01	The Sun Road						14:40
	02	Dark Corners						08:33
	03	Duende						07:27
	04	Black Light Syndrome						08:46
	05	Falling In Circles						09:09
	06	Book Of Hours						09:43
	07	Chaos/Control						08:49

(p) 1997 Magna Carta (c) 1997 Magna Carta MA-9019-2 Terry Bozzio: Drums Tony Levin: Basses & Stick Steve Stevens: All Guitars

(p) 1997 Magna Carta
(c) 1997 Magna Carta
MA-9019-2

Terry Bozzio: Drums
Tony Levin: Basses & Stick
Steve Stevens: All Guitars


Bob Eichler:
Another instrumental album from a Magna Carta supergroup. I bought this CD expecting great things, both because of the band members' ties to Zappa and King Crimson, and because most of the reviews that I had read gave the album nothing but the highest praise. So maybe I was expecting too much, but after many listens, I don't see what all the fuss is about.
It's definitely not a bad album, but it doesn't come anywhere close to blowing me away, as it seems to do to many prog fans. In Brandon's review, he noted that some might find the album to be "unfocused" - I definitely fall in that camp. There are long stretches where not much seems to happen.
Still, everyone plays tastefully and competently for the most part, with just a few occasional displays of "flashiness". In particular, the flamenco track "Duende" is one of my favorites - Bozzio's drumming on that song is almost melodic. From what I've read, Stevens was mostly known as a hard rock/metal guitarist before doing this album. He proves here that he can handle a variety of other styles, but unfortunately he sometimes slips back into that predictable heavy metal mode.
All in all, it makes for pleasant background music, but I'd recommend that potential buyers try to borrow a copy from someone and give it a listen first. Then again, I seem to be pretty much alone in my preference of the first Liquid Tension Experiment disc over this one, so what do I know.

Brandon Wu:
Probably my favorite Magna Carta supergroup-type release. This album has a very spontaneous feel to it, not unlike the first album from Liquid Tension Experiment, but the playing here is looser, better paced, and more diverse. The performaces all around are great, and Steve Stevens surprised everyone with his versatile and impressive skills on guitar. He gets a little indulgent here and there, but in an album such as this, that's pretty easy to forgive.
The album starts off great, dips a bit in the middle, and ends with a real bang. "The Sun Road" has the feel of a long spontaneous jam with a couple overdubs here and there, and the result is fantastic - one of my favorites from either of this group's two releases. I particularly like Bozzio's little cymbal accents and runs, which are present throughout the album and lend a nice spacy feel to certain parts of this particular piece. Also notable is the next song, "Dark Corners", mostly because it sounds like it could have been performed by King Crimson in 1973, opening with a distorted staccato guitar line punctuated at seemingly odd intervals by the hugest bass sound I've ever heard from Tony Levin. "Larks' Tongues Part II" comes to mind immediately, and that's perhaps not too bad a comparison.
The other highlight is the last track, "Chaos/Control", which opens and closes with composed hard-rock material, but has a wonderful jazzy-feeling jam in middle. Assuming this middle section is improvised, the musicians show great communication towards the end as they merge very effectively back to the composed theme that bookends the jam. The theme itself is powerful stuff; Levin is especially dynamic, playing great percussive lines. Wonderful stuff. Unfortunately the rest of the songs don't quite live up to the standards set by these pieces; they are all good in their own right but somehow lack the same spark of inspiration. Two acoustic flamenco-ish songs in particular are worthy of note, though I feel that they're a bit too long, and the band does these better on their second album, Situation Dangerous.
There are those that would criticize this as unfocused and self-indulgent, but I find it quite rewarding. A very pleasant surprise out of a label I don't expect too many surprises from.






Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome

Released: 1998
Label: Magna Carta
Cat. No.: MA-9019-2
Total Time: 65:32


Reviewed by: Stephanie Sollow, April 1999
If I had only one sentence to use to describe Bozzio Levin Stevens' Black Light Syndrome and why you should add this to your collection, it would be this: this album is absolutely stunning!

Admittedly, before I first heard this album, I had some trepidations. My experience of Steve Stevens was his work with Billy Idol, and as for Terry Bozzio, of course only via Missing Persons. And really for both, nothing beyond the singles played on the radio. So, my angle was from a pop perspective.

With Tony Levin, it was really with King Crimson's Thrak that I first "heard" him - though I now find him scattered throughout various tracks by various artists in my collection, not just Peter Gabriel. Of course, I had heard his other project, Liquid Tension Experiment, just before.

But again, this album is stunning! "Book of Hours," for example, is a beautiful piece of instrumental art - intricate and textured. To say that Stevens' guitar playing is expressive is an understatement - there is a point to every note. The keyboard runs aren't there to prove dexterity but to give voice to an idea, a thought, a feeling. This is what true guitar players do, the guitar is merely the means.

But, let's not overlook Tony Levin's bass playing or Terry Bozzio's drumming. Here and with Liquid Tension Experiment, the opportunity to hear Levin is so much greater than his work with Gabriel (at least to me). You don't just hear his bass or Chapman Stick, you feel it. In the lower ranges, it is like the pulse that beats within.

Yeh, that does sound like a lot of hyperbole. But it's not. There is an energy here, whether the pace is quick or leisurely as on any track on this album including "The Sun Road" or "Book of Hours."

The first of these begins the album with a sinewy, sultry guitar intro over an ominous bass/drum backbeat. Where Stevens is the sun - his playing is bright, clear, like a crisp, cloudless morning in the middle of the Southwest - and Levin and Bozzio are the road - meandering, hard, full of possibilities, as if something waits at the end. To put it in cinematic terms: That something doesn't wait - Stevens' guitar and Levin's bass work against each other, creating a sense of conflict, a chaotic battle. That Stevens' guitar rises back up to take the lead, making its way through leisurely, to a picked southwestern arpeggio - suggesting to me arriving at the end of the road - the destination.

Compared to most of the other Magna Carta releases - say Shadow Gallery, Magellan, etc. - this is closer to jazz fusion than prog-metal. And yet, there are many passages throughout with a distinctly southwestern feel, no doubt down to the use of acoustic guitar employed here.

But make no mistake, this album rocks as well, as Stevens encourages an odd assortment of strange noises from his guitar - the beginning to "Chaos/Control" is evidence enough, as this in an energized guitar work out, Levin's bass percolating beneath, and Bozzio's driving drums - at times, his pattern in sync with Stevens fretwork. No mere time keeper he.

A short review doesn't do this justice, really. You just have to hear it - over and over and over again.

More about Black Light Syndrome:

Track Listing: The Sun Road (14:37) / Dark Corners (8:31) / Duende (7:25) / Black Light Syndrome (8:45) / Falling In Circles (9:07) / Book of Hours (9:38) / Chaos/Control (8:49)

Musicians:
Terry Bozzio - drums
Tony Levin - basses and stick
Steve Stevens - all guitars


Contact:


Website: www.papabear.com - Tony Levin
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Discography

Black Light Syndrome (1997)
Situation Dangerous (2000)