''Heavy Machinery'' is a collaborative studio album by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, keyboardist

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist who currently plays in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed neoclas ...

and drummer Anders Johansson, released in 1996 through Heptagon Records (Sweden), and on 12 August 1997 through Shrapnel Records (United States)Patterson, John W
"Heavy Machinery - Allan Holdsworth, Anders Johansson, Jens Johansson"
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AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

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. Retrieved 16 September 2014. and

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affi ...

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

improvised Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

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

Track listing

Personnel

* Allan Holdsworth –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, SynthAxe *

–

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 * Musi ...

bass synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) 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 use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, 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 stati ...

* Anders Johansson – drums, 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 albums Shrapnel Records albums Collaborative albums Pony Canyon albums