CoC : Vinnie Moore - Out of Nowhere : Review

Vinnie Moore - _Out of Nowhere_
(Mayhem Records, 1996)
by: Brian Meloon (3 out of 10)

This disc is labelled (c)1996 Mayhem Records, (p)1994 Sony Music, making me guess that it was recorded in 1994, and Sony planned to release it, but thought better of it after realizing what a piece of crap it is. I had a really bad feeling about it after _Meltdown_ (Vinnie's 1991 disc on Relativity) and after reading the song titles (e.g. "Move That Thang!" and "VinMan's Brew"). After listening to half of it, I really dreaded listening to the rest of it. The halfway decent song (yes, only one) sounds like something that wasn't quite good enough for _Meltdown_, and the rest of it is generic instrumental bluesy hard rock. Quite frankly, I don't see the point of this record. There's nothing on here that is in any way original. All of the riffs you've probably heard many times before. Even the playing is subdued. We all know that Vinnie is a fast player, but here he only cuts loose a few times, and those are usually with tired blues licks. It's painful to hear Vinnie try to play with "feeling," when "feeling" has never been his forte. His strength lies in playing fast, precise guitar lines and sweep-picked arpeggios, which are antithetical to the blues philosophy of "less notes = better." This disc is entirely forgettable, and I'm sure it will put Vinnie right back where he was before it was released... nowhere.

(article published 10/5/1996)

ALBUMS
7/7/1999	B Meloon	7	Vinnie Moore - The Maze