# Allan Holdsworth: The Man Who Changed Guitar Forever! (12 CD Box Set Collection)



## Guest (Jul 15, 2018)

Starthrower led me to Allan Holdsworth and a search led me to the release of this 12 Cd box set which I've just ordered.

The contents are listed as " Twelve CD box set collection featuring all of Allan Holdsworth's solo albums from 1982-2003. That title is no hyperbole-it was a proclamation that ran on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine in 2008, and is a feeling shared by fans and guitarists all around the world.

Still, though, Holdsworth remains largely under-rated; many who admire his most famous work have overlooked dozens of fascinating finds to be made on his decades of recordings. This collection is a treasure trove of such discoveries, as it brings you all 11 of his albums as a solo artist, producer and group leader since 1980 plus the live-in-Tokyo album Then! And a 40-page booklet full of liner notes and archival photos.

You also get previously unreleased bonus tracks, and all these albums have been newly remastered from the original tapes: I.O.U. (1982), Road Games (1983), Metal Fatigue (1985), Atavachron (1986), Sand (1987), Secrets (1989), Wardenclyffe Tower (1992), Hard Hat Area (1993), None Too Soon (1996), The Sixteen Men Of Tain (2000), Flat Tire (2001) and Then! (2003).

These albums, many of which have been out of print and very hard to find for years, include one intriguing composition, ethereal track, dazzling fusion rocker and daredevil guitar passage after another."

These are some reviews that I've come across -

https://www.axs.com/allan-holdsworth-guitar-heroics-assembled-on-best-of-box-set-115095

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/allan-holdsworth-the-man-who-changed-guitar-forever-by-john-kelman.php

I would be interested in reading anyone's thoughts about any aspect of this set - especially what to listen for as I make my way through each of the recordings.

What is your favourite "Allan Holdsworth moment"? - Which track or tracks of which CD?

And what is the next step to be taken after this one?


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Don't worry about the next step. Spend some time with this set and really listen. It took me many, many years to acquire these albums. And many, many hours to absorb all of the nuances and brilliance of this music. Don't let the cyber world rush life for you. 

This music contains very advanced harmonic concepts and chordal playing and soloing played at fast tempos. It takes quite a few listens to start hearing and absorbing this stuff. But if you can hear it, you'll realize the deep beauty in this music.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

my favorite Holdsworth moment is without a doubt the alien landscape of the two minutes intro to Shallow Sea on I.O.U. Simply the best ambient (yes, I've said ambient) I've ever heard. A strange choice for someone, since it's him playing chords and not a solo, but to me his harmonic language is the most interesting thing of his music and that's a perfect example of that.

If I had to choose just a song, it would be Tokyo dreams, another amazing piece of music (and another demonstration of how different his music was from the other fusion/jazz rock guitarists of his era).


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## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

I played a jazz gig with Alan once, a long time ago. All I remember is he played very fast and talked about bicycles the whole time. He was a bit of a bike nerd.


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2018)

starthrower said:


> Don't worry about the next step. Spend some time with this set and really listen. It took me many, many years to acquire these albums. And many, many hours to absorb all of the nuances and brilliance of this music. Don't let the cyber world rush life for you.
> 
> This music contains very advanced harmonic concepts and chordal playing and soloing played at fast tempos. It takes quite a few listens to start hearing and absorbing this stuff. But if you can hear it, you'll realize the deep beauty in this music.


I'm planning on listening to one disc per month with each receiving a weekly play thus four to five hearings per disc. I'm looking forward to the experience and would like to thank you for the advice and guidance.

I would also encourage everyone to continue providing those "Allan Holdsworth moments" - I shall keep a keen ear out for those you've suggested.

Regards,

Syd


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

That's a good approach. The first album IOU took me a while to get into, but now I love it. The first two I bought back in 1985 were Road Games, and Metal Fatigue. These contain some of Allan's best known tunes including Tokyo Dream, Water On The Brain, Three Sheets To The Wind, and Devil Take The Hindmost. These last two contain some of the greatest soloing I've ever heard by any guitarist. And the ballad Home features gorgeous glassy chordal work and a delicate acoustic guitar solo.

