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Lyle Workman — Uncommon Measures
(Blue Canoe BC1458, 2021, CD / LP)

by Jon Davis, Published 2022-04-13

Uncommon Measures Cover art

Lyle Workman has been an in-demand session guitarist for many years, and has scored dozens of movies and TV shows; both sides of his career come together on Uncommon Measures, which is his fourth solo release. The album is packed full of skilled guitar playing in nearly every possible style, from country finger-picking to fusion shredding, and he’s clearly a master of his instrument. All of the tracks are lushly orchestrated with full symphonic backing, along with a rhythm section that includes such luminaries as Toss Panos, Matt Chamberlain, Vinnie Colaiuta, and more. After listening a couple of times, my opinion of the music began to solidify, and I checked out some of the existing reviews out on the internet. They are almost universally gushing about his guitar work and brilliant orchestrations, highlighting all he’s learned from doing soundtracks. I’ll just come out and say that this album leaves me almost completely unmoved. Sure, it’s impressive that he can handle all the various guitar styles, and there are occasional flashes of fusiony fire, but I find the orchestrations so trite as to be annoying. They do sound exactly like Hollywood soundtrack music, but it’s the kind of music that I’d complain about after seeing the movie. I know a lot of people love this kind of stuff, but not me. Put Workman in front of an all-star band on a club stage with a nice sound system, and I might enjoy these tunes, but as it stands I’d just as soon move on to something I enjoy more.

Filed under: New releases, 2021 releases

Related artist(s): Toss Panos, Lyle Workman

More info
http://www.bluecanoerecords.com/uncommon_measures.html

 

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