About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

The blazingly explosive and technically precise legato guitarist in Return to Forever left after one release with RTF to pursue a solo and much quieter, acoustic guitar path. This is the first in a trio of acoustic guitar releases Connors put out in the '70s on the famous ECM label. It is first off odd to me that nearly thirty years after this release came out, I noticed that the title to this release has the word guardian spelled incorrectly! I thought that was odd until I learned that ECM argued with Connors to change it but he demanded it remain spelled that way as he believed ECM was in error. When in doubt read the manual a.k.a. the dictionary.

All that said, this release of Connors is truly excellent acoustic guitar work with some of the most unique compositions and playing style you will find anywhere. Connors dubs one track as a sort of complex and exotic chordal progression base structure of strummed rhythms and/or a tapestry of finger roll picking. Over this landscape of dreamy, moody, surreal or frenetic design Connors solos and augments the original track of his playing. The effect is a ghostly dance of melancholy angst and passionate wailings.

If any one album deeply altered and effected my own acoustic guitar playing it has to be this release. It is a pristine and well-engineered creation. At times one guitar is subtly processed by ECM engineers to add a very unusual timbre to the piece and sometimes not. All in all I'd have to say the shock of hearing Connors' all acoustic solo album after his pyrotechnics with Return to Forever slowly faded when guitarists and fans finally heard the genius echoing within each song. John W. Patterson, All Music Guide

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