Conference napalm::guitar

    
    
       Sure are. 
    
       Loved his work with U.K.. I also have a Bruford album with him
    and Jeff Berlin which is phenomenal. Don't have any of his solo's.
    
       I even have a couple synth patches for my midiguitar named after
    him and modeled after his UK sound.
    
       How about a discography?.
    
    
    				Rich
    
    

    Guitar World has an ad for his new album, sorry I don't remember the
    title but at least you know he's has a new one out.
    
    Mike

    Holdsworth is truly amazing!  If you like his recorded work, definately
    check out his live show if you can, it'll blow your mind.  I've never
    before been to a show where someone left me standing in the doorway (on
    the way in) with my mouth literally hanging open. 
    
    I have several of his solo efforts (IOU, Road Games, Metal Fatigue) and
    I really enjoy listening to them.
    
    Greg

    
    Allan came to Burlington, VT about three or four years ago, before they
    changed "Hunt's" into a 50's club.
    
    The opening act was the Adam Stark Trio, a sort of semi-local,
    temporary set-up.  The guitarist was this dwarf guy, about four feet
    tall.  He was amazing.  I had only heard Allan's "Metal Fatigue" album
    at the time, and Adam Stark was playing like I was expecting Allan to 
    play.  I thought, what's Allan going to do to improve on this?
    
    Allan blew the guy away.  I've never heard so many notes, so tastefully
    played in one night.  "Devil take the Hindmost" seemed about twice as
    fast as the studio version.  Allan just spewed out notes at top speed
    all night and I never got bored of it.  The band was incredible also,
    though I didn't catch all the names.
    
    I recommend it. ;-)
    
    Guy

    
    Brief discography from memory:
    
    Solo:
    
    Velvet Darkness (CTI)
    Road Games (Warner Bros. EP)
    IOU (Enigma)
    Metal Fatigue (Enigma)
    Atavachron (Enigma)
    Sand (Enigma)
    
    With Bill Bruford:
    
    Feels Good To Me (Polydor/EG)
    One of A Kind (Polydor/EG)
    Master Strokes (compilation, JEM/EG)
    
    miscellaneous:
    
    two albums with Tony Williams on CBS (mid 70s, titles, anyone??)
    UK (Polydor/EG)
    one album with Soft Machine (Bundles??..no US release, anyway)
    one album with Gong (Expresso??)
    
    						Brian
    

His new album (at least I assume it's his new album) is called "Secrets".

Mike D

    If I am not mistaken (wouldn't be the first time) he backed up
    Bob Wier (of Grateful Dead Fame) in Bob's side band "Bobby and
    the Midnights" and played on both albums:
    	
    	"Bobby and the Midnights"
    	"Where the beat meets the street"
    
    These albums show a differant side to Allan than most fans are used
    to (more country-bluesy sounding). It also show a differant side to
    Bob Wier as well. If I am not mistaken, he also toured with Bob as
    well.
    
    Guitar player magazine did an interview with Alan Holdworth within
    the last year or so. Anyone remember the exact issue ?? If not, I
    can check it out tonight and post it later.
    
    He has been endorsing Mesa Boogie quad preamp/simulclass power amps
    in the latest rags. Doesn't one of the Japanese guitar makers (Ibanez?, 
    Yamaha?) offer an Alan Holdsworth model?
    
    Mark
    

    Ibanez makes the AH model.  I've also noticed the M/B endorsements.
    
    He was the feature interview in Guitar World back in June.
    
    Mike

    
    re: .7
    
    Whacha been smokin' Mark??  8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    Bobby Cochran (also an Ibanez endorser) was second guitarist in Bobby
    and the Midnights....

    
    Oh, (he said, as he hung his head in shame). Like I said, ain't 
    the first time, and won't be the last.
    
    Unfortunatly, I ain't been smokin' anything lately. I'm just
    a natural space case.
    
    Mark

    
    I've got a Billy Colbham album called LIFETIME/BELIEVE IT!
    which has Allan doing some amazing guitar stunts.
    Worth looking for!

    	I believe if you check that's Tony William's not Cobham..
    and Holdsworth sounds great.... He also did a stint with Jean Luc
    Ponty.... Enigmatic Ocean another excellent selection....