When you get into IUO, my recommendation is to listen to it loud. It's an intense guitar album with a great rhythm section.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

By far my favorite guitarist!

And this is why,



norman bates said:


> his harmonic language is the most interesting thing of his music


People always point out his legato solos and his speed, but it's his harmonic language that sets him apart.

As a good friend (a Berklee grad) once put it, "his innovative, unique approach to improv is unmatched. The greatest jazz soloists (McCoy, Brecker, Freddie, Coltrane etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. There clearly is no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonics, bop, post-bop...NOTHING.
"


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2018)

They really do have a video of everything imaginable... Based on the poor packaging - watch the discs slide right out of the box as he ever so carefully lifts off the bubble wrap - I would suspect that he purchased it from the online retailer who's named after a river in South America...






Still.. Looks very cool indeed and I'm looking forward to mine arriving on Thursday.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Syd, let us Know how your Holdsworth listening sessions are going. And tell us what you think of the box set design, notes, and overall quality of the package.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2018)

starthrower said:


> Syd, let us Know how your Holdsworth listening sessions are going. And tell us what you think of the box set design, notes, and overall quality of the package.


My apologies for not having replied sooner but I've been caring for the once quite seriously ailing wife who is well on her way to a full recovery, we're planning to sell our home in Halifax and move back to Montreal, we need to make arrangements to shift our work status from "semi-retired senior partners" to "fully retired senior partners, and those apparently endless polls that I insist upon creating even though very few people actually have any interest in taking them use up a great deal of my time... :lol:

Quite pricey for a 12 disc set - 135.00 CDN (about 76 GBP - 85 EUR)

Well-constructed box set design - sturdy and compact; the liner notes are really superb - quite informative with a well-written narrative but in some instances the liner notes for the discs themselves can be difficult to read.

There are "expanded editions of three albums-three bonus tracks on 1992's Wardenclyffe Tower; the 2003 Special Edition of 2000's The Sixteen Men of Tain, with one additional composition; and 2003's Then! , a live recording from 1990 that originally featured a hidden bonus track on the Japanese edition that is finally included on an American release."

I can't comment on the quality of the remastering because I don't have anything to compare them to...but I did pull this quote from an amazon review - "The remastering by Dan Schultz and Bill Inglot is pretty darn good. I don't have any dynamic numbers at the moment but it sounds good to my ears (if you are not a fan of Dan's or Bill's mastering style, you might not enjoy this set although Dan Perloff executive produced the set)." If this actually has any significance then Starthrower will have to be the one to tell us because I don't have a clue as to what that might mean.

This is another quote from amazon written by "James Clark ISR" -

"With his long hands he reached chords only he could play with his fingers, meaning without hammer-on's or tapping, which was very rare, and led to a fluid legato technique that felt different, more personal and distinctive than tapping the fretboard with two hands.

And the unique chordal system he devised for guitar tablature and jazz harmonics was utilized in astounding improvisations and fascinating complex chord progressions. Holdsworth was on to something revolutionary and abstruse. Music clinics and video series', and books were made discussing his innovations in these areas specifically during his 48-year professional career.

It was hard to duplicate how he was approaching harmonic progressions for soloing. And even talented and famous players like Steve Vai and Edward Van Halen would drop his name in interviews as someone they felt was on another level. And that technical legacy as a unique innovator on the guitar is a big part of his legacy and his mystique, alongside a profound love for lyricism at pure shredding speed.

I know this all sounds a bit overwhelming, but he did it, and wrapped it all in a neat sax-like tone, performed with the traditional guitar effects; vibrato, tremolo, sustain, delays, pedals, and etc."

Again, it takes someone like Starthrower to translate this from guitar-speak to English and to advise us as to the validity of the quote itself.

