Music Reviews - P
John Petrucci - Suspended Animation (2005)
Review by Derek Hale, added Oct 26/07.
Guitar virtuosity has a long and proud history in American popular music. Allmusic.com reviewer Robert L. Doerschuk has stated, “Apparently nothing–not punk, not grunge, nor any other movement based on the virtues of either economy or primitivism–can kill the guitar god. There’s just too much mythology woven into the idea of the nimble-fingered whiz standing heroically and playing faster than anyone outside of the Berklee School could imagine.” What critics like Doerschuk (and so many like him) fail to consider is that the concept of “guitar gunslinger” did not begin with Steve Vai or Eddie Van Halen. Nor did it begin with Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton or even Jimi Hendrix. The lineage of guitar shredding goes back much further, to the pioneering guitar work of Jimmy Bryant, Scotty Moore, Chet Atkins, and Les Paul. Even the rockabilly classic “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets contains a wild, shredding electric guitar solo by session musician Danny Cedrone. Although the guitar shredders of today are louder and their techniques more refined, it is a myth that the whole guitar shredding ethos began in the 1980s.
Guitarist John Petrucci and his band Dream Theater came onto the scene in the early 1990s–a sorry time for rock guitar shredders if ever there was one. Grunge was in and technical ability on one’s instrument was out. How Dream Theater ever managed to survive and thrive in such an environment is a remarkable achievement. Thrive they did and Petrucci’s legacy as one of the guitar greats of the 1990s is secure.
In 2005 Petrucci released his first solo album, Suspended Animation. Surprisingly, the music on the disc sounds very little like Dream Theater. Petrucci lists many “Steve’s and Al’s” as his earliest musical influences: Vai, di Meola, Morse, Lifeson, Howe, Holdsworth, Vaughan. The music on Suspended Animation bears a striking resemblance to Steve Morse’s music with the (Dixie) Dregs, if Morse fell in love with a tremolo bar and pumped a 7-string guitar through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier.
The disc opens with the 7-string riffing of “Jaws of Life.” The tune provides a great display for some serious low riffing by Petrucci and a very Mike Portnoy-esque drum performance by Dave DiCenso. “Glasgow Kiss” is very reminiscent of the Dregs but with a harder edge. “Tunnel Vision” offers Petrucci in a more experimental mode with drummer Tony Verderosa providing excellent support on acoustic and electronic drums.
Track number four, entitled “Wishful Thinking,” is the album’s first ballad. Petrucci “sings” the song’s melody beautifully throughout the tune in rock guitar ballad style that is very reminiscent of Steve Vai (”For the Love of God”) or Joe Satriani (”Always With Me, Always With You”). At the end of the tune, however, Petrucci settles into a groove and cuts loose with several minutes of jaw-dropping soloing.
“Damage Control” is the emotional center of the album. The song is a nine-minute opus that goes through many different moods. Imagine a mashup of one of Steve Vai’s guitar ballads, a smidgen of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “Vital Transformation,” and Steve Morse’s solo on “Cruise Missile” and you have a good idea. The track ends sweetly with a restatement of the song’s main theme.
Track six is called “Curve,” although it may as well have been called “Petrucci imitates Steve Vai.” Easily the least interesting song on the album.
“Lost Without You” is guitar ballad number two on the album. The tune features a bit of a Stevie Ray Vaughan influence.
The final track, “Animate-Inanimate,” sounds the most like a missing Dream Theater track. The tune is full of swirling guitars, electric sitars, and changes in mood. At 11 1/2 minutes, it is also the longest track on the disc.
Robert L. Doerschuk is correct…nothing can kill the “guitar god.” Grunge is dead. Punk is dead. Boy bands drool. Long live the guitar shredder!
4 stars.
