Neil Zaza - Melodica

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Neil Zaza - Melodica

Artist:	Neil Zaza
Title:	Melodica
Label:	Mascot Records M 7106 2
Length(s):	minutes
Year(s) of release:	2005
Month of review:	[09/2005]

Line up

Neil Zaza - guitars, sound design, sequencing, editing, synths
Bill Cioce - drums
Doug Johns - bass
Mark Leach - hammond b3 organ, clavinet
with
Mike Martin - string samples on 15
Ray Liptak - intro bass on 12
Mistheria - hammond on 2
The Summit Strings - strings on 14
Fred Patterson - violin, viola and cello on 15
Timothy M. Bradford - keyboards and arrangement on 8
Dan Reed Network - performs 14

Tracks

1)	On With The Show	0.28
2)	This Time	5.40
3)	All My Life...	5.40
4)	As I Go Before You	5.53
5)	Melodica	5.21
6)	Breadstick	4.57
7)	Ship Of Dreams	6.27
8)	The Flow	4.45
9)	I Can See Miracles	6.41
10)	Across The Sands	5.53
11)	Rena	3.58
12)	Very Important Cat Things	5.17
13)	Everything About You	3.43
14)	Forgot To Make Her Mine	6.38
15)	Goodbye	1.52

Summary

Neil Zaza is often mentioned as a follow-up to Steve Vai. This is his second album, and although I am generally not interested in guitar heroes, the album has sides that are interesting to people outside the genre.

The music

After the circus intro, On With The Show, we come to the melodic rock of This Time. There is a certain eightishness to the melody, and yes, maybe the melody is a bit overly accessible, but the full sound does compensate. All My Life opens very bombastically, and very well as well. This is almost symphonic rock. The larger part is however more in the melodious style of the previous song. Striking is that you can almost hear somebody singing along with these tracks, adding vocal lines to songs like these would not be difficult: simply follow the guitar. I guess one can say that on this record the guitar plays the role of the vocalist. The plodding melodic rock gives way to more mellow As I Go Before You. The Hammond organ and the guitar do pick up volume along the tune.

Melodica is up next, opening drum 'n' bass like. The guitar sound is a bit further away here, and the music is thus more subdued. This holds even more in the middle part, in which string synths and a guitar in the back are what is left. The guitar does pick up later. It is the end of this track that Zaza goes off on a wild goose chase with meandering jazzrock flavoured guitar work, the bass rumbling along. Breadstick has a weird sounding opening, with a James Bond like melody. This melody does give rise to a certain amount of tension.

Ship Of Dreams is almost the longest track on the album, and it opens with a strong organ part. The vocabulary is bluesy this time around, and thus on the slow, mellow side. Of course, the guitar wails side by side with the organ. The Flow is still a bit more mellow, opening with piano and lone sounding guitar lines. The percussion sounds programmed this time, and nicely subdued. Along the way we get a bit of church organ as well.

I Can See Miracles opens with the modern rhythm again, and gurgly keyboards as well. The guitar is again using as a accompaniment, playing in a soothing fashion. It works itself to the fore, but continues to be subdued. We are not rocking yet. We move to mid-tempo for the accessible 'chorus'. The middle part has different melodies and a percussive break, the opening recurs at the end.

Across The Sands seems to follow the same template: programmed drums, lined by guitar, supported by organ. The electronics can sound quite modern at times on this record, Dance like. There is also, surprisingly, some rhythm guitar here, while the melodies tend to sound Arabic. One of the better songs, also because it makes a departure from the sometimes overmelodious other pieces. A rowdy guitar solo rounds it off.

Rena opens with the brimming of organ, indeed the Hammond is a rather important instrument at times. It's place is soon taken by Gary Moore like guitar playing (also a very melodious player).

Very Important Cat Things has certainly a rather distinctive title. It is also one of the more distinctive tunes. The booklet leads us to believe that the distinctive opening is due to a bass. The main theme sounds quite Arabic again.

Everything About You opens with washes of synth, rather soothing. This time, it stays that way, the guitar playing being prominent, but still soothing. It sort of compensates the groovy rock of Forgot To Make Her Mine, which is played by The Dan Reed Network. This is a rowdy blues rock track, and later on we get the only vocals you are going to get in the form of a backing choir. There are other surprises in store such as a string section with real strings towards the end. Goodbye is the short closer, with mellow strings and a sensitive guitar line. A sad goodbye.

Conclusion

Aptly titled Melodica, this second album by guitarist Neil Zaza (and band) brims will accessible melodies played by either his guitar or the synths and organs on this record. Only rarely does he depart for meander territory, or off on any other tangent. This makes the album easy to listen to, contrary to guitarists like Vai. The melodies are generally good enough, the playing is loud and enthuasistic, and the full production really helps with this kind of music. On the other hand, you should not look too much to this album for tension or edge, for that it is simply too melodious. It does however have some dance influences that come out really well.