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Alliance — Alliance
((Not on label) no#, 1991, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 1994-10-01

Alliance Cover art Alliance appears to be a group of musicians (while maybe not a band as such) working together in various combinations to produce the music on this disc, around the core of John Fahey (keyboards and predominant writer - no, not the famous Coca-Cola drinking guitarist) and Larry Lang (bass and guitars). Joe Morris contributes saxes on most of the tracks. While most of the music here falls into a category somewhere between instrumental rock and synth-based new-age pop, many of the tracks never really get off the ground, they just start and go on and on and eventually overstay their welcome. One track that does shine is "Gotham" — the only vocal track on the disc — with plenty of changes and impressive guitar soloing by Jon Jacquemoud, yet this song — at eight-plus minutes, is still essentially pop at heart, and Stan Roberts' vocals are merely OK. "Fanfare" has some good, yet poorly executed ideas, and — like most of the tracks on the album — it's marred by cheesy, very-digital sounding synths and sloppy production, yet here again, Jacquemoud's solo shines. The closing track "Virtual Reality" has plenty of power, but overall, I find most of the music on the disc either boring or annoying, with few exceptions.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 5, 1991 releases

Related artist(s): Alliance

 

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