Rising Force
X
Jan 3, 1995
In the spirit of anniversaries celebrated by the Hardrock and Breaking the
Chains digests, I'm happy to say we've reached a milestone 10th issue, and
this is our 1 year anniversary. There are about 150 of us, and growing
steadily.
Thanks to all who sent postcards. I think there was some miscommunication
though, as I got a few birthday cards, and all I wanted was to fill my
office with pictures of faraway places (To those who asked, I'm 24). But
I'm grateful to all who sent something, and if you're wonderring why I
asked for your physical address, it's because you guys will receive a copy
of the Rising Force Collection.
The Collection is a 90-min tape of various neoclassical metal instrumentals
that I've accumulated over the years. I've left out the obvious, like
Yngwie, and Shrapnel recordings (though I've put in cool pieces from
otherwise non-neoclassical Shrapnel compilations). I was hoping to have it
done for the holidays, but instead winding up only having time to do it
during the holidays.
To those who'd like a copy - you may still send me picturesque postcards
from your location, and I will send the tapes out as I have time to dub
them. If you feel like defraying my costs (150 tapes+postage, especially
since there's a LOT of international subscribers could get expensive), you
may also send a donation. Any amount received, in any currency, will be
the next tape to go out (I'll also put it on a high-bias cassette). But
the only thing required is a postcard with your address.
Once again, write me at:
Igor Sinyak
540 Mansion Park Dr #203
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Meanwhile, I'm happy to report that I've gotten in touch with Mike Varney
of Shrapnel Records - hopefully he'll be a great source for this digest.
--Shrapnel News----
From: Mike Varney
I was very pleased to hear from you. As you may know I've just released
what I feel is the best MacAlpine album to come along in years, called
_Introspection_. My tribute to Deep Purple is just being released with
songs featuring Malmsteen, MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, John
Norum, Reb Beach and more. I think fans of hot guitar will go wild over
this release. If you have any questions for me in the future, let me
know. Also, don't miss the new solo album from James Byrd. It is simply
one of the coolest LPs for fans of Uli and Yngwie influenced playing.
From: Nate [email protected]>
I just picked up Marty Friedman's new release _Introduction_. He has
Brian BecVar doing piano/keys and Nick Menza doing drums. I am not very
musically literate so I can't really determine types well but I would say
that it is very Classical/New Agish. It has alot of guitar, keys, paino.
There is an excellent piano part in song 5 Lune I believe about three
minutes into it. The album has a slow to meduim tempo.
From alt.rock-n-roll.metal: [email protected]>
The Deep Purple tribute CD is titled _Smoke on the Water---A
Tribute_, and there's only one mention of the group that is being paid
tribute to: "special thanks to Deep Purple for the incredible music."
But the title is probably so American fans will recognize it more easily
than the name of the group itself! I was waiting for this album with
apprehension, since it could've been a total flop, but my hope that it
would be the best tribute album out this year was realized.
Every song is great! Yeh, maybe I'm biased being a Purple fan, but
every musician has put in a lot of effort and played well. The guitar
playing is what strikes me the most, starting off with Speed King.
Yngwie Malmsteen lives up to the name of the song in this one. People
who criticise him for whatever reasons should try to do some of the
stuff he does before they speak. While the guitar playing is
magnificient and highlighted well, the keyboards (Jens Johansson, who
did all the keyboards for the CD) are drowned which bugged me, since
the song is about the keyboard/guitar tussle. Kelly Keeling does a
decent job on the vocals. Still, it falls short of the any of the
live Purple versions, IMO. I would like to Malmsteen as a guitarist
for Purple though, after hearing this version. Space Truckin' is with
Kip Winger on vocals. I was dreading this, given Winger's image, but
again it turns out really well. I like the guitar by Tony MacAlpine
and the keyboards rule on this one.
Stormbringer by Hughes storms; definitely one of the better covers,
along with Speed King! Great screaming, guitar (John Norum), and
keyboards. This is a great song and I hope to be doing a cover of it
soon. Ritchie Kotzen adds a cool new twist to Rat Bat Blue, both in
terms of singing and playing the guitar! Yngwie Malmsteen is a bit
slower on this one, but it still sounds excellent. Joe Lynn Turner
does a decent job on the vocals and the keyboards sound great too.
