Review Summary: Holdsworth's incredible lead playing finally gets the musical backdrop it really needs.
Whilst few would doubt Allan Holdsworth's incredible ability as a guitar player, and while he appeared in many good projects in his time, his solo material has always felt like it was "almost there". A slight issue with the delivery, or an out-of-character moment of cheese, or some unnecessary vocal parts. Towards the end of the 80s these issues were diminishing as by Secrets his material was much tighter in execution and was starting to lean towards a slightly more mysterious sound, foreshadowed by tracks like Tokyo Dream.
Wardenclyffe Tower is the culmination of Holdsworth finally nailing the tone for his material. The synthaxe parts no longer feel like distracting unnatural elements, but are instead a well integrated and crucial part of the sound. His leads and solos are tasteful and as wondrous and mind-bending as ever. Most crucially, the songs are arranged in a way that enhances his inherent strengths; wandering, ethereal, beautiful, and not really peaceful or ever letting up on the tension.
The opener
5 to 10 is probably a major contender for being the all-time best Holdsworth track, along with City Nights, Letters of Marque, 0274 and Spheres of Innocence. Despite a fairly long build up to his enthralling lead work, built heavily around straining vocalised vibrato bends, the track seems to go by in a flash, with its unpredictable progression and complex harmonic structure making every second feel vital. Speaking of Spheres of Innocence, it soon follows and provides a much less groovy tone, instead feeling stretched and as though it struggles to find its feet (not in the sense that it's poorly arranged, moreso the character of the track), and by the time Holdsworth's solo comes in the second half, the feel of the track reaches a brilliant sense of danger and foreboding. Aiding the track heavily is the use of the synthaxe, which is used for large, wide chords (Holdsworth notably used a double neck guitar to play parts from this album live, with one neck using an extended range 5ths tuning from a low Meshuggah-F to a standard high E); the usually conspicuous instrument instead sits subtly in the backdrop and provides much of the foreboding feel to counterpoint the gentler, fragile standard guitars. The title track feels like a culmination of these ideas, but adds some heavier elements and a slower pace, and ends up feeling like a relief from the gradually darkening tone of the first two tracks.
The mid-section of the album has a more upbeat tone and is somewhat less impressive than the start, but has its highlights. Continuing from the less oppressive title track does
Dodgy Boat, which is somewhat less obtuse and more uplifting, with several lead and synth parts developing catchy, rockier melodies.
Zarabeth breaks the more upbeat tone down again for a tense track similar to the opener, with more overtly dissonant lead parts, and works well as a more direct showcase of Allan's faster and more frenzied lead playing, as opposed to a longer atmospheric piece. This works well, thanks to all the work from the earlier tracks setting an overall tone for the album.
Against the Clock is the obvious low point of the album because it features vocals, and it feels like it breaks the tonal cohesion of the album. The vocals themselves are fine, but don't serve the track well at all, and as soon as they depart proceedings the track manages to climb back up to the high quality of the rest of the album.
Questions is one of the best tracks here, despite the rather less subtle synth parts, thanks to its better combination of groove and Holdsworth's complex harmonic choices. In many ways it's a strict upgrade of
Dodgy Boat, with the same tighter feel with a darker and slightly less cheesy tone.
Oneiric Moor is a classic mini-instrumental closer, but serves an important purpose of resolving the album with a gradual relief of the tension.
Ditching the jammier feel of earlier releases and taking the necessary time to develop the tone of the tracks results in Wardenclyffe Tower being an easy top-offering from Holdsworth. Simultaneously beautiful and frenzied, mysterious and oppressive, it proves that he could use his incredible instrumental talent to good use in a solo project, and at its essence it seems to provide everything people like about his sound without any major fluff to inhibit its overall function as an album.
