CARL VERHEYEN
Atlas Overload (Provogue)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Perhaps best known to audiences as the guitarist that replaced Rodger Hodgson in Supertramp, few pickers are better known to the ranks of producers. They've brought Carl Verheyen into the studios for sessions with artists including Cher, Tiffany, The Bee Gees, Jane Siberry and Dave Grusin, as well as for soundtrack projects like The Crow, Moscow On The Hudson, Strange Days and The Milagro Beanfied Wars.

Needless to say, the man can play. Just about anything, just about anytime. This is the guitarist that John Fogerty went to for lessons when it was time to tighten up his Country & Western chops. Verheyen is happiest, though, and perhaps at his best, when he joins drummer Steve Di Stanislao and bassist Cliff Hugo, straps on a Strat and plays the blues and blues-inspired material he composes for his own band.

Actually, he uses a range of styles and instruments on this disc, and that versatility is one of the most appealing and impressive aspects of the music, but the blues provide an anchore, and when his original 12-bar, "Wasted Blues," came to an end I found myself hoping he'd do a straight blues session next time around. Verheyen is far more than your typical blues-rock shredder, though he's fully capable of that. He plays with a range of expression that puts him far beyond anything that could be considered "typical."

Until that all blues, all the time, disc hits the shelves, though, this one provides a look at several sides of the kalidescopic talents of Carl Verheyen. You might like some of them better than others, but there's nothing not to like, and a lot to love, about this album.

Track List:

Revival Downs * Chinatown * Atlas * Nordenham * Stand Up * Find Her Way * Funkadiddy * 9:05 * Mumba * Confident Lie * Wasted Blues

© 2000 - Shaun Dale