I bought "Secrets". It's got some great tunes on it. Especially "Joshua"
and "Maid Marion", which were written by the keyboard player, Steve Hunt.
Steve Hunt is a monster on keyboards, and his tunes are the best on the 
album. "Spokes", written by Allan Holdsworth, is also an excellent tune.

Great album that not only shows off Allan's incredible guitar chops, but 
also incredible keyboard and writing chops by Steve Hunt.

Allan Holdsworth is currently touring Europe in support of this album.
Steve Hunt is playing keyboards for this tour. Should be a great show.

Mike D.

Got word last night that Allan Holdsworth broke a finger, and so the tour 
has had to be rescheduled. Probably be postponed for about 6 weeks or so.

Mike D

    As an aside, I remember he used to play Strat-type guitars, but the
    latest looks like a Vee -- or is is one of those headless Steinberger
    jobs? Anyone know?
    
    Richard.

    
    
    	re: guitar
    
    	Looks like a Steinberger to me. He was the cover story in
    GP a coupla months back. I'll take a look tonight to make sure.
    
    -Tom
    

Yeah, definately a Steinberger.  He had Ibanez build him some custom ones a 
few years ago and he endorced them for quite some time.  Lately it's been
Synth-Axe and Steinbergers mostly.

Greg

Has Allan recorded any albums without a keyboard player - just guitar, bass
and drums?

Paul

    Hot concert tip - Allan Holdsworth at Scullers (Cambridge MA), July 6.
    I've heard an unconfirmed rumor that he'll be doing jazz standards(!)
    at this show, which would make sense given the kind of room Scullers
    is.  More details as they come in.
    
    /rick
    

re .18

2 releases that I know of without keyboards (for the most part):

Road Games  (Only 6 songs on this one, no keyboards at all)
I.O.U       (8 songs total, But there is 1 short keyboard solo on the release)

/marc 

    I don't think there's keyboards on Metal Fatigue.... 
    
    In fact,... I was under the impression that most of his solo albums
    didn't have keyboards.   

    The only one I have is "Wardenclyffe Tower" (sp?), and it has keyboards; 
    I assumed that was his standard format in recent years.  Sounds like I
    should give some others a try.
    
    Paul

    Wow!  Holdsworth and company *smoked* Scullers last night.  The Boston
    Globe earlier this week repeated the statement that Holdsworth would be
    doing 'standards' at this gig.  Ha ha!  I guess they had to tell em
    that to get booked into the room :-)  This was typical Holdsworth stuff,
    same lineup as the one that played Nightstage a few years ago.  If
    anything, I thought this show was even better than the last.
    
    Alan seemed to do more straight guitar work this time around, although
    there was still plenty of guitar-synth as well.  I really love what he
    does with the guitar-synth; he has a real, developed, expressive voice
    on it (as opposed to the noodling you hear from some players).  Alan was
    just using the one standard headless guitar, no sign of the extended scale
    instrument he's used before.  Besides several racks full of expensive
    processing gear, I saw a Boogie head, a Boogie combo, and a Dual-Rectifier
    head onstage.
    
    True confessions time: I spent most of the night totally absorbed by
    the rhythm section.  Bassist Sculli Sverisson and the aptly named
    Chad Wackerman on drums were absolutely phenomenal; tight, incredibly
    complex grooves that nevertheless swung like crazy.  Even our guitarist
    Paul said he was zoning on Wackerman for much of the night.  Last time
    I saw Sculli, he pushed me over the edge to start playing 6-string bass.
    He seemed even better this time around.
    
    One comment on the room.  They sat as in the corner, behind the kybd
    amps, with no visibility and poor sound.  I got up and stood in the
    doorway for most of the night, where the view was better and the sound
    superb.  Even at that, about 1/4 of the room had obstructed view from
    a large support column.  At 18 bucks a pop, this is UNACCEPTABLE!
    
    On the plus side, both shows were packed.  It's nice to know that
    middle-aged guitarists playing obscure, challenging, instrumental
    music can still draw a crowd.
    
    /rick
    

    Omigod!
    
    I'm assuming you were at the 8pm show, not the 10pm?
    
    I think we sat NEXT to each other but didn't recognize each other.
    
