''Heavy Machinery'' is a collaborative studio album by guitarist

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz and rock music, rock guitarist, violinist and composer. He contributed to numerous bands, including Soft Machine, U.K. (band), U.K., The Tony Williams Lifetime, Pierre Moerl ...

, keyboardist

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist. Jens got famous in the early 80's when he and his brother Anders (drums) joined Yngwie Malmsteen's "Rising Force". Jens is the son of the Swedish Jazz ...

and drummer Anders Johansson, released in 1996 through Heptagon Records (Sweden), and on 12 August 1997 through

Shrapnel Records Shrapnel Records is an American record label group founded by record producer Mike Varney. The group principally uses the ''Shrapnel Records'' record label, a guitar-oriented label which features shred guitar, hard rock, metal and progressive ...

(United States)Patterson, John W
"Heavy Machinery - Allan Holdsworth, Anders Johansson, Jens Johansson"
''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

''.

RhythmOne RhythmOne , a subsidiary of Nexxen, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went public on the Alternative Investment Market, ...

. Retrieved 16 September 2014. and

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

(Japan). Confusingly, on the album's European/US release, "Macrowaves" is made up of complete silence after 2:51, with an additional

improvised Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

"filler" keyboard and drum solo by the Johanssons at 23:46. On the Japanese release, "Macrowaves" only comprises the first part as normal without any silence; the silence has instead been moved to the bonus track, "The Moose Are Marching", where it fills the space from 7:59 to 20:45, after which the latter keyboard solo from "Macrowaves" ends the album.

Critical reception

John W. Patterson at

awarded ''Heavy Machinery'' three stars out of five, describing the album as "unforgettable fireworks of furious fusion" and "great jazz-rock fusion". He praised all three musicians for their intense playing, in particular comparing Holdsworth and Jens Johansson's jamming to the duo of guitarist

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

and keyboardist

Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...

, but remarked that the album is "just more intriguing than those Hammer/Beck excursions."

Track listing

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

SynthAxe The SynthAxe is a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller, created by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon, and Tony Sedivy and manufactured in England in 1985. It is a musical instrument that uses electronic synthesizers to produce sound and is controlled throu ...

–

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

bass synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, Johansson, Jens (4 June 2000)
"A list of some other FAQ's"
panix.com. Retrieved 16 September 2014.

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

* Anders Johansson –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, production Technical *Nolan Moffitte – engineering *Yoram Vazan – engineering *Krister Olsson – mastering

References

External links

Johansson/Holdsworth "Heavy Machinery"
at Guitar Nine {{DEFAULTSORT:Heavy Machinery (Album) Allan Holdsworth albums Jens Johansson albums 1996 collaborative albums Shrapnel Records albums Pony Canyon albums