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PROGRESSION HAS A NEW REVIEW FORMAT!!JAYE FOUCHER: Contagious Grooves. 1999 (CD) Style: Instrumental guitar rock Sound:
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Total rating: 14 (16 is a perfect score) Jaye Foucher is back with more killer guitar. She beats her previous release hands down. Foucher is as smokin’ on the frets as ever. There is a harder, fuller sound at times with more crunch and low end but all the furious fretwork layered in here and there is superb. Song compositions are well-thought and do not fall prey to the curse of pentatonic-scaled, auto-rock, riffland. This is guitar rock with brainy fingers versus auto-shred and its insipid boredoms. Foucher is a comfortable listen, a guitarist’s guitarist and obviously dedicated to her art and an avid promoter of guitar-driven rock in its more progressively headier modes. Check her out on "Zombieland", Metallica move outta da way, Jaye is here! Another great release from Jaye! A fun riff-ride. Avoid the doldrums of shred and check out Foucher. Need I mention she is one gem among the hard rockin’ axe-boys? Well, she is and her riffs are solid proof. Oh yeah, no vocals this time. ~ John W. Patterson
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Jaye Foucher>: Infectious Licks (CD, 45:34) 67676-2, 1997 Fuism Records Rad Plaid Music P.O. Box 79116 Waverley, MA 02179-0116 USA Cyberhome: http://www2.shore.net/~puma/jaye/ Phone: 781-899-8285, FAX: 781-650-9071 E-mail: jfoucher@aol.com Jaye Foucher is my first exposure to an axewoman that really takes full command of the instrument in her solos and frames it all in tight compositions. Her synth augmentations and arrangements are a fun ride. There is no dross power chording nor filler riffing here. Foucher deftly handles keys, guitars and delivers strong vocals here and there. Luis Espaillat provides bass and Justin Pacy keeps the beat on drums. Foucher's solos are never plagued with that bungee-jump/testosterone/ free-for-all of no- think, noodle-fest riffin'. You can feel the soul, her heart, the song of her fingers through her guitar. She sings with her hands. Her siren words are the notes and she can scream like a banshee when the moment calls for that special overdriven emphasis. She knows how to flat-out, have-mercy, have fun, evident in "Stompin' the Bug". I heard a bit of that Michael Lee Firkins blues-rock clarity on that one. On "Epic" we get that must-have driving tune that simply sails along with that David Chastain determination and flair. Snippets of Satriani can be sorted out but Foucher is all her own style in the stop-n-go tempo shifts and intelligently written progressions. Adrian Belew of King Crimson sang that, " . . .fear is never boring . . ." and guitarists out there should carefully check out these ten tunes. Foucher is never boring. Fear Faye, dudes cuz she has got the whole melodic chops thang down pat. I guess the best way to sum up this first lady of the frets is -- 100% confidence and crystal clear finesse. The mountain top experience for this reviewer was Foucher stretching out on "Dis-jointed" which stands shoulder-to-shoulder with anything Eric "Chops" Johnson or Joe "Trailbalzer" Satriani might offer. Whoa baby! Nuff said. ~ John W. Patterson
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