Acoustic Samurai

by

Paul Gilbert

Edit

As a long time fan of Paul Gilbert, and having been immensley impressed by his "Acoustic Hotel" giveaway CD that came with his greatest hits album "Paul The Young Dude" - I simply had to get this album as soon as I heard it had been released. Recorded live in the intimate setting of the Hard Rock Cafe in Tokyo, you get to hear PG and his bass player / guitarist, Linus of Hollywood, rip through some classic PG tunes, acoustic style. Throw in a quircky but thoroughly enjoyable rendition of Abbas Dancing Queen, a Racer X track, and a jaw dropping acoustic Scarified, and this disk comes highly recommended.

I would however say that this disk is for PG fans only and is perhaps not the best place to start if you are new to his music.

But for me, a big fan since his Racer x and Mr Big days - it gets full marks. Wonderful stuff!

Firstly, theres no denying Paul Gilbert is an outstanding guitar player and probably one of the fastest in the world too, and on this album he tries his hand at acoustic and does a fine job. But here's the problem...when you have a guy who's an amazing guitar player and he's being drowned out by a godawful singer wallowing through a cornucopia of dreadly written tongue in cheek tracks then there's really no point in listening to it is there??? If this was an acoustic album with no vocals i'd give it a 3 out of 5, as it is, it's barely a 1. As for the live in Japan version of this...oh boy..I'm sure someone is pulling a rib here?? It's bad...really bad (and incase your wondering, thats bad in an awful way).