Eric Johnson is as quirky as a guitar virtuoso can come. Some virtuosos are noted for how over-the-top they can be, on the musical or personal scales: Steve Vai is famous for spending much of his college career practicing for fifteen hours a day, spending one summer in his apartment the whole time except for two occaisions when he left to purchase food and to go to the movies, whereas Yngwie Malmsteen is noted for his horrific sense (or lack thereof) of taste in nearly all musical and personal realms. Others are noted for what they hold back, or for what they subordinate to the service of music: Joe Satriani is almost universally respected for having a much better grasp of melody and songwriting than his contemporaries.
Eric Johnson falls into an interesting netherworld between the two that has caused much derision, confusion, and complication for his career. Johnson is an impeccably skilled player with one of the most heavenly tones of any guitarist of his caliber, and who has the art of jangly pop songwriting down to a tee to such a degree that he earned himself a hatful of Grammys for his second release "Ah Via Musicom," the album off of which three guitar instrumentals did the unthinkable by becoming radio hits in the land of grunge-dominated music media in 1991. His sense of taste in this sense is undeniably advanced.
On the other hand, it comes at a vast price. Over his twenty-year career he has only released four albums, a hibernator second only to Boston and ridiculed just as much for how little his style seems to have evolved in proportion to the time between his work. His intense focus on finding the perfect guitar tone, once a source of some respect, rapidly devoloped into an irritating gimmick as concertgoers were treated to the experience of Johnson tuning for more minutes on end than his songs lasted, and then degenerated into something striking most people as a compulsive obsession that ended a number of important relationships in Johnson's life, including that of his marriage.
However, Johnson's early music has a certain vitality that it would come to lack. His career was jumpstarted by the charity of pop sensation and musical genius Prince, who heard Johnson play and immediately ordered his record company to sign him. Johnson quickly turned out an album of great Eighties pop, featuring a number of wonderful, vocal-driven tunes and some tasteful, exciting displays of his vast level of chops. "Tones" is aptly named, to be sure, but it was a precursor of all that would come to fruition on Ah Via Musicom, and to that end it's a strong debut from one of the genre's most respected players.
Here's the album track-by-track:
1.) Soulful Terrain
An instrumental opener, this song features a lot of jangly guitar on the part of Johnson, with a lot of Eighties production choices that affirm Johnson's essentially pop-based sensibility. A lot of people expecting guitar fireworks on the level of someone like Joe Satriani or comparable guitar heroes will be disappointed. That's not to say that this stuff isn't of high quality. Featuring his trademark extended chord forms and highly tasteful melodies, this is a useful introduction to this short but sweet album. A highlight is the heavy interlude with wahed guitar and a very tasteful, technical solo.
2.) Friends
The keyboard percussion workout that opens this is probably the cheesiest thing I've ever heard, and what makes it worse is the fact that it has nothing to do with the rest of the song. The first vocal number, Johnson's rather thin voice makes it a pleasent touch, but nothing special. He certainly has more skill at it than his contemporaries searching for similar success. By making his vocals the focal point, so to speak, his guitar work becomes a wonderful plethora of well-crafted lines, and the production, while thoroughly rooted in the late-Eighties sensibility, is nevertheless placed at the service of Johnson's literally huge tonal palette.
3.) Emerald Eyes
This is adult contemporary pop at its best. Beautiful guitar lines abound. Johnson turns out many a nice vocal line, with great basslines and cool guitar embellishments. The chorus is a little unintuitive, though: it may strike a few listeners as something that doesn't quite follow the verse properly. It's quite catchy though, featuring backing vocals from Prince's back-up singers. The solo here is very short; there is no evidence of the chopfest displays all over Ah Via Musicom. Nice stuff.
4.) Off My Mind
A more uptempo, rock-influenced number, this song is very cool, with wonderful verse chordwork. Johnson's guitars seem to be a little too sheeny for my tastes, here: all of his tones are incredibly sweet, but I've always felt that his quest for "perfect tone" is suprisingly narrow, because as with anything, certain styles demand certain sounds. This song could have benefited from heavier guitars given the tempo, feel, and general sound. The backing vocals here are great. The interlude and solo are very cool.
5.) Desert Song
This is an awesome, moody acoustic guitar piece with a lot of interesting dissonance, beautiful chords, and a great Middle Eastern vibe. There's an awesome classical vibe with some interesting fast passages. On the whole this is an interesting tack for Johnson, who is an accomplished acoustic player but who rarely displays it.
6.) Trail of Tears
There's another super cheesy synth percussion intro here that goes on too long, but the song, once it actually starts, is another up-tempo pop tune. The chorus is wonderfully catchy, and the solo is very emotional, and the outro has got a lot of cool feedback ambience. An album highlight.
7.) Bristol Shore
Probably the strongest vocal track on the album, this song features a lot of really nice chordal work, great lyrics, and a beautiful, dynamic feel. Johnson is excellent at making this song crescendo and playing really nice lines. The chorus is downright pretty, with great vocal lines. There is a great solo and koto-influenced guitar interlude, and a beautiful outro solo.
8.) Zap
Really high-quality, bluesy soloing abounds on this song, the only other electric-driven instrumental track. Johnson cranks the distortion way up on this one, and plays a zillion and a half notes, arranged in super-tasty ways, and takes a balls-to-the-wall solo after an extended bass solo. A great song to jam on, and a precursor to the chops displays on his next album. This remains a very exciting track, and this too is an album highlight.
9.) Victory
There's a lot of catchy, Hendrix-inspired chord work here with a lot of koto-inspired lines interspersed throughout and a super-tasty, orgasmic solo. Unfortunately, Johnson goes on for way too long at the end playing his little harp harmonic ambiences, and even though it's quite nice, I'd say that as far as closers go, this is a teeny bit weak.
A strong debut, this album screams "Eighties!" and it's very tasteful as far as things go. There's little here, other than "Zap," to really inspire a listener to actively listen, but it's a pleasent thing for when you're in the right mood. My lack of "summing up" is really a testament to the fact that the album doesn't give me many things to talk about, but if you're interested in hearing a different thing from a guitar virtuoso than blistering note after blistering note, pick this up.
3/5
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