Billy Sheehan Holy Cow
by Alissa Ordabai
Staff Writer
Blaring finger vibrato, screaming pinch harmonics, two-hand hammering – the virtuoso of modern bass Billy Sheehan has always had a very guitaristic approach to playing his instrument. He even goes as far as playing chords on the bass – something everyone, including his old bass instructor, told him he couldn’t do. Why, you ask. You’d think it was for showing off, the way Jimmy Page used to play with a bow, until you actually heard the end result. And the end result is music of amazing fluidity, latitude and depth. Never shy about helping people to understand what he does, Sheehan once explained why his unorthodox technique developed the way it did. In his interview to Musician magazine back in 1989, he succinctly clarified that all his tricks and ploys serve to make up for the missing rhythm guitar while playing in a three-piece line-up.
But it’s not only three-piece outfits like Sheehan’s first ever band Talas, or the most recent one, Devil’s Slingshot, that turned him into the musician he is today. Stints with David Lee Roth, Steve Vai and a plethora of other rock greats, including years in Mr. Big, have allowed Sheehan not only keep his instrumental chops in shape, but also provided him with enough variety to expand his view on songwriting. And Sheehan’s third solo album Holy Cow is very much about that – a song-oriented record touching upon the very essence of the interaction between the melody and the rhythm.
There are poignantly resonant echoes of the Beatles’ Revolver era multi-vocal splendour on the standout “A Bloodless Casualty”, a finely wrought and elegant tune, but melodic sensibility is not the only line which runs through this record. “Theme from an Imaginary Sci-Fi” is a hurtling instrumental number showcasing Sheehan’s extraordinary technique, while “Cell Towers”, another instrumental, serves as a contrast by painting a wholly different atmosphere – moody and overcast, especially when juxtaposed by frantic dashing breaks with rhythmic patterns so complex they lead you straight into awe-struck head-spinning tizzy. Them virtuosos.
Sheehan plays bass, sings, plays harmonica and guitars on almost all of the tracks, with just a few exceptions, the most notable of which are the appearance of Billy Gibbons on “A Lit’l Bit’l Do It To Ya Ev’ry Time” and Paul Gilbert on “Dynamic Exhilarator”. Gibbons, as if by magic, bestows his instantly recongnisable lure on the track he guests on right off the bat, even at the point when he still only plays little fills between the first couple of verses. But when the time comes for him to solo, his genius unfolds in all its glory: his part is nothing but tension, elegance, and pure sex appeal (or should it be “appeal for sex”?) rolled in one – Southern blues-rock at its best as only he can play it. By contrast, on “Dynamic Exhilarator” Gilbert is his usual exuberant self, setting the track on fire with awe-inspiring fretborad pyrotechnics. Sheehan can’t resist to follows suit and dishes out firework chops by the bucket, with abandon that is more befitting of a 20 year-old. But then again, this musician has never been concerned with restrictions of age, era, or genre.
While Sheehan’s bass parts sound guitaristic, his guitar leads, unsurprisingly, come through as bass-influenced, and the point here in not lack of fluidity, but rather his guitar’s deep sonorous tone, the chunky textures, and the rhythm-oriented precision with which he approaches those solos. His distinctive sound signature puts its stamp even here, with exact, forceful phrasing exploring the structure of a rhythm within a melodic form, at once vigorous and graceful.
Overall, this is a diverse record encompassing moods from quite contemplation to relentless energy making you wonder how one can have the sophistication and the erudition befitting of a jazz player but still get his kicks from playing rock. For that you most certainly have to be not only a musician but a true fan of rock’n’roll. And Billy Sheehan, thank god, somehow manages to remain both.
Label: Mascot Records
Track Listing:
1. In a Week or Two (I’ll Give It Back to You)
2. A Lit’l Bit’l Do It to ‘Ya Ev’ry Time
3. Dynamic Exhilarator
4. A Bloodless Casualty
5. Make It to Another Day (I Keep Rolling on My Way)
6. Just Another Humanoid
7. Turning Point
8. Theme from an Imaginary Sci Fi
9. Another Broken Promise
10. Two People Can Keep a Secret (If One of Them is Dead)
11. Cell Towers
12. She Goes from Cruel to Missionary
13. Sweat on an E String
HRH rating: 7/10