John West
Track by track.

14-06-2006

JOHN WEST

A TRACK BY TRACK comment…for JOHN WEST brand new album "Long Time…No Sing" by John himself.

"Let Us Pray"- It's the intro instrumental piece for the album. Kind of a church, pipe organ sound and a religious title. Played marvelously by Lonnie Park (Cozy Powell). A cool opener and a sharp contrast to the following song…

"Fade"- It's a song about a desperate man who is searching for his lost faith. Very cool demon part sung by my talking guitar box. I wrote this together with Kevin Hampton, a great guitarist who played with Frank Hannon of Tesla in a band called Moon Dog Mane. I love the modern, heavy sound of this track.

"Set Me Free"- This is a song Lonnie and I wrote in 1988 or so. We were in a band called Destiny in N.Y. I always wanted to do a modern version of this one, and here it is. Really strong AOR chorus, me on lead guitar (I played all the leads on this album!) I like to put one of my old songs on each album if I can.

"Give Me A Sign"- Another cool song from Chris Caffery and myself. The working title was "ZZFLOYDSNAKE". It's a combination of styles from three great legends. Lyrically, its about a guy looking for a sign from his higher power. Probably another chapter from the guy in "Fade". Maybe it's me? Maybe not.

"Highway To Roppongi"- I wrote this in my hotel in Tokyo on a promo visit for "Earth Maker". I was given a beautiful acoustic guitar by Yamaha and the songs were flying out of it the first nite! I brought the song to Lonnie and he helped me finish it with his input. I love the retro sound and production. The lead guitar sound is ridiculously cool! This song could have been on Deep Purple's Stormbringer album!

"Over My Head"- Again with Kevin Hampton here. He brings such a cool modern vibe to this track. Lyrically, it's about an unreachable female. This is why I do solo albums. You are not confined to one sound, style, or lyrical direction. Jeff Plate plays drums on this whole album. The grooves are genius! It's no wonder he's the new drummer for Metal Church.

"The One That Got Away"- Lonnie Park on rhythm guitar. This was his riff from the beginning. It's heavy and AOR at the same time. I like this direction. Different from anything on my other solo stuff. This is also the first time I've played all the lead guitars on a record, so it's a big step for me. The chorus is cool and catchy with Johnny and Lonnie vocals everywhere.

"Falling Down"- This is a real different side of Chris Caffery. His solo stuff is so friggin' heavy! I don't think people realize how well rounded of a songwriter/guitar player he really is. This song could have been on a Whitesnake album. The sound of this album is very realistic. We didn't muck it up with layer after layer of keyboards and vocals. We recorded the whole thing basically at Ultimate Music in Cortland, N.Y.

"Slipping Away"- It's a modern AOR type song. Sounds like Hoobastank or Goo Goo Dolls to me. This song should be on the radio every half hour for the next 6 months, then I'll be rich, rich, rich!!! Ha ha ha ha….

"One More Lie"- It's heavy, it's groovin, it's modern. I love this track! Check out the killer guitar solo! Jeff Plate on drums folks… More riffs from the mind of Kevin Hampton. He and I write cool songs together. I want to continue writing in this style with him. Lonnie Park on bass, keys and backing vocals. He's Mr. Swiss-army knife guy.

"Better Believe"- This is a ballad, like they used to make ballads. They just don't make ‘em like they used to. But we do…Get your lighters up!! This song was also written on the magic Yamaha guitar in Japan!

"Puerto Amor"- Here we go it's Johnny and Lonnie time!! An instrumental track with myself and Mr. Park just free-style riffin'! This is pretty much push record, and let the tape roll, and see what we come up with. It's cool…it sounds like Santana or Jeff Beck in a way. The title is a nod to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, where I visited last year and fell in love with it.