Worth Checking OutÖ by Dana Eric Misenheimer copyright 2004
This month will be something a little different for ìWorth Checking Out.î While this column is an opportunity for me to call attention to music and artists that I think are deserving, so far we havenít really discussed anyone who isnít reasonably well known. The spotlight of all my previous articles has been on figures that are essentially household names. The late Shawn Lane is not a household name, and the fact that such an exquisitely talented musician is virtually unknown outside of a subculture of guitar-oriented musicologists is a shameful revelation of what the public deems as quality. This month, we will depart from the trend of looking at highly visible artists to call attention to a magnificent and gifted multi-instrumentalist who operated under the radar, and we will also re-evaluate just what makes someone worthy of recognition.
For someone to come to this column at all is an indication that he or she is a fan of great guitar playing and musicianship. Bearing that in mind, Iím aware that my observations about the subject of each monthís column are probably a case of preaching to the converted; itís likely my readers already have an interest in the people being showcased. But I want to make this clear to my readers: donít expect to ever see a column entirely devoted to a negative review of something. There is too much quality music out there, and the space Iím given to discuss it is too precious to waste on a thorough examination of something substandard. Rest assured that I wonít hesitate to make reference to something inferior from time to time and call it exactly as I see it, but the reader should assume the mindset that if itís not being discussed here, itís not ìWorth Checking Out.î With that in mind, letís take a look at Shawn Lane.
If there was ever a musician who could be justifiably labeled with the words virtuoso, prodigy, gifted, and/or genius, it was Shawn Lane. Born March 21, 1963 in Memphis, Tennessee, Lane spent the last thirty years of his life exploring and expanding the parameters of all things guitar as well as attaining proficiency on bass, drums, and piano. Lane passed away on September 26, 2003 from a lung-related illness, ending a musical journey that sidestepped the well-worn path of self-indulgence and instead navigated through the rarely traversed territories of taste, economy, and self-restraint.
Lane was reportedly given his first guitar as early as age four, but apparently he didnít begin to apply himself seriously until age ten. By the time he was fourteen, however, he was touring with Black Oak Arkansas, and the buzz in guitar circles about his abilities was beginning to grow. Lane stayed in Black Oak Arkansas until he was eighteen, redirecting the band from rock towards a fusion-oriented approach and experiencing the arena tours of the seventies as his band shared billing with heavyweights of the era such as REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent, the Outlaws, Cheap Trick, and Blue Oyster Cult. Upon leaving Black Oak Arkansas due to the touring grind, Lane studied classical guitar for two years before returning to performing in rock groups. He performed with various bands throughout the South, headed his own group ñ the Willys, and reportedly was offered a job with Alice Cooper that he declined in favor of staying in Memphis.
Throughout the eighties, Lane played in local cover bands and did numerous sessions around his hometown in order to support his family. In 1990, he was invited to add his guitar to The Highwaymen 2 album with Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. This led to a contract with Warner Brothers that resulted in the 1992 landmark recording Powers of Ten on which Shawn played every instrument. That same year, a national tour in support of the album and critical acclaim followed, with Shawn being named Best New Talent in Guitar Player magazine and taking second place in the Best Keyboard Player category in Keyboard Player magazine.
Lane followed these developments in his career by recording two instructional videos and teaching as well as doing some production work. He teamed with bassist Jonas Hellborg in 1994 and recorded the album Abstract Logic. The two went on to record several more albums together, mostly with drummer Jeff Sipe, and they toured the United States and Europe several times. 1999 saw the release of Shawnís second solo album proper, The Tri-Tone Fascination, and in 2001 the album Powers of Ten Live was released containing live versions of material from Powers of Ten as well as some Weather Report covers.
As the world welcomed the start of the 21st century, Shawnís health problems impeded his activities, causing him to cut his workload. Nevertheless, he did undertake a world tour with Hellborg and Sipes in 2002. The late nineties and beginning of this century saw Shawn embracing Indian music as a result of Hellborgís immersion into that style. Lane invested himself into the eastern music with such passion that when he and Hellborg began to play with musicians from India, they considered Lane an undeniable master of it and respected him as such. In spite of declining health, Shawn continued to expand his musical vocabulary up until the time of his death.
