Hard Hat Area

Artist: Allan Holdsworth
Label: Restless Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 018777271622
EAN: 0018777271622
ASIN: B000003BJK

Release Date: 1994-02-22

Hard Hat Area

Related Categories:

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion

| Jazz | Styles | Music

General

| Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock

| Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

General

| Rock Guitarists | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock

| Pop | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Prelude
Auhkukah
Low Levels. High Stakes
Hard Hat Area
Tullio
House Of Mirrors
Postlude

Similar Items:

Wardenclyffe Tower
I.O.U.
Road Games
Atavachron
Sixteen Men of Tain (Spec)

Customer Reviews:

HARD HAT AREA - Genius At Work!.......2006-07-20

So much has been written about the super-human guitar playing abilities of Allan Holdsworth, that you quickly run out of superlatives when describing this man's genius. Therefore, I won't even try. What I will do, is attempt to write a review for the people who haven't heard him play at all.

Firstly, I chose this particular album because it's one of MY favourites, and would like to explain why. Secondly, I feel that Holdsworth and his band just click on this recording. Now about his band - on drums Gary Husband, bass Skuli Sverrisson, and keyboards Steve Hunt. I'll come back to them later.

Allan Holdsworth's music has always appealed to me because of it's rather dark but emotive nature. The very first track "Prelude" is typical of his writing style and features one aspect of his guitar playing - that earthy almost cello-like sound he manages to get when he's playing "legato" lines. Very effective and emotional. You see, Allan originally wanted to play tenor sax, and he tends to approach his guitar as if he WAS playing a sax, or perhaps violin or cello. He is also a very accomplished violinist, incidentally. It's VERY distinctive, and a trademark of his style.

What most people probably rave about though is what he plays like on the second track, "Ruhkukah" - his fluidity when playing very, very fast lines. But, there's more to it than that alone. It's HOW he constructs his solos. Like a great sax player, he will build up the tension gradually, giving the listener time to feel where it's going, before reaching the release point and beyond! It's when he reaches this point that the emotion becomes almost overwhelming.

The musician's he chooses for his band are a select [and privileged] few. The drummer Gary Husband is perfect on this album. He and Allan seem to have an almost telepathic link, each driving the other along completely locked together. His keyboard player Steve Hunt also compliments this musical union. His chords and solos are exactly right for the music. And, make no mistake about it, it is difficult music to play, nevermind getting the feel and atmosphere right as well. Then we come to Skuli on bass. Skuli Sverrisson is in a league of his own. Because he's Icelandic, he seems to convey that in his playing. Unique and quirky - And totally unaffected by "the American style" you hear in other bass players. On the track, "Low Level, High Stakes" you'll hear exactly what I mean when he takes a remarkable bass solo - one of my all-time favourites in fact.

All in all, I think this album is perfect in capturing the many facets of Holdsworth and his band's playing style. If you're new to Holdsworth, I'd buy this one first.

Yanek

Great Album.......2005-03-13

I love Allan's music.
However, I think he is better as an improviser than a composer. This is evident (to me) on this album, which is why I have only awarded 4 stars.

It cannot be denied that Allan's improvising is in a class of its own. However, his compositions don't seem to sit right with me, although I must admit they do grow on you after you have listened to them a lot.

Still, I highly recommend this album, and others like it, in particular: Secrets, Wardenclyffe Tower, Atavachron, None Too Soon, 16 Men of Tain and Truth in Shredding.

Six stringed bliss.......2005-01-13

Allan Holdsworth is from Mars. It's been said in many forums and reviews, coffee or ale houses; the man music is "not of this earth." Hard Hat Area paints vivid pictures with broad strokes of tones and notes. Each musician here is an "artist," not just a session guy paid to play a part. There is a feeling, an emotion in each note. As with any Holdsworth album, repeated listening brings out the nuances and gives you some incite to one of music's true innovators. Don't drive, wash the car or go for a run with this music. You must sit in a comfy chair, light a candle, shut the drapes and close your eyes. This is music for the mind.

Prelude, an aptly named piece with Allan's guitar notes swirling in looping circles and bringing to mind a flower adrift in the undulating surf of Steve Hunt's synth wash.

Ruhkukah wakes the dreamer with a quickly ascending pattern and sweep Gary Husband's unique drum technique into the mix. Allan sets up Steve Hunt's first solo with his unusual chording. Hunt tortures his modulator with abandon. Allan's swings in with his typical finesse. Dropping notes like sparks while he cuts through the heaving foundation of Skuli Sverrisson's rock solid bass work.

