Artist: Friedman, Marty
Label: Mascot Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 3/5
What the Punk movement meant for songwriters, the “loudspeaker” means to guitarists everywhere. And what you’ll find on the album “Loudspeaker” is a full-on guitar “Blitzkrieg” aimed at your speakers, which surely won’t come out of the listening session undamaged. OK, jokes aside, it definitely won’t be that bad. The dynamism and ferocity are most likely also down to the involvement of several musicians from the island nation of Japan, and the fact that Marty Friedman has been living in Tokyo for a good while now, smack in the middle of Japan’s fanatical society. Right after release, Loudspeaker took an honorable 20th place on the “Japanese Top 20”. On the very first day of its official release it was literally snapped up, with 10,000 copies sold. The first limited edition, unlike the one we have in front of us today, featured a vocal version of the track “Static Rain”, which was replaced by an instrumental on this release.
Looking back, we quickly realize that plenty of hard rock bands had Mega star status in Japan, and some of the greatest live albums ever were born right there. Just think of Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Dokken, and so on. It’s no secret that when DP lost Blackmore, they picked Joe Satriani as a temporary replacement precisely because of the huge status he already had in the land of the rising sun. And plenty of ex-rock giants survived the late eighties and early nineties, when hard rock was partly in decline, thanks to the Japanese market, and they’re still making a solid living off it today.
Turning to the album itself, the intro to Loudspeaker is the track “Elixir”, and it tips off the attentive listener right away about what the album has to offer. Fierce, loud guitars with a powerful rhythm section that sometimes shamelessly flirts with the old punk rock school. The opening of “Street Demon” is one such track, and you could easily compare it to a sped-up version of the Sex Pistols and their “God Save the Queen”. While the drums in “Paradise Express” hold down a kind of tribal rhythm, Marty’s guitar takes on an Arabic-flavored pentatonic that, honestly, sounds really sweet.
Compared to his glory days, when Marty sold over 10 million albums as a member of Megadeth, the guy surely finally craved an uncompromising, loud and aggressive rock album where he could show off some of his overcooked guitar variations. Although he has never hidden his chops (as the series of Guitar Schools releases confirms…), Marty’s big gamble on Loudspeaker, with the help of a few high-profile names, paid off nicely.
The Japanese-titled “Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana” is good proof of that. And although “Glycerine flesh” may be an even better example, and an even more melodic, country-tinged track, the former is definitely the more wildly Japanese of the two. On it Marty even plays all the bass lines himself, while Jens Johanssen shows up as a special guest on keyboards, better known for working with his identical twin in Malmsteen’s band Rising Force. The trio of Friedman/Colson/Masaki works together as a “power trio”, which really shines in the brutal track “Stigmata addiction”, where Marty once again shows off his skills in a dazzling guitar solo.
The track “Viper” is rounded out as a duet by none other than the illusionist Steve Vai. The result is some magical experimental guitar sequences, and it’s only a matter of time before Friedman shows up alongside Vai and Satriani on one of the (at least Japanese) G3 tours. Earlier, in “Black orchid”, another guitar master who has already taken part in that G3 project takes a spot. That’s the “dream” guitarist John Petrucci, who fills the track with a good 52 seconds of tireless guitar soloing, no less. The length of the solo is even nitpickingly mentioned in the album’s booklet.
For my taste, the weirdest track on the album is definitely, again polyglot, “Coloreas mi vida”. Not only is it made up of quirky vocals, but the bass line on it was played by none other than ex-Japan bassist Mick Karn. And Mick Karn is certainly not a guy you’d associate with working with Marty Friedman, right? A strange mix, for sure. Stylistically and melodically, the track itself is closest to Santana. And if you love the Santana brand, it’s the one for you.
The closing track “Devil take tomorrow” features a gorgeous string arrangement that nicely wraps up the album with a punchy, melodic setting, which for me personally is the album’s main note.
With the main aim of fast, punchy rock tracks, Loudspeaker at its core also serves up some thinly veiled emotionality. Very much in line with Japan’s cruel reserve, the cultural-folkloric heritage of the land of the rising sun is apparently a very contagious thing, and it quickly infected Marty himself. On top of that, Marty is also a judge on the TV show “Uta sta” in Japan, the Japanese version of the TV show “American Idol”. (We don’t have a comparable TV show in Slovenia yet.) Together with the “Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra,” Marty is also currently preparing his own setting of a TV musical. A hardworking, talented guy, no doubt! And there’s no doubt the chemistry between the musicians on Loudspeaker will grab you too, as it uncompromisingly hits the eardrums of your home audio systems.
Lineup
Marty Friedman – guitar, bass
Billy Sheehan – bass
Masaki – bass
Mick Karn – bass
Ikuo – bass
Ryuichi Nishida – drums
Jeremy Colson – drums
Tetsu Mukaiyama – drums
Guest musicians:
John Petrucci – guitar
Steve Vai – guitar
Jens Johanssen – keyboards
Production
Marty Friedman
Track list
1. Elixer
2. Street Demon
3. Black Orchid
4. Paradise Express
5. Untitled
6. Glycerine Flesh
7. Stigmata Addiction
8. Viper
9. Static Rain
10. Coloreas Mi Vida
11. Devil Take Tomorrow
