User Profile
Rob Dwyer
Currently the "Tour Dates Guru" for Black-Sabbath.com, I was also the webmaster and creator of Sabbathlive.com. I have been playing guitar and writing music criticism since age 10. While I was raised on a heavy diet of Heavy Metal, Prog Rock & New Wave, my voracious appetite for music has made me open to music of numerous genres. I strive to be honest, but also judicious and fair in my musical reviews, while trying to avoid being too hateful.
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Rob Dwyer's Album Reviews
Easily one of my favorite albums EVER. Jimi & the Experience camped out in the studio to create this sprawling double album that contains absolutely NO filler. After completing two irreproachable masterpieces in ARE YOU EXPERIENCED & AXIS: BOLD AS LOVE, Jimi sets his sights for the stratosphere in creating this wonderfully diverse and genius record that guitarists and recording engineers will be referencing for years to come.
ELECTRIC LADYLAND is one of the finer examples from the burgeoning Album Rock format that was just taking flight in the late 60s. This album achieves a loose cohesion through Jimi's utilization of recurring musical themes. For example, the lengthy slow blues improvisation of "Voodoo Chile", reprises at the end of the album with the absolutely blazing tour-de-force "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)". They share the same basic musical theme, but the latter is forged in fire! Most guitarists who have ever owned a wah pedal have likely tried to emulate Jimi's opening licks, as this song is a primer in it's utilization! Also, the wonderful "Rainy Day, Dream Away" is reprises several songs later with "Still Raining, Still Dreaming".
Jimi's decision to pair a harpsichord with a wah wah pedal effected guitar on "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" was a very unique and interesting creative decision. The swirling "1983" suite (which includes "Moon, Turn The Tides...) is an beautiful & enthralling psychedelic epic.
And if all of that isn't enough, there's still Jimi's classic reading of the Dylan song "All Along The Watchtower" that has done much to reinforce his immortality as a guitar legend. ELECTRIC LADYLAND was a mammoth accomplishment that will definitely please us for many generations to come.
(Special thanks to my old friend Aaron Klehn for turning me on to this album back in high school.)
Highlights: "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)", "All Along The Watchtower", "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", "Gypsy Eyes", "Crosstown Traffic" for starters, but there isn't a dull track to be found.
ELECTRIC LADYLAND is one of the finer examples from the burgeoning Album Rock format that was just taking flight in the late 60s. This album achieves a loose cohesion through Jimi's utilization of recurring musical themes. For example, the lengthy slow blues improvisation of "Voodoo Chile", reprises at the end of the album with the absolutely blazing tour-de-force "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)". They share the same basic musical theme, but the latter is forged in fire! Most guitarists who have ever owned a wah pedal have likely tried to emulate Jimi's opening licks, as this song is a primer in it's utilization! Also, the wonderful "Rainy Day, Dream Away" is reprises several songs later with "Still Raining, Still Dreaming".
Jimi's decision to pair a harpsichord with a wah wah pedal effected guitar on "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp" was a very unique and interesting creative decision. The swirling "1983" suite (which includes "Moon, Turn The Tides...) is an beautiful & enthralling psychedelic epic.
And if all of that isn't enough, there's still Jimi's classic reading of the Dylan song "All Along The Watchtower" that has done much to reinforce his immortality as a guitar legend. ELECTRIC LADYLAND was a mammoth accomplishment that will definitely please us for many generations to come.
(Special thanks to my old friend Aaron Klehn for turning me on to this album back in high school.)
Highlights: "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)", "All Along The Watchtower", "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", "Gypsy Eyes", "Crosstown Traffic" for starters, but there isn't a dull track to be found.
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