Sixteen Men of Tain

This is a U.S. reissue of a 2000 European/Japanese release. It contains additional music and special packaging.Personnel: Allan Holdsworth (synthesizer, guitar); Walt Fowler (trumpet); Dave Carpenter (acoustic & electric basses); Gary Novak, Chad Wackerman (drums).Recorded at The Brewery, San Diego, California. Includes liner notes by Richard Heath.Coming on the heels of some rather mediocre efforts, The Sixteen Men of Tain is startlingly superb. Holdsworth has stripped away the distracting banks of keyboards and allowed his soaring, gliding guitar to shine through in a way it hasn't since the 1980s. Even the Synthaxe, Holdsworth's signature guitar synthesizer, sounds organic and immediate, not to mention far less prevalent than on previous albums. Dave Carpenter's acoustic bass is a radical departure (check out his solo on the title track), as are Walt Fowler's two guest appearances on trumpet. "The Drums Were Yellow," a burning guitar/drum duet tribute to the late Tony Williams,