I'm starting out with IOU and have found it to be far more accessible than I anticipated (anyone familiar with vintage Steve Hackett and Steve Howe will have a foundation that they can build upon) - although I wouldn't recommend playing it whilst driving when I found myself going 80 km in a 50 km zone and 20 km in a 50 km min zone - (my driving speed varied based on the tempo) - listen to it at home with headphones on... it's safer.

Eventually we can work our way through each of the albums on a track by track basis but I'm afraid that will have to wait as I'm quite busy trying to create a poll that has such little interest that not even I take it.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Actually, Allan did utilize tapping quite a bit. There's a great concert from Tokyo 1984 on YouTube where you can watch Allan play many of his classic tunes from the first few albums.

Good luck with the move to Montreal. Sounds like a great City to be living in and enjoying the cultural life in retirement.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Sydney Nova Scotia said:


> What is your favourite "Allan Holdsworth moment"? - Which track or tracks of which CD?
> 
> And what is the next step to be taken after this one?


Oddly, my favorite Holdworth solos come from his early days, before he went solo.

Worthy of note are: "Bundles" with Soft Machine; "Breda Reactor," a live recording, also by Soft Machine; "Expresso" (US),(a.k.a. "Gazeuse" in UK) and "Expresso II" with Gong. Also, he was on Bill Bruford's solo album "Feels Good To Me."


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Anything Soft Machine is good by me


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## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

deleted i was readinG Allan Hovhanness.. sorry buddy


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2018)

deprofundis said:


> deleted i was readinG Allan Hovhanness.. sorry buddy


Pas de problème, mon ami...

je vous souhaite le meilleur!

_Adieu_…

- Syd


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> Oddly, my favorite Holdworth solos come from his early days, before he went solo.
> 
> Worthy of note are: "Bundles" with Soft Machine; "Breda Reactor," a live recording, also by Soft Machine; "Expresso" (US),(a.k.a. "Gazeuse" in UK) and "Expresso II" with Gong. Also, he was on Bill Bruford's solo album "Feels Good To Me."


He was actually on Bruford's first 2 albums, "Feels Good to Me" and "One of a Kind". Which in my opinion, is the better of the 2.

Don't forget his great playing on Jean Luc Ponty's, "Enigmatic Ocean".


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

If anyone is interested, Presto Classical carries the individual remastered Holdsworth CDs from the Manifesto box set. They are only 13 dollars. https://www.prestomusic.com/jazz/search?search_query=allan+holdsworth&size=10&view=large&page=2

I wasn't aware they carried a large selection of jazz cds.


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## The Deacon (Jan 14, 2018)

Deacon Beaker has the first album, "Velvet Darkness" (which is not included in this set???)
Apparently Allan did not like it.


A guitar god who - I believe I read somewhere - at the end did not have the money to pay the cab that took him to the final hospital.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The Deacon said:


> A guitar god who - I believe I read somewhere - at the end did not have the money to pay the cab that took him to the final hospital.


Divorce can effect one's financial security rather negatively.


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## Kjetil Heggelund (Jan 4, 2016)

I actually was at a concert with Holdsworth in Oslo 1988! Oh my, didn't know he passed away! Some guy said he might be more interested in brewing beer than playing guitar, and that he was really good at it...For me it's quite impossible to understand how he managed to play the way he did.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

From what I read he was drinking entirely too much beer in the last decade of his life. He put on quite a bit of weight He was an avid cyclist and he was in good shape until his divorce when he lost his home and studio. He went slowly downhill after that. A tragic end for a nice bloke who happened to be one of the world's most brilliant guitarists.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Contemporary guitarist, and a phenomenal player in his own right, Guthrie Govan, had this to say about Holdsworth in a recent article:

"I'm sure every reader is already somewhat familiar with the mighty Allan, but I still feel that his contribution to music in general has been criminally underrated: I consider his work to be every bit as revolutionary as that of jazz legends such as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

"Evidently not content with redefining what was technically possible on the guitar, he also managed to rewrite pretty much the whole of music theory, coming up with all manner of chord voicings which had never been heard before and then concocting brand-new scales to complement them.
"His tone has always fascinated me, too - perhaps its uniqueness stemmed from the fact that he seemed to regard the guitar not so much as his ideal or 'chosen' instrument, but rather as a problem which needed to be solved.

