Rudess, Jordan - Rhythm Of Time


Year of Release: 2004
Label: Magna Carta
Catalog Number: MA-9068-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 60:23:00

Jordan Rudess is probably most known for his role as keyboard player of Dream Theater, but his record outside Dream Theater is even more impressive! He played with the likes of Annie Haslam (Renaissance), David Bowie, Jan Hammer, Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Tony Levin and many more. That he is a versatile player, is shown by the fact he even played with Latino singer Enrique Iglesias! And he has several solo albums, the last one, 4NYC, dating back to 2002.

Rudess had many new ideas for a solo album, but no time, as he was on tour with Dream Theater. So, he locked himself in his studio for 14 days straight. No phone, no email, no human contact, save for the nightly meals his wife Danielle brought him. The result is Rhythm Of Time, an album, as Rudess himself says, is a good representation of his musical mind. 8 very varied songs, with guest appearances by Joe Satriani, Vinnie Moore, Greg Howe, Steve Morse and Dave LaRue (on bass). Long time pal Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs) played drums and Kip Winger sang on two songs.

Nice line up and the album fully lives up to expectations. It has a consistent sound and yet no song sounds like the other. What I like most of all is the fact that the keyboards are not dominating, but are perfectly in balance with the rest of the music. Working with a good foundation (Morgenstein & LaRue), Rudess lays out his spacey synths and his down to earth piano play. Songs like "Time Crunch" and "Screaming Heads," are pretty straight forward rock songs. "Insectsamongus," is a more playful song, with some fusion influences and mainly keys. My absolute favorite song of the album is "Beyond Tomorrow," as this is just a great song. A ballad, with beautiful vocals by Kip Winger. The piano play by Rudess here is really nice and gives some rest after the previous songs. With 9:55 this is also the longest song on the album, which halfway turns into an epic instrumental, with excellent guitar play by Greg Howe.

On "Bar Hopping With Mr. Picky," Dave LaRue gets some lead time, with his superb bass play. Another standout song is "Ra," again with weird synths and nice heavy guitar riffs by new talent Daniel J, who is introduced on this album. So far he performs very well on the album! The songs has some vague middle-eastern sounds in it, but is worked out very nicely. The album closes with another beautiful ballad, "Tear Before The Rain," which reminded me a bit of that end scene in Blade Runner, with the music by Vangelis, although Rudess only adds a hint to this piece in it, as Kip Winger comes back in and the songs is basically piano and vocals. Simple, but beautiful.

14 days locked away from the world has done Jordan Rudess a lot of good, as it brought forth a very good album. One which I enjoyed playing and will play more in the future! And I think then you have produced a good album, if the listener wants to hear it more often after the first spin! Mr. Rudess, thank you for this music and may you lock yourself up more often!

[This review originally appeared October 2004 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]


Tracklisting:
Time Crunch (6:28) / Screaming Head (7:19) / Insects Among Us (9:33) / Beyond Tomorrow (9:56) / Bar Hopping With Mr. Picky (4:37) / What Four (6:50) / Ra (7:54) / Tear Before the Rain (9:06) / Behind the Rhythm of Time [CD-ROM Track]

Musicians:
Jordan Rudess - keyboards, background vocals
Bert Baldwin - background vocals
John Guth - acoustic guitar
Greg Howe - guitar
Daniel J. - guitar
Dave LaRue - bass
Vinne Moore - guitar
Rod Morgenstein - drums
Steve Morse - guitar
Bill Ruyle - tabla
Joe Satriani - guitar
Kip Winger - vocals and background vocals

Discography:
Speedway Blvd. - Speedway Blvd. (1981)
Arrival (1988)
Vinnie Moore - Time Odyssey (1988)
Tom Coster - Did Jah Miss Me? (1989)
Listen (1993)
Annie Haslem - Blessing In Disguise (1994)
Various - Romscape (1995)
Noirin Ni Riain - Celtic Soul (1996)
Various - Steinway To Heaven (1996)
Kip Winger - This Conversation Seems Like A Dream (1997)
Secrets Of The Muse (1997)
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment (1998)
Jupiter Lee - Jupiter Project (1998)
Liquid Tension Experiment - Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (1999)
A Christmas Carol (1999)
Rudess/Morgenstein Project - Rudess/Morgenstein Project (1999)
Resonance (1999)
Rhonda Larson - Free As A Bird (1999)
Various - Encores, Legends & Paradox - A Tribute To ELP (1999)
Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory (2000)
Paul Winter And The Earth Band - Journey With The Sun (2000)
Feeding The Wheel (2001)
John Petrucci And Jordan Rudess - An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess (2001/2004)
Rudess/Morgenstein Project - The Official Bootleg (2001)
Dream Theater - Live Scenes From New York (2001)
McGill/Manring/Stevens - Addition By Subtraction (2001)
Prefab Sprout - The Gunman And Other Stories (2001)
John Bollenberg Experience - If Only Stones Could Speak (2001)
4NYC (2002)
Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Christmas Sky (2002) (from website only)
Dream Theater - Train Of Thought (2003)
Dream Theater - Live At Budokan (2004)
Rhythm Of Time (2004)
Dream Theater - Octavarium (2005)
Dream Theater - Score (2006)
Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (2007)
The Road Home (2007)
Dream Theater - Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (2008)
Notes On A Dream (2009)
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)
Dream Theater - Dream Theater (2013)
Dream Theater - Live At Luna Park (2013)
All That Is Now (2013)
Explorations For Keyboard & Orchestra (2014)
Dream Theater - Breaking The Fourth Wall - Live From The Boston Opera House (2014)
The Unforgotten Path (2015)
Dream Theater - The Astonishing (2016)
Dream Theater - Distance Over Time (2019)
Wired For Madness (2019)

Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York (DVD) (2001)
Live At Budokan (DVD) (2004)
Score (DVD) (2006)
Chaos In Motion (DVD) (2008)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin US

Added: May 29th 2005
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.jordanrudess.com
Hits: 2100
Language: english

  

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