As UFO complete their final Tour in 2020, a year which also marks Vinnie Moore’s 17th year with the band there’s time for their guitar master to put out his ninth solo album since 1986. As a non guitarist I can sometimes find instrumental albums rather hard to digest but like Satriani and Vai and Gilbert there’s something about Vinnie Moore that I can relate to even though he’s not coming from the same place as any of those guys mentioned.
If anything for me Moore has always been more accessible and less cinematic relying more on emotional connection and crisp snapshots than grand constructions and epic meanderings. Indeed opening with the funky bluesy ‘Funk Bone Jam’ this is music you can dance to! And as the morning sunrise of ‘Same Sun Shines’ washes over you there’s immediateness and more funk in the upbeat ‘Kung Fu Grip’ where Vinnie lets the lead take the line where the vocals might have lodged.
Interestingly each though all of the songs are without lyrics there are a few words and exclamations scattered here and there and sometimes a guitar line or a space suggests where words might have been.
There are plenty of cool moments packed in here: the gentle slow build of ‘Mystified’ and its gentle and restful journey. And there’s more light moodiness and ‘blue sky’ exploration with ‘Brother Carlos’ and as you might imagine ‘Gainsville Station’ takes you on a funk tinged Southern fried ride that recalls The Allmans in full flight;’Soul Rider’ too hints at imaginary Westerns before it starts to seek out the sun.
Moore has produced something that is actually quite difficult to do here – a guitar album that keeps it moving and fails to drag, sure it may not be as all enveloping as Vai or Satriani but in the fluid and transformative ‘Mirage’, the mournfulness of ‘Heard You Were Gone’ and the epic rock landscape of closer ‘Across The Ages’ Moore proves he’s more than worthy of being mentioned in the same breath.
