surfacings 1: raw power
| Format | CD |
| Country | USA |
| Recorded | 1990-96 |
| Issued | 1999 |
| Label | First World Music |
| Cat no. | FWD 99.01 |
| Playing time | - |
| Reviewer | Trond Gjellum |
| TREY GUNN surfacings 1: raw power |
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Trey Gunn ought to be well known for most prog interested people as the bassist in King Crimson. That Gunn in addition for several years has had a very interesting solo carreer, is probably less well known. He has gradually found his own musical ground in the borderland between various ethnic music (especially Arabic and Indian), avant garde, and rock with influences from King Crimson’s 80- and 90s production. In other words, an expression which, in an increasingly chaotic musical environment, appears as a fresh and unique breath of creativity. His exciting and unique use of the special string instruments Stick and Warr guitars, is also contributing to the sound which is more or less exclusively his.
This album consists of various demos and out-takes from previously issued studio albums. Even if the material on the record spans almost seven years, we find several common musical ideas, and even in the earliest recordings, which by the way have been made under quite primitive conditions with a minimum of modern recording equipment, the high musical quality is distinct. You can recognize themes and riffs from later releases, and it is fun to hear how musical ideas have been developed over the years. A lot of the out-takes from the studio albums is of a very high quality, and as Gunn himself says in the accompanying booklet, the reason that these recordings did not end up on these releases was not a lack of quality, but the fact that they did not fit the musical unity of these records.
Quite often, albums of this type can be a mixed bag, but Raw Power contains so much high quality material, that this record ought to be obligatory for anybody liking Gunn’s solo output as well as his work on King Crimson’s records.
© 2001 Tarkus Magazine