A classic guitar album

You probably know Eric Johnson from his big hit "Cliffs Of Dover", which received a lot of radio airplay when it was released. Well, that song is on this album, along with some other instrumentals and some catchy vocal tunes as well. I think the thing that separates Eric Johnson from some of the other famous guitar instrumentalists out there is that he has a more restrained classic-rock style. He can play just as fast as the rest of them, but he seems to concentrate more on his guitar tone (which is fabulous) and songwriting rather than trying to impress you with his speed or knowledge of exotic scales... most of his lead work seems to be based on pentatonic scales in fact (but he makes it sound a lot more interesting than guitarists who just rip out the blues scale for every solo).

The songs on this album are very accessible, and I think that they would appeal to guitar-fans and non-guitar-fans alike (as evidenced by the popularity of the single "Cliffs Of Dover"). "Righteous" and "Cliffs Of Dover" are the two songs that sound most like standard rock instrumentals. "East Wes" is a Wes Montgomery-like jazz tune, "Song For George" is a solo acoustic piece that sounds like a western, and "Steve's Boogie" is a cool country song.

The songs with vocals are very cool as well... he has a nice raspy singing voice. I think he pulls off the whole singing thing a lot better than Satriani or Vai. "Nothing Can Keep Me From You" is a great pop song, and the other vocal tunes (like "Forty Mile Town" and "Desert Rose") are pretty mellow songs with awesome guitar work. Johnson has a very polished guitar style with a lot of finesse. He plays blazing guitar lines and makes it sound easy... I think this is an essential album for all fans of guitar music.