Guitar (Enemy ‘86) Rating: A-
A curious case, Sonny Sharrock was a pioneering avant-garde jazz guitarist in the ‘60s who took the ‘70s off, probably due to disgust over the lack of acknowledgement of, and appreciation for, his previous contributions (for example, his uncredited guest appearance on Miles Davis’ A Tribute To Jack Johnson). He started recording again when he joined forces with Bill Laswell’s monstrous supergroup, Last Exit, in the mid-‘80s, and he then unleashed this hard won cult classic in 1986 at the ripe old age of 47. On the aptly titled Guitar, this extraordinary guitarist, who is obviously from the raw emotion over technical proficiency school of guitar (though he’s plenty proficient), puts on a dazzling display that caused SPIN writer Mike Rubin to marvel at his “unique ability to freeze incredible beauty and utter brutality in consecutive notes.” Loud and marvelously lyrical, wild and showy but always melodic, Sharrock’s mostly mid-tempo material displays chops to spare yet often relies on the sheer beauty of long held notes rather than blazing riffery. Not that he doesn’t supply the latter, as there’s lots going on in the background of even the simplest songs here, as Sharrock unleashes layers of multi-tracked guitars to come on like a one-man gang, which understandably limits the albums appeal to non-guitar fanatics. But this album is an amazing example of what can be accomplished with an electric guitar (which sometimes sounds like a synthesizer on the album’s more ambient moments), and fans of Joe Satriani, Stevie Vai, Eric Johnson (not to mention Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane, his most obvious influences when he really lets loose), and their likes should run, not walk, to the nearest record store and lay down whatever it takes.