MARTY FRIEDMAN

Marty Friedman, most famed for his stint in Megadeth including his virtuosic lead guitar work in what, for me, is the thrash legends seminal album, 'Rust in Peace', has been exercising his skills in the capacity as a solo artist for the last few years. Now living in Tokyo, Japan, I understand he has garnered mass popularity in the Far East since going it alone and it is perhaps, therefore, no surprise that his latest solo opus alludes to his new home ground in both title, 'Tokyo Jukebox', and the nature of the music thereon - a series of J-pop cover versions. That is to say, cover versions Friedman style....although only as a logical guess as J-pop (or, Japanese Pop) is not a genre I admit to being familiar with at all. The album, entirely instrumental, is chock-full of Friedman-isms as he shreds and emotively plays his way through each guitar-centric interpretation of these J-pop tunes. However, without a point of comparison, I'm unable to judge the ingenuity or innovation in his re-imagining of the covers but can only marvel at his masterful musicianship. Opening track 'Tsume Tsume Tsume' is a surprisingly heavy number with its up tempo blast-beat shredaholic intro and repeated bursts of heaviness throughout, interposed with more restrained melodic passages and fretboard virtuosity in equal measure. However, this will perhaps lure the listener into a false sense of what follows for each of the remainder tracks pertains to a more heavy-pop-rock fusion rather than out and out heaviness. Although 'Tokyo Jukebox' is a fairly enjoyable listen, I feel it would probably have more significance to those native of Japan whereas to the Western listener, or at least those Western listeners with no affinity to J-pop, some of the tracks come across as a little cheesy in their melodic foundations. And it must be said, that picture of Friedman on the cover - either he's aged remarkably well (at 48) or an old/airbrushed photo has been used. Overall, not bad, but it's certainly breaking no new ground in the realm of instrumental guitar-based albums.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Mascot Records

Album

TOKYO JUKEBOX

Review by Mark Holmes

RUNNING TIME:

57:48

RELEASE DATE:

1st March 2010

TRACK LISTING

1) Tsume Tsume Tsume
2) GIFT
3) Amagigoe
4) Story
5) Polyrhythm
6) Kaeritakunattayo
7) TSUNAMI
8) Yuki No Hana
9) Eki
10) Sekai Ni Hitotsu Dake No Hana
11) Romance No Kamisama
12) Ashita He No Sanka

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"...chock-full of Friedman-isms as he shreds and emotively plays his way through each guitar-centric interpretation of these J-pop tunes."