The Devil's Been Busy ~ by: Victor Gann

Here's an instrumental album from yet another nimble-fingered fellow who lets his guitar do the talking. Not so much inclined to “fusion” or “experimental” tangents, Gann is just a guy who has melodies and riffs in his head, and has to let them out, and lucky for the listener, it's pretty much straight-ahead rock, with both power and melody. Listen to A.R.O and hear how Gann takes a primal rock progression and pairs it with licks he's cribbed from Chuck Berry (like everybody else, so there ain't no shame there!) -- and then he builds on the foundation, getting feet tapping and keeping interest high. And he follows that energetic pulse-pounder with the sweetly harmonious "Beyond the Sun," evoking the kinds of feelings also elicited by an emotion-channeling track such as Joe Satriani's "You're My World." Then again, he’s also expert with acoustic play, as heard in “Shannon and Victoria.” Yeah, this Victor is in some good company, as you should recognize when you hear him exploring the difficult reaches of his guitar's neck, bringing the trills and arpeggios home alive for you, the lucky listener. "Black Gold" goes for a crunchy, alternating-speaker intro, followed by a sinuous secret-agent journey up and down the frets. And back to the title track, -- well, the tune drives so vigorously that you know that Victor’s own fingers are probably never idle, so therefore he’s just keeping that busy devil at bay with his own inspired music. You just have to admire a guy who lists his two main influences as Joe Satriani, fine, and Angus Young, woo-hoo, horns up, everybody! http://www.victorgann.com/