专辑简介

Jazz/Rock guitarist Mike Stern shows off his chops on this collection of original instrumental compositions from 1988. All of these pieces could be considered pretty straight jazz, but with Stern's affection for chorusing and mild distortion and some other `80's sounds, the results range from bop to something suspiciously akin to the rock of Joe Satriani. Being a fan of high-energy music, my favorite tracks are those that employ harder, faster beats, like the bopping opening "Gossip" (which features Michael Brecker on tenor sax) the groovin' "No Notice" (plenty of guitar pyrotechnics on this one, plus a great sax solo from Bob Berg) "After All" (Stern and Berg really let their instruments scream on this one) and the standout "Chromozone" (featuring a harder beat and the strongest melody on this release). Stern tries to channel Satriani in the slower title track and "Four Shades", but can't match Joe's intensity. "Before You Go" is a still slower, very introspective piece in which Stern plays dual lines with the Berg's sax and loses in the process. I'm not familiar with Stern's oeuvre, so I don't know how "Time in Place" compares to his other work. From an outsider's viewpoint, there's plenty of energy and technique here, but the songwriting is inauspicious at best, so I'd like to give this three and half stars. But I'm definitely anxious to hear more from this obviously talented musician.