*"To me, Allan's playing is a rare example of a guitar player exhibiting no kind of 'family tree' whatsoever - when you listen to most players, you can hear at least some evidence of their early influences, and yet with Allan, the most logical explanation for what you're hearing is that the this guy must have arrived very abruptly and unexpectedly - if not from another planet then, at the very least, from the future!"*

The last paragraph is pretty accurate. Which is interesting, because a very close friend of mine (top LA session keyboardist) said almost the the same thing about Holdsworth several years before Govan:

*"For me, Allan Holdsworth was the most innovative improviser of all time on ANY instrument. The great jazz soloists (McCoy, Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Trane, etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. There clearly was no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonix, bop, post-bop...NOTHING".*


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

^ I think a big factor in what made Holdsworth unique in his approach was that he was more influenced by saxophonists like Coltrane and Parker than by other guitarists.

That said in this video Rick Beato suggests Holdsworth and Pat Methany are actually more alike as guitarists than many realize:


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Simon Moon said:


> *"For me, Allan Holdsworth was the most innovative improviser of all time on ANY instrument. The great jazz soloists (McCoy, Brecker, Freddie Hubbard, Trane, etc.), all had predecessors on their respective instruments that they copped licks from and modified with their own voice. There clearly was no guitar lineage leading up to Allan's approach. This freak landed ship with a completely new vocabulary not based on anything that was already established. No blues, pentatonix, bop, post-bop...NOTHING".*


I agree with this. Holdsworth was an auto-didact who thought everybody else should do the same. A certain reticence comes through in his "instructional" videos which reflects this attitude. He had his own way of creating and naming scales.

He has said that when he started out, he used "sets" of notes to make scales; every 8-note set etc. A mathematical approach.

This can be difficult to accept for many jazz-oriented listeners and musicians. His lines definitely do not sound "jazz-like," but they always fit into changes.

His earlier work, such as the solo on "Bundles", shows how he was pentatonic/rock oriented to a degree, so the assertion that his technique was based on "NOTHING ESTABLISHED" can be challenged in the early solos; but later on, this statement came to be more true.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

starthrower said:


> From what I read he was drinking entirely too much beer in the last decade of his life. He put on quite a bit of weight He was an avid cyclist and he was in good shape until his divorce when he lost his home and studio. He went slowly downhill after that. A tragic end for a nice bloke who happened to be one of the world's most brilliant guitarists.


Yes, but I would not feel so all alone; Everybody must get stoned.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> Yes, but I would not feel so all alone; Everybody must get stoned.


I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this flippant comment? Anyway I agree about the soloing with Soft Machine. I'm really not a fan of his playing in that period. Millions of notes but not very interesting to the ear. But as soon as he was in a different musical environment with the Tony Williams group it sounded better to my ears. In fact that was the first record I bought over 35 years ago. I didn't hear the Soft Machine stuff until much later.

He was different from all of the other British blues rockers due to his upbringing. The elder Sam Holdsworth discouraged him from resorting to stock blues vocabulary and exposed him to jazz players.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

starthrower said:


> I'm not sure what you're trying to say with this flippant comment?.


Well, if you'd think about what Dylan was really saying by this, it wouldn't sound flippant at all. It was a double-entendre, for sure, but remember its biblical meaning, of people being actually stoned with rocks. I meant it in this context; that every human being, no matter how brilliant and talented, is subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: divorce, under-recognition, money problems, health problems, etc., and Holdsworth was no exception. Plus, the double-entendre meaning of "everybody must get stoned:" Give the guy some slack. As hard as he had worked, and with health and financial problems looming, he deserved a beer or two.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I haven't explored the earlier group he was in, which Simon Moon "the completist" forgot to mention. What was the name of that group?