    Tom Benson and I sat at the table right behind the keyboard players
    rack.  I remember a party coming in at sitting at the table you were at
    and some of them left and never came back.  I had figured they had
    said "geez, these guys just play too many notes and lack emotion, let's
    go see if we can find a place that has blues".  They certainly
    looked like that type.  ;-)
    
    	db

>    Alan seemed to do more straight guitar work this time around, although
>    there was still plenty of guitar-synth as well. 
    
    Actually there was ZERO "guitar synth".
    
    I don't think he even had one there.
    
    He gets that synthy sound with various processing gear: delays,
    choruses, compressor/limiters, etc. and technique (volume swells,
    etc.).

    Yeah, that was us.  I thought I saw you at the show.  Alternate Quartet was
    there in full force; I munched a few of our drummer's nachos :-) then split
    to go stand in the back for the rest of the night.  Sound was much better
    back there, although I still couldn't see the drummer :-(  There were some
    other people we didn't know who had even worse seats in the corner; they
    also left to seek better ones.  I complained to the management, am supposed
    to call back today and they said they'll 'accomodate' me.
    
    Sorry I missed you guys; would have like to meet Tom too.
    
    /rick

>>    He gets that synthy sound with various processing gear: delays,
>>    choruses, compressor/limiters, etc. and technique (volume swells,
>>    etc.).
    
    That's pretty impressive then; it was very synth-like.  But yeah, I was
    wondering why I couldn't see any obvious synth-pickup connection on the
    guitar.
    

    Yeah, db and I were right at the edge of the stage, but with a view
    of Allan partially obscured by keyboards. But in way that was good - 
    as a result I paid more attention to the whole of the band rather than
    obsessing on what Holdsworth was doing!
    
    My main gripe was that it was just too short.
    
    RE: Synth - to my knowledge, the Delap guitar has no synth pickup, and
    he doesn't bring the Synthaxe around anymore. 
    
    RE: Rack, he also had a "Harness", the new "reactive load device" he
    builds and sells. (If memory serves, he designed the "Juice Extractor"
    a few years ago, and some company (Rocktron?) marketed it, but he
    claimed they ruined it. So this one he builds himself.)
    
    Attached is a mail message from Jeff Preston, moderator of the
    Holdsworth mailing list, with some info on both the Harness and on the
    Synthaxe. His Synthaxe was stolen at a gig last year, and a kind
    philanthropist gave him a new one.. of all people, the Stone Temple Pilots!
    
    
    
Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 14:32:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jeff Preston <preston@msuacad.morehead-st.edu>
Subject: Harness ordering information / Amazing SynthAxe story

  For everyone who was wanting ordering info for the Harness (Allan's
  new, individually-crafted reactive load device), here's the address
  for orders:

  Allan Holdsworth
  c/o Guitars West
  1099 San Marcos Blvd.
  San Marcos, Ca. 92069.

  The price is $399 each, and checks should be made out to Allan
  Holdsworth, for the time being. Claire said he is in the process of
  setting up a company for the whole thing, so this information may
  change in the near future -- I will update that info when it becomes
  available.

  Amazing SynthAxe story...

  Claire responded to a question I had about the new Roland device
  that he demonstarted at the Anaheim NAMM show a few months ago --
  namely, was he taking it on tour?  She said that oddly enough, he
  hasn't heard from Roland since then, and he no longer has the unit
  in question. However, she went on to say that he had acquired another
  SynthAxe. It seem that one of the members of Stone Temple Pilots
  lives in the San Diego area, and heard about the theft of his last
  SynthAxe controller back in November. So, Stone Temple Pilots
  BOUGHT Allan another one!  Since we are all ultimately the
  beneficiaries of this outstanding philanthropic gesture, I propose
  that we come up with a note of appreciation to send to the members
  of Stone Temple Pilots -- can someone get me an address?

  Jeff

--
    Jeff Preston   \\\   Moderator of the Allan Holdsworth discussion forum
  to subscribe   \\\   e-mail: atavachron-request@msuacad.morehead-st.edu
Web Page URL   \\\   http://suppcoo.morehead-st.edu/atav/docs/home.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 19:40:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jeff Preston <preston@msuacad.morehead-st.edu>
Subject: Updated Harness order info

  Paolo Valladolid was kind enough to provide me with the text of the
  Harness advertisement in _GP_... it seems there is an unspecified
  shipping and handling charge added to the $399 price of the unit
  itself, but since Paolo included the phone number to Guitars West,
  I rang them up and asked. The shipping and handling (UPS ground) is
  $26 in North America; $36 elsewhere. So make those checks out for
  $425 (or $435, if you live outside the U.S. or Canada).

