How Long

Michael Thompson is an American guitarist who every few years records an album under his own name or plays on a ton of projects as a session musician. No matter how much musical fashions keep shifting, the US always needs capable instrumentalists. Michael Thompson slowly built a career as a studio guitarist, getting to know the scene and making contacts. In the mid-eighties he got the chance to record his first album, since he wanted to show what he could do as a creative force, not just as a hired gun. So in 1989 the album called How Long came out under the Michael Thompson Band (MTB) banner. Thompson’s friend Rick Moon Calhoun became the singer, and the lineup was rounded out by more of Michael’s buddies. How Long is the unsung dream of many a musician who’s into AOR or similarly polished rock. A refined approach to musical ideas, meticulous playing, total faith in and dedication to the songs, and a hunger for success all glow from this record, which runs well over an hour. Today How Long counts as a classic of its genre. Even though it’s now old enough to vote, it hasn’t lost a drop of the positive energy and directness that won people over when it first came out. True, back then Slovenian fans couldn’t catch news of the release of this and similar records everywhere, because the circumstances were completely different from today. We’d heard Thompson was a great guitarist, but even in record stores abroad this album wasn’t in the window, just on some far-off shelf. And on the wish list for trips abroad it was maybe closer to the bottom and never got its turn to be bought. That’s exactly why it’s fair, nice and smart that there are still some fighters out there (Frontiers Records from Naples) who made it possible to re-release How Long, remastered and beefed up with extras. The songs are really the crowning achievements of many a songwriter who helped Thompson out. Drop the names Billy Trudell, Jeff Paris, Adrian Gurvitz, Martin Walsh, Mark Spiro and Brett Walker and it’s clear there’s no messing around here. The standouts on the album are the gorgeous ballad Give Love A Chance, Wasteland with its convincing intro, and the bouncy Can’t Miss. The performance comes very close to perfection, especially Thompson’s guitar, whose presence is a blend of a wide palette of tones that Michael spent a long time building as a studio cat. I simply get the feeling that for the atmosphere of every song he used exactly the tone that suits it best. That, and the superb musicianship, is where the greatness of a true master musician shows. How Long has been beautifully remastered, and they’ve added three previously unreleased tracks. Two of them are from the album sessions but weren’t included at the time of the first release, while Wheelchair is a new half-ballad from the pens of Thompson, Jeff Paris and Moon Calhoun, and it holds up decently against the passage of time. Supposedly this lineup is set to release a new album sometime in 2008, and I hope it’ll be a lot better than T.R.W – Rivers of Paradise. How Long is full of excellent music that can help any modern orphan with ears stuffed full of instant masterpieces peek over the wall and treat themselves to some real enjoyment. An elegant musical experience for the ages!