extra and Tal Wilkenfeld. Lukather’s EXTRA guitar is fierce throughout. – OJ harmonies got driving support DESCENDENTS from Rodney Dillard’s rhythm Filmage: The Story of guitar. Their third album added Descendents/ALL 19-year-old fiddler Byron Berline on This doc shows how the a stellar all-instrumental set. – DF SWEET & LYNCH unlikely band of punk-rock nerds, THE Word Only To Rise fueled by gallons of coffee Soul Food George Lynch, formerly of and adolescent angst, welded Fourteen years later, The Word Dokken, and Michael Sweet hardcore volume to drummer/ returns with 12 ditties featuring of Stryper join bassist James mastermind Bill Stevenson’s the talents of John Medeski, Lomenzo and drummer Brian Tichy SoCal hooks, pioneering pop- Robert Randolph, and Luther for some upper-echelon late-’80s punk 15-plus years before it PUNCH BroTHErs Dickinson. This rich musical stew metal. Sweet and Lynch get along went mainstream. Loaded with The Phosphorescent Blues is an earthy blend of gospel tinged famously, providing a fist-pumping interviews, archival photos and Riding the bluegrass revival Southern-cooked rock. Randolph’s mix of fresh, melodic anthems, footage, it also examines the crest, this quartet is far more than pedal steel and Medeski’s and hard-charging rhythms. offshoot project ALL, and reveals a Bill Monroe homage act. Part organ intertwine harmoniously, Diabolical riffs, demonic solos, how Stevenson and the bands chamber-music escapees, part as Dickinson’s guitar punches and stratospheric vocals reign trumped long odds. – Dennis Pernu rockers, they could be labeled prog and soars among the best in awesomely supreme. – OJ bluegrass. Blending virtuosity with the jam-band tradition. – OJ subversive humor this adventur- ous album kicks off with the 10-minute-long “Familiarity.” – MD RHIANNON GIddENS TINslEY EllIS Tomorrow Is My Turn ElIZA NEAls Tough Love With supermodel looks and Breaking and Entering Ellis’ latest is workmanlike (in charisma to spare, it was inevi- Big plus marks to Detroit blues the best sense of the word) blues, table that Giddens would become UlI JON ROTH singer Neal who loads the deck soul, and rock. Whether it’s a more than just the clawhammer Scorpions Revisited with some of that musically rich classic slow blues like “Should I banjo player in the Carolina The godfather of neo-classical town’s finest guitar players, Have Lied,” a minor-key shuffle Chocolate Drops. Thankfully, metal returns to his old band including strongman Howard such as “Seven Years,” acoustic she didn’t abandon roots styles to revisit past glories, offer- Glaser, who co-wrote several pop/soul on “Give It Away,” or on her solo debut. Colin Linden ing a stimulating, double-disc of these tight, sassy tunes with some country funk à la Mark supplies distorted lead on Sister re-imagining classic old-school Neal. You’ll love Glaser’s Dobro on Knopfler with “Hard Work,” Ellis Rosetta Tharpe’s “Up Above Scorpions. Masterful guitar play- “Detroit Drive,” their bucolic ode delivers. Deft solos with a lot of My Head” and tasty slide on a ing, great songs, a killer band, and to the joys of the Motor City. – RA soul highlight each cut. – JH Dixie-esque treatment of Patsy vocalist Nathan James make this Cline’s “She’s Got You.” – DF release highly recommended. – OJ TOTO RYLEY WALKER Toto XIV Primrose Green THE DIllArds JOHN TropEA Reuniting core members Steve Walker blends pastoral acoustic Back Porch Gotcha Rhythm Right Here Lukather, David Paich, Steve fingerpicking, British folk, trippy Bluegrass/!!!Live!!!Almost!!!/ Veteran guitarist Tropea recalls Porcaro, and David Hungate with jams, and a self-serving wink Pickin’ And Fiddlin’ the heyday of the New York City Joseph Williams on vocals, this to David Crosby and Pentangle. When the Dillards’ first three funk-jazz scene of the ’70s and disc is saturated with per- He impresses the millennials by albums were released (1963 to ’80s on his latest. Great arrange- fectly constructed mood-softening successfully excavating obscure ’65), they were the most vis- ments set up his clean, tight, funky production, tranquilizing prog- strummy psychedelic acoustic ible bluegrass group, thanks to guitar playing to perfection. As pop-rock, and smooth ballads. acts of the ’60s, awarding him their alter egos, the Darlings, on you’d expect, lots of old friends Steely Dan drummer Keith well-earned hipster cred. Com- “The Andy Griffith Show.” Doug like Steve Gadd, Lou Marini, Randy Carlock offsets the atmosphere bined with impassioned NYC folk Dillard’s banjo, Dean Webb’s Brecker, and others join in, making with skillful muscle, supporting scene vocals, Walker’s got talent mandolin, and the group’s close this a tasteful fusion treat. – JH Lee Sklar, Michael McDonald, and soul in those fingers. – OJ June 2015 117 VINTAGE GUITAR.