allan holdsworth : what's the deal with this cat??

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never actually heard a note the guy has played. intriguing as was supposed to do something with one of the guys from meshuggah, yet supposedly "far out" jazz fusionism is 9 out of 10 times oh so disappointing david sandborn in 13/7 time style. what gives?

― bob snoom, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

he has nice guitartone: he is in late soft machine AND late gong = hmmm approach vewy vewy carefully

― mark s, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

His mimics sax like lines on his guitar. Interesting at first but he hasn't really changed over the years. 'Metal Fatigue" is probably the best one to pick up.

― john-paul, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A metal-head/noise-head friend of mine venerates him highly, but I've never heard a note. His name is very WWF, though.

― Clarke B., Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

His playing reminds me of a swarm of mosquitoes.

― Kris, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'he has nice guitartone' - WHEN he plays guitar. Unfortunately he tends toward this thing called a Synthaxe, which is somewhere between a Casio and a retarded cat. If latter instrument is mentioned anywhere on the record do not buy, abandon area, etc

― dave q, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(TS: mosquitos vs retarded cat)

(both of these sound GOOD!)

― mark s, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Excellent jazz/rock guitarist, one of the most distinctive guitar voices I've ever heard. Check out his playing on Gong's Gazeuse! (even though he dismisses his work with them and Soft Machine), U.K.'s debut, and his albums with Bill Bruford--awesome stuff. His own solo albums are pretty dull, though...Probably I.O.U. is the best one.

― Joe, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

If it's him playing on Soft Machine's "Softs" that has its moments, tho' it's by no means great IMO. I remember this guitar magazine w/pics of his hands w/fingers bent at unreasonable angles on the fretboard. It pained me to look at it. I prefer Fred Frith

― Norman Phay, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think Holdsworth plays on "Softs" (the guitar player on that one is John Etheridge); he is on the album "Bundles".

― Joe, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I never really got around to checking him out when I was in my fusion phase (although oddly enough I think I have a very clear idea of how he sounds since he spawned a lot of imitators), but I like his playing in the last version of Tony Williams Lifetime a good bit.

― Jordan, Sunday, 5 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hasn't he also make recs w/ super muso-fuso 'sticksman' Pete Erskine?

― Andrew L, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Listen to the lyrics in "Metal Fatigue" they make me laugh out loud every time I hear them.

― A Nairn, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

cats, well not real cats, but cats anyway used to run some argument long the lines of:
question: who's the fastest guitarist, evah?
answer: well, it's a tie between Alan Holdsworth and Al DiMeola.
...but Holdsworth plays with more soul, ergo - he wins!

what can i say? it was thuh seventies, y'know

― Paul, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Cats wuz right. ;)

― Joe, Monday, 6 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ten years pass...

What a dude. His solo on Jean Luc Ponty's "nostalgia" is gorgeous, bittersweet beach sunset

― brimstead, Saturday, 16 February 2013 00:46 (twelve years ago)

four years pass...

RIP :(

Definitely blasting Soft Machine's Bundles and Gong's Gazeuse! today...

― J. Sam, Sunday, 16 April 2017 19:46 (eight years ago)

Not many reports yet, but here's Satriani: https://twitter.com/chickenfootjoe/status/853683250987900928

― J. Sam, Sunday, 16 April 2017 19:47 (eight years ago)

Nooooo! One of my all time guitar heroes. RIP.

― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Sunday, 16 April 2017 20:42 (eight years ago)

Gutted

― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Sunday, 16 April 2017 22:59 (eight years ago)

three months pass...

never listened to Bundles by Soft Machine before (kinda avoided anything past Thirds) anyway this is pretty amazing

― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 17:08 (eight years ago)

shredder

― brimstead, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 20:10 (eight years ago)

eight years pass...

Had a professor who was ripped from the pages of the Sunday funnies--white hair, wore a black tee and black jeans as if it was his uniform, cursed like a sailor and was always talking about how he was in trouble with the ombudsman. He could get away with it though because he was tenured and all that. Any who, he played jazz guitar and raved about Allan Holdsworth.

What a weird guitarist. He sounds like public access tv and I love it.

― Ubiquitor, Sunday, 14 December 2025 02:24 (three weeks ago)

Holdsworth's technique was really developed, he has had many guitarists of note be awed by his skills. He's a bit of a musician on his instrument kinda like Jaco or John Coltrane was on theirs aka 'holy s##t how does he do that?'

Kinda sad thing about the skills was the guy never really was happy at all with his music and kind of struggled mighty to make it work.

― earlnash, Sunday, 14 December 2025 12:27 (three weeks ago)

that one album by uk is really great imo

― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Sunday, 14 December 2025 12:45 (three weeks ago)

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