MARTONE – Clean

While it is a true fact that Instrumental is not one of the more popular genres out there today, it does have its place in music and it does have its die-hard fans. Having said that, don’t let Dave Martone’s new release Clean fool you into thinking it’s just another ordinary Instrumental put out there for the hell of it.

For those not familiar with Dave Martone, he’s Canada’s answer to USA’s Satriani and Vai, and a guitar virtuoso in every sense of the definition. Dave’s been around for a while having five solo projects under his belt to date (Shut Up and Listen-1995 thru Clean-2008) not to mention a couple of Live DVD’s and numerous compilations and collaborations with other well known and respected musicians throughout the music industry. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate with a minor in music education.

From where he resides in Vancouver, Canada, Dave teaches guitar, both at home and at Tom Lee Music, travels quite a bit conducting clinics for the National Guitar Workshop as well as for manufacturers of equipment he uses. Martone is also a NAMM trade show regular. His big love ultimately is playing and touring. He loves to be creative and even more so the feeling that there is nothing in his way to stifle his creativity or the music he wants to continue making.

For Clean, Dave wanted to produce it using a 3-piece band not relying heavily on studio production techniques. He wanted to incorporate strong melodies and a more organic texture of sounds to the overall sound of his new album. The Yngwie Malmsteen madness of his earlier work is way past him now. “How fast can people play anymore” Dave ponders at times. “I think it’s humanly impossible to go any faster. So I’m getting a little bit more into textures, and I want to integrate lots of different styles inside of the music.” This has never been so clear and evident as it is on this new album.

For Clean, Dave utilized the talents of Daniel Adair (Nickelback) on drums and David Spidel on bass. Adair has played on every one of Martone’s solo projects to date. For the finishing touch, he asked several colleagues and friends, all excellent musicians, to assist him with his latest project and play on one or two songs.

The eleven tracks on the album take up 46:16 of play time. Joe Satriani is asked to perform on “Nail Grinder” and lays down one of his patented solos.

Dave, needing a bassist who can kick it harder than almost anyone out there didn’t need to think too long. He immediately thought of none other than Billy Sheehan to perform bass duties on “Dinky Pinky.” At about 1:53 into the song until about 3:18, Sheehan takes over with his Yamaha Billy Sheehan Attitude 4-string and turns out an incredible solo that has you mesmerized. It almost sounds as if he is playing two bass parts at the same time, one overdubbing the other. Simply amazing!

Greg Howe whose career has taken off as a solo artist and as a session guitarist, is asked to showcase his fine playing style on “Hard Wired” and gives a flawless performance as does Jennifer Batten with her guitar solo on “Moron Face.” Bassist/producer/composer and virtuoso Ric Fierabracci, was chosen to perform on “Hard Wired” and “Turn On the Heater.” The other six tracks on the album are done by Martone, Adair and Spidel exclusively.

While it is true that Clean is labeled as an Instrumental, regarding genre specifically, Martone has done what he had set out to do and that is, it touches on a wide variety of musical styles, most notably Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Flamenco, Thrash, Prog, Blues.

This album is so good in so many ways and flows easily from beginning to end. If you are a fan of music in general you will love it-how can you not really when you have a wide array of musicians, playing styles and techniques, genres or musical styles, all integrated into one giant mix. If you are one of those who just love plain ‘ole guitar, bass and drums, but kicked up a notch, well you have that here with plenty to spare. Don’t be fooled or taken in by the Instrumental label associated with this project. Be daring this one time if you aren’t really sure what to buy next time out. Grab a copy of this and you will be glad you did way before you get to the last track.