GUITAR 9
From the opening rhythmic chug and knuckle-busting, hyper-speed soloing of "I'm
Heavy" to the chops-happy crunch of "Hot Sounds" to the frenetic chickin'
pickin' of "The Crazy Chicken" to the furious, wah-enhanced riffage on
"Bites", you'll know you're hearing a major league guitar player at work. Music Guitar Box, the second solo outing from
Spain's Jose De Castro, is a fifty-minute, all-instrumental affair filled with
the kinds of songs you wish you could play - but 'cha better keep practicing,
since Jose is twelve riffs ahead. De Castro was able to land some superb
musicians to assist him on his sophomore effort, including drummers Simon
Phillps, Maurizio Sgaramella and Enzo Filippone, keyboardist Denis Bilanin,
and Melvin Lee Davis holding down the low end. This is a top to bottom
knockout, with lots of melodious and quietly passionate lead guitar balancing
out the explosive shredding moments.
BLUE DEREST
‘Music
Guitar Box’ – guitar fever ...
Last year, bluedesert.dk wrote about
José de Castro, or ’Jopi’ among friends – a most unusual Spanish guitar
dude... Now, he’s back – and this time even more spectacular. ’Music Guitar
Box’ features LA top players Simon Phillips on drums (TOTO) and Melvin Lee
Davis on bass (Chaka Khan and Lee Ritenour).
Quite amazing work again from our Latin guitar fever friend, Jopi ...
By Sune Schack, bluedesert.dk
Jopi – you better get used to his name! Awesome
Madrid-based guitar sound and mind-blowing techniques – surely, not everyday
stuff in today’s music world full of non-musicians, MTV crap – here today,
gone tomorrow...
With ’Music Guitar Box’, Jopi shows us his magic sound,
and why he’s defin itely here tomorrow – and the day after tomorrow for that
matter. A journey into sound and guitar passion. No doubt that Jopi’s heart
beats for quality music – and luckily for us all, also for west coast music.
On his first album ’Un poco de lo mío’, we described him as a standout
virtuoso with roots VERY similar to Hendrix and Lukather... And sure, his
influences derive from Hendrix & Luke, but hey, Jopi has his own style in
between the masters – with a twist of heavy-fusion, rock ’n’ roll and west
coast and even 70s fusion funk.
Simon Phillips plays 3 tracks on the CD: ’Hot sounds’ (track 2), ’Thousand
words’ (track 7) and ’Bites’ (track 9). Simon’s playing speaks for itself,
waste of time describing his techniques, he’s Simon Phillips, right? However,
what’s really more important is the REAL MUSIC and RESPECT that stars like
Simon and Melvin get when they participate in projects like this ... No big
budget, no prima donna stuff – just playing for time, showing us all what
music is really about!
Melvin Lee Davis takes care of the bottom (bass) line –
bass on all tracks of this CD – and after listening to his grooves, you’ll
know why Melvin’s 5 & 7 strings bass playing is world-class. Melvin is Melvin
– Mr. Tight .... high and low, he’s all over the place – and never muddy.
Fantastic!
Let’s not forget the Spanish drummer, Maurizio
Sgaramella, playing on 5 tracks – he’s a pretty remarkable drummer too – also
featured on Jopi’s last CD. Standout track is without doubt no. 5 ’Tic, tac,
time’ – funky syncopated stuff, great tune – and love that beat and bass,
Maurizio/Melvin... yeh!
Enzo Filippone plays drums on 2 tracks – and Denis Bilanin
keys on all tracks, nice work...!
Jopi – that’s a great CD, man! Like
Guitar 9 wrote: “Jose de Castro, is a fifty-minute, all-instrumental affair
filled with the kinds of songs you wish you could play – but 'cha better keep
practicing, since José is twelve riffs ahead.”
I totally agree... and hopefully, many true music lovers
and bluedesert.dk readers will support your CD – NOT only because Simon
Phillips and Melvin Lee Davis are on it – but because it’s a rare piece of
work – made in EU – starring a great guitar player...!
GUITAR 9
An extremely talented and versatile guitarist from Spain,
Jose De Castro, has released his debut instrumental CD, entitled Un Poco De
Lo Mio. Featuring a combination of hard rock, fusion and shred (ala Prashant
Aswani, Greg Howe and Shawn Baxter) on tracks such as "Entre Los Dedos",
"Pasos En Las Cuerdas" and "Tornado", De Castro doesn't
stop there. He's equally adept at the blues ("Pasion"), rhythmic
rock with fingerpicked and slide-like sections ("Luz") and acoustic
("La Mejor Casa"). And there's still three songs to go! Dynamic
and diverse, yet beautifully recorded and executed (the bassists, Alex Garcia
and Yrvis Mendez, are quite good and Manu Rey on drums is also noteworthy)
Un Poco De Lo Mio is a superb opening statement from this Spanish guitar player.
GUITARCHEF
Technique , sound and ... "pasion" , absolutely
great ! Lo spagnolo Jose De Castro realizza un cd di alta qualita' . Grandi
suoni , grandi songs , grandi melodie e grande tecnica ! Devo proprio dire
che questo suo cd e' veramente una perla , mi ha colpito all'istante e non
succede spesso . Jose mixa la fusion con il rock melodico che a volte ricorda
molto chitarristi come Andy Timmons o Mads Eriksen . Da mensionare brani come
Pasion , le stupende ballads Luz e Entrando En La Noche . I brani piu' ritmati
si rifanno ad una fusion molto semplice , niente di cattivello ma tanti temi
melodici e di grande impatto . Jose e' un virtuoso in tutti gli aspetti ma
non fine a se stesso , sentite il funk Tornado per rendervi conto di cosa
sto dicendo . Certo se questo e' il suo esordio il ragazzo promette veramente
ma veramente bene !
ROCKNET
Here at RockNet we get most of our CD's from record
labels and distributors, which is great, but to be honest we appreciate the
independent artists even more. They send out their CD's, their heart and soul,
to us, trusting we'll treat the material with respect and hoping for a positive
review. Thank you Jose and everyone else who have put their trust in us over
the years. Unfortunately sometimes we do have to disappoint someone with a
critical piece, but thankfully there's no need to disappoint Jose De Castro,
who displays amazing talent on his CD "Un Poco De Lo Mio"Not only
is he a very gifted guitarist, but his songwriting skills are noticeable as
well! Jose doesn't use his music as a vehicle for mindless fret-racing, but
shows good taste and an excellent grasp of knowing when he's being functional
and when he's being flashy. And he mixes the two ingredients just right. Of
course there's plenty of lead guitar stuff, but his rhythm guitar work is
equally enjoyable, and together with a whole bunch of other musicians he delivers
a great album!One comment I have, and frequent readers will see this one coming
from miles, is that the record is too short. 35 Minutes is *really* short.
I know; instrumental records are usually not the longest running CD's, but
maybe Jose should start looking for a singer and record 2 or 3 more songs
for the next album.Second, all the info in the CD booklet is in Spanish. I
don't *really* mind, but given the sheer quality of this record, maybe Jose
should consider doing the next one in English, 'cause this material is nothing
to be ashamed of and could go down well enough in countries around the world!These
are minor complaints, and I really shouldn't whine too much. If you want a
good reason for me to shut up, just listen to "Mar De Tranquilidad"
or "Fiesta De Funk". Got the point?Okay, I'll shut up.
Guitar world Magazine
"Jose de Castro is a very impressive guitarist. His playing is as filled
with surprises as technical skill, which is saying a lot. Such versatility
and soul are both rare and welcome in a player of such advanced ability.
Bravo."
Alan Paul