  Jeff

--
    Jeff Preston   \\\   Moderator of the Allan Holdsworth discussion forum
  to subscribe   \\\   e-mail: atavachron-request@msuacad.morehead-st.edu
Web Page URL   \\\   http://suppcoo.morehead-st.edu/atav/docs/home.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Last time, Sculli was using a 6-string Tobias (pre-Gibson I believe)
    through SWR gear.  At last night's show, he had a 6-string Curbow
    through a Yamaha head (possibly tube, not sure) and a 2x15 Mesa cab.
    His only effect was a Lexicon Alex that he used to get a chorused
    fretless-like sound.  I don't think there was much stage miking going
    on, the bass may have been just live through the 2x15.  If so, it was
    quite impressive sounding for just coming off the stage; no complaints
    at all about the level, clarity or mix.
    
    Re the Curbow, I thought it sounded great, although I think his tone
    was a bit better at the previous show with the Tobias.  Still, no
    complaints; the low B string was well balanced with the rest of the
    strings and punched out nicely.  The Curbow uses something called
    "Rockwood" for the neck; it's a trademarked name, and may be some
    sort of wood/synthetic composite.
    

    Last nite was awesome!  Bought Chad's CD "Forty Reasons" afterwards and
    it is great!  Really challanging stuff.
    
    re; the gtr-synth; I didn't think he was using one either.  Looked
    like a standard 1/4" cable coming out of his axe, despite the weigh
    kool sounds!
    
    pc
    

    Rick,
    
    The synthy sound is a a trick that I (at least) attribute to Steve Morse
    because I first saw him do it way before anyone else.
    
    You need a delay set to a long delay setting (like at least .5 seconds,
    much more if possible), a fair amount of regeneration, throw in a
    chorus afterwards and some reverb.
    
    What you do is play "volume swells" - meaning you turn off the volume
    (either with your volume knob or a volume pedal before the delay),
    strike a chord and then immediately turn on the volume.  Turn
    off the volume before each subsequent chord/note.
    
    There are lots of variations you can add, like how fast you let the
    volume out, how long a delay, etc.
    
    It doesn't take much equipment nor practice to get some really cool,
    very synth-sounding sounds.
    
    On a clean channel, it sounds sorta like strings, on a distorted
    channel, it sounds sorta like brass.
    
    Try it - you'll flip out over how cool it is.
    
    	db

    Perhaps the fact that it's really guitar and not guitar-synth
    contributed to what I'd call the 'human' aspect of his playing.
    Although I was under the impression that current g-s technology is
    pretty good and fairly expressive.  In any event, he sounded great.
    

    I envy you guys. Holdsworth has been a favorite of mine for many years
    and a tremendous influence on my guitar style. Does anyone know or have
    a list of the tour dates/locations? I would appreciate any info. 
    
    I think Holdsworth gets that "synthy" sound by using a pitch shifter
    and long multi-tap delays with either manual volume swells or slow
    attack delays from a noise gate. I have several patches on my Digitech
    GSP-2101 that use these effects to get that type of sound(one is a
    factory preset named "Holdsworthian 5ths").
    
    CERASO
    

    On the recommendation of a friend, I picked up a copy of Soft Machine's
    "Bundles" (import CD only).  This was fairly late in the Soft's
    catalog, their 8th or 9th record, and I believe their only one with
    Holdsworth.  It was recorded around 1975.
    
    The music is typical of the Canterbury style of British progressive
    rock, with lots of jazz influences and space for improv.  The
    arrangements, and especially the keyboard sound, are somewhat dated but
    if you can get past that there is some excellent early Holdsworth
    here.  In particular the opening cut "Hazard Profile" is one of the
    early landmarks in his career.  After a short intro section, the band
    drops into a simple vamp and Alan proceeds to absolutely burn for about
    10 minutes straight.  The solo is full of ideas, unexpected turns,
    false endings; several times you think he's finished, only to have him
    come back even harder.  Supposedly this track was cut with an ES-175
    through a Marshall stack!  A great sound and a stunning display of
    Alan's magic at a young age.  Recommended.
    
    /rick