Although the spacey cover art would suggest a musical direction suitable to acts like Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulz, most of the music contained herein is acoustic. California Guitar Trio are no newbies either, since Andromeda celebrates the bands twentieth anniversary. The guitar players involved in this project are: Paul Richards (Salt Lake City, Utah); Bert Lams of Affligem, Belgium; and Hideyo Moriya of Chiba, Japan. Even if unlikely to meet one day, these guitarists actually got together in England while studying under King Crimson's leader, Robert Fripp; and what a great player and musician to learn from! They later toured with the Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists, before establishing home in Los Angeles.
You know about the musicians, now let's talk about the music. "Too bad it had to ends" are the last words in my notes. True that Andromeda last a little under forty minutes, but as a guitar player and music lover, I could have easily taken a double or triple album of such exquisite tonalities. Aside from the trio, there are numerous musicians' contributions in various aspects such as: percussions, keyboards, viola, bass, marimba and from Chapman Stick's master, Tony Levin. One of the great points here remains in the fact this is a purely instrumental album, so no distractions from a vocalist interfering with the sheer joy of musical work. Being a passionate acoustic guitar player, the music recorded here only stroke a sensitive strings, so to speak. Even though the musical direction differs from my playing, the California Guitar Trio plays a universal music that will appeal to every guitar player and many a music lover as well. Indeed, nothing bad is to be heard on this release, just a series of great or excellent and exquisite compositions. Their take on the acoustic guitar has a genuine progressive slant woven into their structure. Absolutely pleasant guitar tones across the board are the thing to remember here. You will hear beautiful music being played by accomplished musicians who undoubtedly possess mature songwriting skills. At times, you feel like you are listening to some vintage Genesis with those high sounding notes and arpeggios, most likely created by the use of a capo. They always kept a melodic line going, so this is easy to listen too. In addition, the different instruments and keyboards add variation in the mood of the musical pieces. I can only find great music on this disc, but to pinpoint some outstanding tracks: "Cathedral Peak", "Andromeda", "Hazardous Z" and "Portland Rain".
Andromeda is definitely an album to have if you're a true music lover and an acoustic guitar fanatic.
Track listing:
1- Cathedral Peak
2- Turn of the Tide
3- Andromeda
4- Improv IX
5- Hazardous Z
6- Chacarera
7- Improv VII
8- Middle of TX
9- Improv VIII
10- Portland Rain
11- Improv I