I first encountered Holdsworth on Gong's Gazeuse! album, then later playing with Bill Bruford's band. In fact, he seemed to be the go-to guitarist in so many things I enjoyed in the late 1970s, even on some Soft Machine tunes I recorded from John Peel.
I owned his debut LP Velvet Darkness, released in 1976 without his consent, and enjoyed a lot of it, so on seeing a couple of his albums reasonably priced on EBay, I treated myself.
And from the off, it's disappointing. Most of this album feels like unstructured jazz noodling, over-reliant on new electronic instrumentation, and it's only when Holdsworth puts down the synthaxe and picks up his old fashioned electric guitar that things liven up. 5 To 10 contains a listenable solo, while there's a likeable, if uninspiring melody to Sphere Of Influence. The title track has little to interest, going on for eight minutes without direction, and subsequent tracks offer little more. The one vocal track, Against The Clock, co-written with and sung by Naomi Star doesn't brighten proceedings. Questions has a little more to it, with a nice guitar solo, while the closing short track Oneiric Moor, is a haunting, looping guitar solo.
So, all in all, a disappointing album, with only a few bright moments.
2* - if, like me, you're coming here from Gong, Soft Machine and Bruford, this probably isn't where to start on Holdsworth's solo work.
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