Against the Clock - Holdsworth, Allan (CD 2005)

I have been an Allan Holdsworth fan since the late 1980's. Of course, since then I have heard, and admired his entire resume, from Gong, to U.K., Jean-Luc Ponty, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams, Level 42, and I'm SURE there are others I don't know about, or forgot to mention. Allan's playing is an aquired taste. He is so far from the mainstream, and thank god for that. He is a musician's musician. His style and musical ability is so far above and beyond what any other human being has ever thought of. He chose to play the guitar because the instrument compliments his imagination and allows him the most freedom to express his emotions. He would be an outstanding saxophone player if he wanted to be. The fact that he is around now and plays electric guitar and uses computers for achieving infifnite sounds is OUR gift. He could've easily been Mozart or Beethoven, hundreds of years ago.
Against the Clock is, to some, his greatest hits, and to others, maybe it skipped a few favorites. That's the problem with "Best of" albums. They are subjective. I'm sure most fans would agree that most of their favorite Holdsworth compositions are on this album, but to see the whole story, one needs to take his time getting to know each individual album in order to appreciate his gift to us.
Songs like "Sphere of Innocence" has such a haunting guitar solo. The tone, as always is the best. He plays a part during the solo when he is using the tremelo bar, and how he came up with the notes he's playing is a complete mystery. It will literally bring tears to my eyes. Also, his selections from "Atavachron" are spectacular. To me, Atavachon is a modern example of a composition in the sense of classical music. The music is too special to be just called "songs".
Not only is Allan Holdsworth the greatest guitar player who will ever play the instrument, his tone and sound is the best, too. He is a diamond. Perfect.
Jimmy Johnson, who plays bass is also mindblowing, as are Chad Wackerman and Gary Husband on drums. Steve Hunt is a keyboard genius, and Skuli Sverison is Allan Holdswoth on bass ! He surrounds himself with the best players on the planet.
I have had the fortune of seeing Allan Holdswoth live a dozen times in small clubs, and I along with 100 other people that night, felt like the luckiest people on Earth that day to be in on the secret that most of the world doesn't even know about. I had him sign "Sand", another one of his masterpieces.
My point is, I guess, that Against the Clock is some of his great work, but in order to feel complete as a music lover, PLEASE listen to his entire collection. Start with I.O.U., Sand, Atavachron, Warderncliffe Tower, Hard Hat Area, just to name a few. If you play guitar, soon, you too, will learn to hold Allan Holdsworth close to your heart as I do.