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Ron Thal
THE ADVENTURES OF BUMBLEFOOT (Shrapnel 1995)
Produced, engineered, mixed, drum programming, bass guitars, groans, grunts and cover art by Ron Thal
Recorded in Thal's basement
I have to admit, I almost passed this one over:
Dumb title + cover art that looks like an 8 year old drew it + a back cover photo of Mr. Thal in thermal underwear holding a swiss cheese guitar = not promising
Nonetheless, I put it on - and after the first 15 seconds was reaching for the eject button (listen to the album, you'll understand) when WHAM - the music started. 50 minutes later I sat there in stunned disbelief - the album is a monster! Thal is a guitarist along the lines of Steve Vai or Joe Satriani - i.e. lots of speed and chops. What sets this disc apart, however, is the songs which are some of the most catchy hook-filled instrumentals you will ever hear. Tasty Queen-esque pop ("Scrapie"), jazzy ditties ("Blue Tongue"), acoustic pickin' blues ("Limberneck") , all in all 12 songs of varied style held together by the virtuoso performances (Thal plays all the instruments except for a few keyboards). And more hooks than a Peter Pan convention.
Seek this out at all costs - I'm sure it's in every cutout bin in the US and Canada.
Posted 20 June 2003
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