Maybe I'm Leo rocks; obscured by other classes in Machine Head, this
stands out in this tribute album. Paul Gilbert's voice and playing
comes out rather faithfully with a decent amount of self-indulgent
guitar work. Smoke on the Water sounds remarkably like the studio
version (the solo is copied almost note for note), with Robert Mason
on the vocals and Russ Parish (who also does most of the rhythm
guitar) on the guitar. Again, good keyboards here. Fireball is a
fast moving song and that feel is captured in this cover with Don
Dokken on vocals (I think Coverdale should've sung on this one) and
with Reb Beach on lead guitar. This really shreds, especially the
middle part of the song. Jeff Scott Soto does a remarkable rendition
of Hush. In terms of vocals, Tony Harnell is probably the worst in
Woman from Tokyo. But the guitar playing by Vinnie Moore makes up for
it, IMO.
The drumming (Deen Castronovo) is pretty solid all througout and
so's the bass (Todd Jensen). If these guys ever decide to go on tour,
I'd go see them! So there a lot of good songs, a few bad covers... what
makes this tribute the best? For one, at least a couple of the people
here (Yngwie Malmsteen/Glenn Hughes) are among THE best at what they
do. The selection of songs showcases the diversity of Deep Purple's
music---they use songs made by different lineups. Besides the songs
done by the standard Mark II lineup, this CD includes Hush (Mark I),
and Stormbringer (Mark III). And finally, the music is incredible!
What a group! I feel an incredible rush of emotion when I listen to
the CD (I've listened to it over 10 times and I got it this
afternoon).
--Yngwie News----
From: Iwao [email protected]>
I just got _I Can't Wait_, which contains 5 songs "I Can't Wait",
"Aftermath" "Rising Force"(live from Japan), "Far Beyond the Sun"(live
from Japan), "Power and Glory" - these are new songs recorded at Fort
Lauderdale ealier this month. You can get the EP through an import store.
And there is his book in Japan called _100% Yngwie Malmsteen_.
From Hard Rock: Tim [email protected]>
There's a bonus track on the Japanese release of _Seventh Sign_ called
"Angel In Heat" with Yngwie on lead vocals. I think it was recorded live
about a year ago during Yngwie's mini-tour that preceded the release of
7S.
--Yngwie Concert Review---
From: Nigel [email protected]>
RPM club in Toronto, Nov 5.
After standing out in the drizzling rain for an hour, we managed to get
a great spot right at the front of the stage. (The right side of course)
Like everyone else's reports, Yngwie does have about 2 or 3 chins, but
the fat award this night had to go to singer Mike Vescera, who's spare
tire prominently stuck out of his spandex shorts and black vest
combination. Yngwie was pretty intense this night, and the couple of
bottles of wine that he drank during the show probably helped a lot too!
Here was the set list, although I can't remember the full order. "Never
Die", "Rising Force", "Bad Blood", "Far Beyond the Sun": this had the
usual intro of Pagannini's 4th Concerto and opening solo from "Icarus
Dream Suite". "Pyramid of Cheops": during this song, he played a
low-tuned Flying V Gibson guitar. He let the band play solo for about 10
minutes, in which the bassist, keyboard, and drummer took turns soloing
in a neat fusion piece. The bassist was pretty incredible, he played a
6-string and used his fingers instead of pick. (I thought Yngwie hated
bassists who played with their hands???) After this, the audience got a
suprise when Yngwie jumped into a full version of "Evil Eye", and then
went into his guitar solo, in which he also played and sang Hendrix's
"Red House". Another suprise song of the night was I am a Viking. The
only ballad was "Forever One", and he brought his wife out to show her
off commenting, "As you can see, I am a VERY lucky man!" He played
"Seventh Sign", then "You Don't Remember", in which Vescera finally
flipped out at the monitor guy because he couldn't hear himself. During
the sing-along part, he sang something along the lines of "You don't
remember...you f*n' a*le." After that tirade he sung his lungs out
during "Hairtrigger" and then "Crash and Burn". The encore started out
with Yngwie on the acoustic, he played Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" while
the crowd shouted the lyrics, and then played the little Bach piece from
"No Mercy", then "Air on a G-string", then the acoustic part of "Icarus Dream Suite", and then went into "Black Star". The next song was a Deep
Purple tune, but I do not know the name of it. (Sorry! Not a Purple fan!)
Finally he ended the show with I'll See the Light Tonight. He played for
a good 2 hours, with lots of wanking in between songs. I shook hands
quickly with Yngwie and Vescera as they were leaving the stage. A
fantastic show, but I didn't get any guitar picks!:(
Nigel Peter Kay
London, Ontario
--Guitarists----
From Hard Rock: Richard [email protected]>
I would like to make mention of thre guitarists that everybody seems to
be forgetting these days, or that maybe noone ever heard of: Cyril
Whistler (who is basically Satriani crossed with Vinnie Moore but with a
lot of Arabian chord structures thrown in to excellent result), Mads
Eriksen (who combines Van Halen and Satriani with a typically 'folky'
touch of his home country Norway) and, of course, poor Jason Becker who
might very well have been the best guitarist to roam the earth today if
he hadn't been struck down by this nerve/muscle illness already a few
years ago. His laid-back work on David Lee Roth's _A Little Ain't Enough_
and totally freaky work with Marty Friedman in Cacophony is extremely
excellent (ask any guitarist to try and play the title song off _Speed
Metal Symphony_). Marty is really good too. I also find it amazing how
he can sustain himself in Megadeth with Mustaine's ego. On the new CD his
guitarsolos are few and far between. Too bad.
