessary.

Conclusion

This is a simply storming high energy Blues Rock album! Richard Pavitt’s Nugene maintains its much deserved reputation as purveyors of the highest quality guitar music with this release. Much more of a rock crossover than Nugene’s other releases, I strongly recommend this both to blues guitar aficionados as well as more general hard rock fans. As a textbook example of how to combine rock guitar with a bluesy

sensibility this is required listening for all rock guitar players. Highly, highly recommended!