To (sort of) quote an interview with Robert Steven Silverstein, Jimmy Ryan’s Astral Cafe is Zappa playing Strauss – especially during the tune “Skydance.” Or, perhaps, in some weird time warped alternative universe, Johann Strauss is playing Frank Zappa.
And then, in that weird universe, they both confess a fondness for Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Robin Trower, Jimi Hendrix, and that collective entity – known and loved by all – as Canadian prog super rockers, Rush.
By the way, Astral Cafe is a rock-guitar lover’s goldmine. Illinois guy Jimmy Ryan grooves on a sonic pursuit of an electric Eden. Brother Johnny pulses a sympathetic and always melodic sibling bass, while drummer Dan van Schindel propels the deep and perfect pulse of the album.
Three of the initial four songs are instrumentals. “Starlord,” “Shatterbrain,” and the lovely “Earthrise” really do conjure the tough melodic drama of (my blessed!) Wishbone Ash, circa There’s the Rub and No Smoke Without Fire, with both the smoke and fire of Laurie Wisefield’s epic guitar workouts. Indeed, these songs do “see red!” And, of course the sound of (the brilliant) Andy Powell is in there, too.
Ditto for the later and quite brief song, “Dreadhulk,” which is (sort of, again!) a stairway to guitar-rock heaven. Then, guitar fanatics get a deep rocking cover of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads.” Jimmy Ryan’s vocals are soulful and urgent, while the band takes a much more “slow hand” pulse, in contrast to Cream’s quick paced passion. Then there’s an extended and quite heavenly wah-wah solo that does funny things to any willing cerebral cortex.
For avid guitar lovers, things get even more interesting: “Skydance” is catchy like a clever and endlessly wonderful Steve Hackett instrumental workout. Big complement, there. This is followed by another instrumental, “Black Ice,” that gets all wobbly with guitar gymnastics – and again, evokes the complex intensity of Wishbone Ash. Then “I’m Ready” gets hard-rock heavy and simply grinds behind a tough Jimmy Ryan vocal that “drinks the gin” of the song’s bluesy rock ‘n’ roll, proofed barely legal from a copper-sainted still.
Next is the beautiful “Dulcinea,” which is a hymn to Jimmy’s wife, who patiently understood his desire to tilt windmills and find some sort of rock music holy grail. It’s a loving tribute. And, by the way, Jimmy Ryan has over a lifetime been his own man, with countless albums and several Grammy nominations that qualifies him to claim citizenship in Sir Ray Davies’ Kinkdom, a place where it’s important to sing (thank you, brother, Dave!), “I’m Not Like Everybody Else.”
There’s more interesting stuff. “Berserker” visits tough progressive rock that spins into the universe with rock solid fusion that’s not unlike the great Pekka Pohjola on his album (and I write this only to send my brand-new computer’s spell-check into lunar orbit), Katkavaaran Lohikaarme. And, just so you know, the tune certainly puts the “astral” into this album’s “café” menu. Then, “Plectrumelectrum” greets Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” and those old “dancing days,” yet somehow, it still plays a pretty great and quite original poker hand.
“Celestial Voice” is a beautiful thank you to Rush (Neil Peart in particular) for all their great music. Sometimes, any true rock band just needs to say, “Amen.” And finally, “Quiet Flight” is another instrumental that fades into a never-ending and ever melodically bulgingm, always-patient guitar-laden and epic sunset sound that evokes a warm dramatic wah-wah blues vibe rock ‘n’ roll rock ‘n’ rolling pathos.
Or something like that. As the immortal Stan Lee of Marvel Comics fame often informed his worldwide fanbase, indeed, that’s just about “’nuff said.”
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