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Stef Burns - Swamp Tea  (1999, Lakeside)
Cyberhome: www.stefburns.com

Guitarist Stef Burns cut his chops in numerous 80s pop backing
bands, including Shelia E., Berlin, and Michael Bolton, with
musicians who played with Miles Davis, Santana, and Journey.
He also recorded four albums with Y&T and two with Alice Cooper
in the early 90s.  Burns' solo record Swamp Tea features
guest musicians from many of these bands supporting Burns'
songwriting and guitar.  


The speedy triplet groove of "Wayfunner" rocks with a ferocious
beat, but through a rather predictable chord progression, and
the solo and lead figures in "Walking the Penguin" slip into
stock shred and blues guitar patterns.  The ballad "Summer of
'68," written by guest drummer Narada Michael Walden (Santana)
and the only song not co-written by Burns, builds through a
clean guitar theme into a furious solo accompanied by Walden's
equally furious climax on drums.  However, the repeated clean
guitar theme section before the solo grows tedious.  The title
track "Swamp Tea" features a snappy blues riff on acoustic
guitar and an electric slide guitar melody, with eerie
pitch-wheel transposed backing synths -- a great contrast to
the surrounding electric shredding and the best song on the
album. 


The grand symphonic theme of "Horton's Revenge" soars, and the
song is concluded effectively under four minutes in length.
This mature decision avoids the monotony found in much
instrumental guitar music, caused by artists using the regular
lengths for vocal rock songs, around five minutes, without
compensating for the shorter attention span for instrumental
music.  Unfortunately, some of the other songs are not arranged
with this in mind, including the tiresome "Quello Che Fai." 


Burns plays quick and clear, with a smooth, round guitar tone,
inspired in spots but overall without a brilliant original
touch or feel.  The excellent production reinforces the solid
backing work by all of the guest musicians, including primary
songwriting collaborator, keyboardist John Seppala. 


The very solid instrumental guitar playing and writing of
Swamp Tea shows talent and skill, but there's just
barely not enough originality in both the playing and writing
to mark Stef Burns as a serious contender. 


Reviewed by Scott Andrews [sha3u@Virginia.edu] 






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