Year of Release: 2006
Label: Dinosaurus Records
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 64:01:00
Those who have long followed the work of any half-decent reviewer of rock music are sooner or later bound to know the one axiom of guitar albums: they rarely succeed. The law is in fact so well-known that it becomes almost kitsch for below-average critics to rag on guitar heroes just because they're expected to and can get away with it. That's right, the theoretical album could be the lost jewel of the Nile, and most reviewers who do not work for a guitar magazine or similar outlets will kill it anyway. But not here, ladies and gentlemen. No siree. And it ain't because we're special, or because you're special, although you are. It's because it appears that it took David Wright a long time before he could put his Dajinosaurus album together, and he deserves a fair shot. Let's give it to the man.
Well, for starters, Wright is not one of those God-awful speed demons who become either random-tone generators or scale sequencers as soon as the gun goes off. Thank God. We all know that we don't need another one of those. Unfortunately, however, his guitar soloing does seem to lack a bit of direction here and there, which becomes apparent once the listener gets to the middle of the opening "Time Constraint." While the individual pieces of Wright's guitar fancies have some rather meaty moments on occasion, they simply lack continuity between themselves. In fact, this guitarist's faster moments are at their best when used for dexterous arrangements of a shorter duration, such as in "Chess" and the blistering and more Steve Morse-like "This To This To." And that's that for the soloing. Here's the rest of the package:
While never offensive or truly bland, the instrumentals on Dajinosaurus lack a certain joie de vivre that, save for the aforementioned "This To This To" and perhaps the charming sweetness of "Barbars Kingdom," seems to be sorely needed. There simply isn't anything truly spectacular to point out. Ah, well. That's not entirely true. "This To This To" is pretty damn rocking, which you can probably deduce from the fact that I've already written about it thrice. And the Steve Buscemi-like comedy of the subsequent "Club Owner Comment" is simply brilliant. I never get tired of it, and chances are not many others will either. Otherwise, however, it's pretty much as by-the-book mid-tempo fusion as it gets.
Same goes for Jim Bove and Nob Kinukawa, who competently back up Wright's efforts and provide the intermittent morsel of tasty activity here and there, but not much else. And true, one could partially blame the bland production of the record or the unfortunate choice of MIDI sounds that don't quite cut it, but the true reason why Dajinosaurus will go by largely unheeded is its instrumentals. While there are nice little details like upward chromatic sequences and interesting chord swells scattered throughout, it ends up feeling like one is listening to the same track over and over again by the end. Certainly not an execrable outing in the realms of guitar music, but nothing to call your friends about either, David Wright's debut is simply a rather commonplace affair by today's standards, and thus a likely casualty of the numbers game. Let's wait and see if the tide changes next time around.
Tracklisting:
Time Constraint (6:22) / Falls Dance (5:36) / Early Phrase Intro (0:52) / Early Phrase (4:20) / Thob (Tears For Friends Intro) (1:24) / Tears For Friends (4:29) / ILD Intro (Live) (0:29) / ILD (4:59) / GC Intro (Bar Noise) (0:14) / GC (7:27) / Chess (5:41) / Bedtime Bridges Intro (2:08) / Bedtime Bridges (5:32) / Piggasaurus (This To… Intro) (0:25) / This To This To (5:15) / Club Owner Comment (0:44) / Barbars Kingdom (0:44) / Improv I (1:53) / Improv II (1:56)
Musicians:
David Wright - guitar, MIDI guitar
Nob Kinukawa – MIDI bass, piccolo bass
Jim Bove - drums
Discography:
Dajinosaurus (2006)
Genre: Fusion-Jazz Fusion
Origin US
