Antares: The Grand Design

July 10, 1997

I recently obtained a copy of Antares' second CD, "The Grand Design" which I paid for, so this review is not in payoff for a free CD. Antares is Joe Rodriguez, an Orlando guitar player who has been featured in national guitar magazines and who has won Jammy Awards - he often plays in the local area. As a fan of instrumental music, I looked forward to his latest CD. I've listened to it at least five times, and the more I listen to it, the more I like it.

This CD does not sound like a local effort. The production is excellent and the packaging is professional, which does not mean anything if the music sucks. I can say that this CD does NOT suck. It's excellent with many melodic guitar lines, stylistic mixtures from Satriani and Vai (The Granddesign) to Metallica (Hemisfear II) to very tasteful classical nylon string guitar (Diamonds in the Dirt) along with a lot of good rock guitar, and one unusual secret track that shows up after five minutes or so of silence.

This is not to say that Rodriguez sounds like every other guitar player and throws lots of notes in just to show off being able to play a lot of notes. It is, in fact, quite the opposite. Every time I listen to it, I hear other bits and pieces that make me think, "Hey...that's really good." What is even more impressive is that this was basically done by one person with some guest appearances by Dave LaRue (Dixie Dregs, Steve Morse Band), Chris Charles, Scott Stover and David Cowen and engineering by Jon Smith.

Check it out. You can hear (and purchase!) the CD and meet Joe at Jani Lane's Sunset Strip next Saturday (July 12) from 7 to 9 p.m. at his CD release listening party.

Murf Murphy
Murf is a registered professional engineer....(i.e. haircut and a real job) who loves to play guitar. Vist Murf's home page. He lives with (1) wife who wishes he would grow up, (1) teenager who wonders how his parents got to this point in their lives without his help, (2) dogs who sleep a lot, (1) ferret who attacks when not looking and (1) cat who is basically useless.