Eric Johnson-Ah Via Musicom
Eric Johnson is…
Eric Johnson-Vocals, Guitar
It really doesn’t matter who plays anything else, because he is the band.
This album is usually talked about as Eric Johnson’s best one by far, and I must agree. Everything about it screams “Great!” Eric Johnson is a guitar virtuoso, but he can also sing in a petite little voice that fits in with the stuff he plays. He sings much more than other guitar virtuosos, which I think is interesting because people who want to listen to pop music will not buy his albums, and people who play guitar just want to hear him play guitar. Any who, I will review this album in my normal fashion, while listening to it again. I’ve heard it all the way through 15 times if Itunes is correct, but one more time won’t hurt.
1)
Ah Via Musicom- This is a strange, two minute song of odd noises and sounds. It really just leads up to the next song on the album; therefore I will not rate for it is not truly a track of its own.
2)
Cliffs Of Dover- Oh boy, here we go. This is Eric Johnson’s magnum opus, Cliffs Of Dover. It starts out with Ah Via Musicom’s strange noises that end in a quick bash of the lowest string of the guitar, and then straight into a minor-scale riff that is one of the fastest and most emotional pieces of guitar playing I’ve ever heard. From then on out it is a normal instrumental rock song, with the drums and bass coming in after the intro riff and the guitar playing almost vocal-sounding leads. It ends with a more major key guitar line, also blisteringly fast. Amazing song.
5/5
3)
Desert Rose- The first of Eric Johnson’s singing tracks, it starts out with a nice, catchy guitar part. Then it moves into a standard, mid-tempo rock song with E.J. singing in his high voice through the verses and through a memorable chorus. Then, of course, comes the guitar solo. Breathtaking, especially live. But this isn’t his live album, so I’ll stick to what he does on this record. Just more mind-numbingly fast and somehow emotional playing. Towards the end of the song he does a “duet” style thing with the guitar, where he’ll sing a line and then play a response with the guitar. This song ends with another solo, where the guitar sounds like a saxophone in some parts. His virtuosity really shines through in this song.
4.5/5 (The guitar solo gets it an extra .5)
4)
High Landrons- This song starts off with a flanged guitar, but with the flanger set in a way so that it sounds like a toilet flushing. Not my favorite intro. Eric also sings in this song. The lyrics are never anything special, just your standard love song lyrics. Except for the word landrons, which the person he is singing to is apparently taking him to. Not sure what that means. This song really pushes his vocal range, and his ability to play different lines on the guitar than what he is singing. And guess what else this song has? You guessed it. A guitar solo! It starts with a pentatonic ascending riff, and ends with a pentatonic descending riff. The song ends with more of that toilet flushing sound after a little bridge that involves the guitar banging on some chords. Another good song from Eric.
4/5
5)
Steve’s Boogie- This song was written in the style of some guitar player whose name escapes me right now, but the minute I remember it I will leave a comment about it. Steve’s Boogie starts off with Eric doing a little chicken-picking descending line and moves into a little country song with the drums and bass serving as your standard country rhythm section. Some keyboards are also thrown in in the background of this track. No vocals on this song, but it really doesn’t need them. It’s just some fast country style guitar playing for a little under two minutes. Doesn’t stand out, but a nice track.
3.5/5
6)
Trademark- Another one of Eric’s crowning achievements, Trademark is the ultimate in cool jazz songs along with Take Five and a few others. It’s starts with some clean guitar riffing, which sounds almost like someone singing because it is so melodic. But there are no vocals in the song. It moves into a more distorted guitar sound with another clean line backing it up, which sounds cool. Another guitar comes into the mix in the background playing some chords that are lowered by a whammy bar being used. Truly a cool song, you have to hear it to know what it really sounds like. No words can describe it. So pretty much the same as Cliffs Of Dover. Except not as good.
5/5
7)
Nothing Can Keep Me From You- This song starts off with Eric singing with his average lyrics and great guitar skills. The chorus of this song is extremely catchy and will get stuck in your head if you listen to it a couple times. There’s a guitar that comes in after Eric goes, “Yeah!” and it adds to the song in a good way. The song has a bridge that is based on the chorus in the middle, also pretty catchy. From there it goes into another guitar solo that sounds like a voice. That goes for two minutes, then the song is over. Solid track.
4/5
8)
Song For George- Here’s a cool little song. A short acoustic guitar solo is all this one is, no other instruments playing. It’s in an open tuning, and sounds downright western, like something you would hear while the cowboys are riding into the sunset in the end of a movie. It ends with a chord strum.
4/5
9)
Righteous- Another cool song, this one starts off with a very catchy guitar riff that sounds almost like a harmonica. The tones Eric gets out of his guitar are absolutely astounding and work perfectly with the songs. There are no vocals in this one. All his best songs seem to have no vocals. The harmonica toned guitar dies away and leads into a more distorted guitar solo which is reminiscent of the intro to Cliffs Of Dover. So of course it’s good. Now an actual harmonica comes in, which is doubled by guitar. That continues to the end. A great, fast-paced bluesy track.
4.5./5
10)
Forty Mile Town- This song is a slower paced one that has a weird noise intro. That leads into some more mediocre lyrics with Eric singing them, and an ok guitar riff. Not very memorable at all. That leads into a backwards guitar riff towards the end, with E.J. singing the same thing over and over. It ends with the beginning riff. The worst song on the album, but it’s still OK, which is the amazing thing.
3/5
11)
[East Wes- This song sounds just like something you would hear on your local smooth jazz radio station. There is nothing special about it in any way, but it is still a cool jazz track. No vocals, just solid tube-amped guitar through the whole thing playing some blues/jazz based riffs. No real chorus or anything, so that takes away from it a little. A nice, slow finish to a very good album
3.5/5
In conclusion, this album is Eric Johnson’s best, and you too will agree after hearing them all. I recommend this to all fans of…anything, really. There’s a little bit for everyone on hear, from the poppy Nothing Can Keep From You to the all out guitar showboating display of Cliffs Of Dover. I really hope whoever reads this will check out this album, because it is excellent.
Pros:
1) Great songwriting
2) Cliffs Of Dover
3) Amazing guitar ability showcased throughout
Cons:
1) The Lyrics
2) Some songs can get repetitive or old very fast.