Low Levels, High Stakes shows the softer side, tickling piano and quiet chordal work form the base for Skuli's wonderfully slinky solo. Sweet, yet solid. Incredibly smooth and clean, each note sparkles. Allan takes a long, slowly building solo that grows more intense as Husband begins to accent the tune with toms and cymbals. I'm reminded of the flow of the ocean, calm and serene one moment, restless and seething the next.

Hard Hat Area begins with an industrial Synthaxe excursion, strange effects, noises of a futristic assembly plant (note the cover)? A synth wash takes us to another area of the plant, guitar and drums build a cacophony of machines creating a spaceship for an earthly invasion. This is a purely science fiction piece. The synthaxe work on this tune fits perfectly and doubles Skuli's tag line.

Back to reality, Tullio starts off with Allan's cosmic guitar work, star-gazing on a clear summer's evening. The slurring legato notes flow and swell like breezes around and through the mind. Steve Hunt takes his turn with a synth solo, twisting and bending notes as a perfect foil to Allan's sound, as he break back in to complete the song.

House of Mirrors begins with Synthaxe chording, mixed tones and textures. This tune never really gets airborn. It stays a bit too mellow. Steve and Allan play some beautiful solos, but don't push any barriers here. I have to admit that this song can be sleep inducing. Too bad. It's so close to perfect.

Postlude. This contains one of my favorite Synthaxe solos, strange, but it makes me think of popcorn. Husband plays some intricate drum improvising and Skuli gets another bass solo, again tasteful and clean. Unfortunately, here again the tune doesn't get powerful enough to make up one drop his jaw. Too low key. Synopsis: A weak ending to an imaginary journey. The first 2/3 are strong and exciting, but the final tracks, though displaying great musicianship, don't spark the synapses. It's here that the "elevator music" tag gets placed. A bit more power to the ending would have led me to add a star.

Allan's music has always inspired and engaged my imagination.... still does!!! Few artists have reached for something truly unique and stayed true to their course throughout their career in the manner that Allan has. This is a good Allan Holdsworth album. Give your mind an adventure.

Music from Mars.......2002-10-14

I admire Allan Holdsworth because he has an unbelievable control of the instrument. His technical ability is almost limitless. He can play runs that few professional players could dream to play. He is also a complete musician perfect in the use of the armony and rhythm. He has a great originality and personality too. I own 10 cd's from him, just to make you understand how I comprehend his mastery. I also like some of his compositions and probably HHA is one of the best among his efforts. This is the good part. The bad is the fact that I can't stand to hear a full album from him. He is somewhat boring. His compositions are often cold, mechanical, unearthly. They are often pointless. I can't understand what he wants to say, and I am an expert jazz player not a pop music kind of guy. I am used to hear very complex music, but to me Allan composition are only occasionally admireable. Too often thy are excercise in improvisation and music architecture. It seems that he can't reach the goal of writing music that really hit, that really speaks, that really means something. I'm still waiting to hear the Allan Holdsworth best album, made of compositions beautiful at the point that they will match his technical ability. Probably he can do it. I hope for because no one could ever imagine to play like him.

"Unsung Hero" is right.......2001-03-11

It doesn't matter which Holdsworth album you buy - buy them all. I can't really add much more than what some of the fans have said here - Holdsworth is a brilliant mind, totally unique and an unsung hero. His albums, all of them, range between just plain amazing and sheer brilliance. What few people outside of his peers, guitar players and die hard jazz fusion fans realize is that Allan is of the same caliber as Bach, or Coltrane and some of the other musical giants to come along. He is singularly unique and original, his music has been described as "other worldy", "beamed down from outer space", "touched by the hand of God", "pure genius", etc.

Music Album:

Music Album

Music Album

Music CD

Someone to Love You ~ Kim Waters

A Proper Introduction to Lucky Thompson: Just One More Chance ~ Lucky Thompson

Music CD 18

Muggsy Special ~ Muggsy Spannier

Big Bands ~ Various Artists

Free and Easy, Live in Sweden, 1960 ~ Quincy Jones

Erwin Pelzig, Vol. 2 - Leh' Mir No A Mark ~ Barwasser

Soaring High ~ Black Eagle

Room to Breathe ~ Delbert Mcclinton

On The Edge Of The Ituri Forest: Northeastern Belgian Congo 1952 ~ Various Artists