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| Jordan Rudess - Rhythm Of Time |
 Released: 2004 Label: Magna Carta Cat. No.: 9068 Total Time: 60:23 (plus multimedia track) | |
Reviewed by: Marcel Haster, October 2004 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! PPO Rating: 8/10 [This review originally appeared at the ProgPower Online review site; see also Clayton's and Keith's reviews -ed.] More about Rhythm Of Time: Track Listing: 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: Contact: Website: www.jordanrudess.com Discography Solo:
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