BTW, I bought all the vinyl he was on AS IT CAME OUT, including the stuff with Bruford and Ponty. Rick Beato is the only other person I know of who followed Holdsworth this closely from the beginning.

Starthrower, thanks for the Presto tip.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

The Deacon said:


> Deacon Beaker has the first album, "Velvet Darkness" (which is not included in this set???)
> Apparently Allan did not like it.
> 
> A guitar god who - I believe I read somewhere - at the end did not have the money to pay the cab that took him to the final hospital.


Note that there are two very different versions of _Velvet Darkness,_ one heavily compressed, the other not.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

millionrainbows said:


> Well, if you'd think about what Dylan was really saying by this, it wouldn't sound flippant at all. It was a double-entendre, for sure, but remember its biblical meaning, of people being actually stoned with rocks. I meant it in this context; that every human being, no matter how brilliant and talented, is subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: divorce, under-recognition, money problems, health problems, etc., and Holdsworth was no exception. Plus, the double-entendre meaning of "everybody must get stoned:" Give the guy some slack. As hard as he had worked, and with health and financial problems looming, he deserved a beer or two.


A beer or two is fine, but he was drinking much more than that. I'm not judging the man, it's just a fact. I love Holdsworth and it was sad to see him suffer this way. I can empathize with his situation even though I haven't gone through it. He was a very intelligent and creative man who lost his home and working studio at 60 years of age. So he spent the last decade of his life slogging around the globe playing small venues. It's too bad his colleagues and people in the music business couldn't have helped him financially so he could keep his home and studio. But knowing his temperament, he'd likely have been too embarrassed to accept any help. I know you were quoting Dylan but I don't listen to that stuff.


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

starthrower said:


> A beer or two is fine, but he was drinking much more than that. I'm not judging the man, it's just a fact. I love Holdsworth and it was sad to see him suffer this way. I can empathize with his situation even though I haven't gone through it. He was a very intelligent and creative man who lost his home and working studio at 60 years of age. So he spent the last decade of his life slogging around the globe playing small venues. It's too bad his colleagues and people in the music business couldn't have helped him financially so he could keep his home and studio. But knowing his temperament, he'd likely have been too embarrassed to accept any help. I know you were quoting Dylan but I don't listen to that stuff.


Was it divorce that ruined him? Divorce rates are staggering in our day, but for those who actually take the commitment seriously, a failed marriage can wreak financial and psychological havoc. From the male perspective, women often keep the friends and communal support, but men are left to their own devices, which can be far from ideal.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't want to speculate too much about anyone's private life, but he did in fact lose his home and studio to divorce. Anyway, I was glad to buy all of his albums and pay to see him perform three times. I'd have attended more concerts but that's all we had in my area over the course of 30 years.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> I haven't explored the earlier group he was in, which Simon Moon "the completist" forgot to mention. What was the name of that group?
> 
> BTW, I bought all the vinyl he was on AS IT CAME OUT, including the stuff with Bruford and Ponty. Rick Beato is the only other person I know of who followed Holdsworth this closely from the beginning.
> 
> Starthrower, thanks for the Presto tip.


Actually, I am not a completist. I am not a huge fan of his Synthaxe material.

But the name of his first band, that you may be referring to, is Igginbottom. They had one release, Igginbottom's Wrench.

Not very good.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Simon Moon said:


> Actually, I am not a completist. I am not a huge fan of his Synthaxe material.


I see this comment a lot which is too bad since so many great Holdsworth pieces employed that instrument. His soloing on Spokes is remarkable. It's so fluid it sounds like a violin.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

If anyone is interested, I noticed that Manifesto Records is selling all 12 remastered Holdsworth CDs for 53.99 on eBay. Brand new copies plus free shp. I just ordered my set. They have five left.


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