Powers of Ten; Live!

Shawn Lane turned a lot of heads when he released Powers of Ten in 1992. A one man tour de force, Lane picked up honors from both Guitar Player and Keyboard magazines for his astonishing playing. In order to tour the material, Lane assembled the Powers of Ten band, and this recording documents that band. The bandmembers are clearly excellent musicians (with special mention going to drummer Sean Rickman), and Lane's playing is consistently original and often amazing. The main problems are the cheesy and dated keyboard sounds and lack of memorable tunes. The songs aren't bad, they're just run-of-the-mill fusion tunes with little to distinguish them besides Lane's guitar abilities (which are considerable, to say the least). Nonetheless, since the original Powers of Ten has been out of print for some time, this release gives interested listeners a chance to hear much of the material, but it really is geared towards guitar-heads and fusion freaks (as a side note, Powers of Ten Live! features the original artwork concept for the Powers of Ten album). From a musical standpoint, Lane's various collaborations with Jonas Hellborg are more satisfying, but this is a good early look at an emerging talent.