Weiner, Dave - Shove The Sun Aside

Year of Release: 2005
Label: Favored Nations
Catalog Number: FN24070-2
Format: CD
Total Time: 32:35:00

Shove The Sun Aside by Dave Weiner is a sometimes fusiony, guitar centric solo release. It's Weiner's debut and strong one at that. Having performed with Steve Vai over the last several years, (the story of how he met Vai is at his website; a tale of fortuitous luck), it comes as no surprise that Weiner's debut is on Vai's Favored Nations label (although the album was released a year earlier by MeyerJane Music LLC). Weiner can be heard on Vai's Alive In An Ultra World, and Live At The Astoria DVD, along with several G3 releases.

Joining Weiner (7-string electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, keys, programming) are Philip Bynoe (2, 4) and Graeme Rappaport on bass (6), and Virgil Donati (2) and Steve Wilson (3, 4, 6) on drums. Weiner's playing is direct, without a lot of unnecessarily frills and fills. His goal was to write songs, pieces that would stand on their own before adding guitar riffery. That approach pays off as there is little extraneous or extravagant embellishing here, but his guitar playing sings plenty enough. It's a short album, running a little over minutes,containing some rather cool stuff.

The album begins with the Pink Floyd-like spacey piece "Andonova." The most Floyd-like element is the guitar, a feeling that reappears again in "Shoving The Sun Aside." This then launches into the fiery-cool "Long Run." Fat bass lines and a heavy guitar chugging away in the background predominate this piece, leaving plenty of room for Weiner to solo, here arching and bending the notes. It's a groovy, upbeat, catchy piece. High energy and rocking. Donati easily matches the changes in tempo, able to throttle back when arrangement calls for it.

The crunchiest piece is the heavily fusiony "Monument Shine." This moment is more like cyclone passing through. It's a mix of dark heavy, fuzzed out passages and more lyrical and "lighter" melodic passages. Nice twin leads can be heard as well as Weiner accompanies himself.

"The Ghost Of Denmark St." shows another side; a lyrical, contemporary jazz-ish side. Even as the sweet and delicate lead lines are played over, at certain points, some dark 'n' dirty fuzzed guitar and driving percussion. It has a Latin-tango-esque feel to it as Weiner's fingers dance over the fretboard. It has a classic, warm feel to it - like a warm summer evening (which it nearly is as I write this).

"Tourmaline" is an instrumentally sparse but sonically rich piece, contrasting warm electric guitar against warm acoustic guitar in a mellow, somber, but not in the least sad or melancholy. The lead notes soar in a piece that is as multifaceted as the name implies - tourmaline is a crystalline mineral... and the sonic tone here is quite crystal... clear, that is.

The title track is a catchy, groovy number that recalls the "Long Run" in some respects, a churning rocker designed for highway driving - preferably in a convertible, top down. Quick runs, searing leads feature in this... well, tour-de-force piece. It easily swings without getting to heavy - or too light. Though Wilson is credited with drums, there are spots where it sure sounds like a drum machine was employed.

There is one final track, listed at 10, which is a brief guitar solo, played live...and from what Weiner says at the end, it sounds like it is he with Vai (perhaps on a G3 tour... G4, then?). (7-9 are just silent spacers).

Shoving The Sun Aside is cool and groovy album, with plenty of hookladen rhythms that will have it playing in your head long after the disc has stopped spinning. It's a guitar album, but not guitar-hog album.

Tracklisting:
Andonova / Long Run / Monument Shine / The Ghost Of Denmark St / Tourmaline / Shove The Sun Aside

Musicians:
Dave Weiner - 7-string electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, keys, programming
Philip Bynoe - bass (2, 4)
Graeme Rappaport - bass (6)
Virgil Donati - drums (2)
Steve Wilson (3, 4, 6) - drums

Discography:
Steve Vai - Alive In An Ultra World (2001)
G3 - Live - Rockin' In The Free World (2004)
Various - Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival (2004)
Dave Weiner - Shove The Sun Aside (2004/2005)
G3 - Live In Tokyo (2005)

Steve Vai - Live At The Astoria (2003) (DVD)
G3 - Live In Denver (2004) (DVD)
G3 - Live In Tokyo (2005) (DVD)

Genre: Rock

Origin US

Added: June 19th 2006
Reviewer: Stephanie Sollow
Score:
Artist website: www.daveweiner.com
Hits: 2960
Language: english