From Ytsejam: [email protected]>
Okay guitarists, here is a small sample of "Erotomania" (the classical
sounding part) [Dream Theater, _Awake_ - reviewed last issue -Ig]. I am
very sure of its accuracy. It starts at 4:43. Since most notes are played
twice, I've put them close together to save space. Feel free to alter
the fretting, but the notes are right and I've been able to play it this
way and keep up. These notes are played at a constant tempo (8th notes I
believe).
1-5-5-1-1-------------------------3-3-0-0-------------------------
----------3-3-----------------------------------------------------
--------------4-4-1-1---------------------5-5-2-2-----------------
----------------------3-3-0-0---------------------4-4-0-0---------
------------------------------2-3-------------------------3-3-0-2-
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
-6-6-3-3-------------------------5-5-1-1--------------------------
---------4-4-----------------------------2-2-0-0------------------
-------------6-6-3-3-----------------------------2-2--------------
---------------------5-5-2-2---0---------------------4-4-0-0------
-----------------------------4-------------------------------3-1--
This part is slower (TR=trill):
---------------------------------------------
----------------------------H-------------H--
------------------------P--2-4---H-P-P---5-7-
-0-2-3-5----------TR---3-0------5-7-5-0------
-----------------4-5-------------------------
-----------0-4-7-----------------------------
[I've promised to make tabs available before. The problem is that very
few were intererested, and they are LARGE files. Once I get the WWW
page going, I'll put the 3 MacAlpine tabs I have up there. -Ig]
--Mastermind----
From: Bill [email protected]>
MASTERMIND is pleased to announce that our new (3rd) album _MASTERMIND
III: Tragic Symphony_ is released in Japan by the Zero Corporation of
Tokyo, Japan, manufactured and distributed by Toshiba-EMI Ltd. This is
the band's 3rd studio album featuring Bill Berends on electric &
midi-guitar, acoustic guitar (!), vocal and bass, with brother Rich
Berends on drums, tympani and percussion. Phil Antolino will be rounding
out the trio on bass and midi-pedals for live performances.
We expect to have information regarding the release of _Tragic Symphony_
in Europe and the USA in the coming weeks. For those who can't wait, we
will be premiering a new piece "Tiger! Tiger!" from _Tragic Symphony_ on
the Internet this month at the KANM Forward Progress gopher & WWW site at
Texas A&M. For more information on how to download this work contact The
Reverend (thanks Rev) at Forward Progress [email protected]>. You
can download a track from each of the 3 MASTERMIND albums and see some
other goodies there as well. Here's the address:
http://tam2k.tamu.edu/~mdb0213/mastermind.html
Also, we have reached an agreement with ZNR Records of Louisville,
Kentucky for the third repressing of _MASTERMIND II: BRAINSTORM_ and
expect these discs will be available by late November. For more
information contact ZNR Records [email protected]> or fax: 502-935-8656.
--Impelliteri----
From alt.rock-n-roll.hard: [email protected]>
There are 5 Impelliteri releases (no collections)
Impelliteri [EP]
Stand In Line
Grin And Bear It
Victim Of The System [EP]
Answer To the Master
in order of release. All except _Stand In Line_ has Rob Rock of
Project:MARS and Axel Rudi Pell solo album fame. Only the first 2 were
released in the U.S. which really sucks because _Grin and Bear It_ is awesome
and I hear _Answer to the Master_ is also.
--Joe Stump----
From: Kinga [email protected]>
I just got Joe Stump's _Night Of The Living Shred_, on Leviathan. There
are at least 3 songs that you might like, quite neoclassical sounding.
He thanks Paganini, Hedrix, Yngwie, Blackmore, and Gary Moore. I don't
think he's terribly original, but he's definitely good. His first album
was _Guitar Dominance_.
[Hey, so Yngwie finally gets some credit :-) I will probably include a
song from Joe Stump on the Collection tape -Ig]
--Misc----
From: Iwao [email protected]>
Is there anyone who wants to be an e-mail penpal to talk about Yngwie?
--Farewell---
New Year's greetings to all, and hope to hear from you soon.