Initially my own awareness of Shawn Lane came from ñ bless its heart - the pages of Guitar Player magazine. It began with the May 1986 issue of Guitar Player magazine in which Eric Johnson proclaimed him one of the best unknown players around. That December, he appeared in the old ìSpotlightî column in Guitar Player with a short bio and a description of his playing that had Mike Varney placing his style and ability ìsomewhere between Steve Morse and Allan Holdsworth.î In May of 1989, he was given the better part of a page amidst a cover story entitled ìUnknown Greats.î Other than again dropping his name, this story did little more than tease readers with written descriptions of his sound since he had nothing officially recorded yet. At this point, only a few bootlegged jam tapes of Laneís music were circulating among those lucky enough to get their hands on one, and that only added to the mystique about his abilities. Nothing more was heard until finally a feature article appeared in the October 1992 Guitar Player that was an interview with Shawn about his recently recorded and long awaited first album, Powers of Ten.
Fast forward to March of 1994. I was in the original Record Theater store at the intersection of Main and Lafayette in Buffalo, New York to buy circus tickets for my daughter and myself. The ticket window was closed, and a sign was posted saying it would reopen shortly. Just to kill time while waiting, I wandered around the store looking through the bins until I came upon a large spread of assorted CDs at the front of the store that were drastically marked down.
My regular readers should not be surprised to hear that at this point, I still hadnít upgraded to the CD format. I had some CDs, but no player, and I was still spinning vinyl and putting it on tape. However, never one to pass up a possible coup, I went through the discounted discs in search of anything recognizable. As expected, the makeup of the uncategorized bins was an assortment of disposable flavor-of-the-month refuse that was bad when it was good. I was still waiting for the ticket window to open, so I kept looking in spite of the garbage I was finding. I eventually came to a group of several hundred copies of a disc called Powers of Ten by someone named Shawn Lane. The price of each disc was $1.99.
The name rang a bell, but I wasnít sure of the album title, and that left me unsure if it was that Shawn Lane. His reputation far exceeded anything that should be in a cutout bin for a price of $1.99, and that compounded my doubt further. Still, I figured the price was cheap enough to take a chance, so I bought it. I got my circus tickets and headed home.
Since I had nothing to play the disc on, I called a friend who might know what I had. He wasnít sure about it either, but he suspected with a title like Powers of Ten, it was the real stuff. My friend drove down to the store and, just in case it was legit, he bought several copies of the disc. After he popped one in his stereo, he called me in disbelief. Our gambles paid off. It was the album that had garnered so much critical acclaim and fan accolades just eighteen months earlier, dumped in with crap that should never have been recorded to begin with and marked down to the price of a happy meal.
The next time I was at my friendís house, he popped in the disc, and I got my first listen to what all the hullabaloo was about. When someone gets hyped to the extent Shawn Lane had in the pages of Guitar Player, actually hearing the individualís playing can be a letdown. The hype can take on a life of its own and far exceed being a true reflection of an artistís ability. This was not the case here. Powers of Ten verified everything that was reputed about Shawn and more.
When someone is compared to players like Steve Morse and Allan Holdsworth, the feature that immediately comes to mind is blazing speed, and that was a prominent feature of the hype that preceded Shawnís debut recording. However, listening to Powers of Ten revealed that beyond fretboard gymnastics, Shawn had a maturity about his playing that put the needs of his compositions far above his need to flex his muscles and constantly remind the listener of his chops. Make no mistake; Shawn had chops. This recording revealed Shawn had an arsenal of techniques that surpassed most of his so-called contemporaries, but the thing that was so refreshing about Powers of Ten was the restraint it showed in favor of the music. Shawn obviously possessed a philosophy that prohibited him from inserting anything into his music that didnít add to it and sound extremely listenable. The result is a performance from a musician who could undoubtedly shred but was confident and secure enough to only display that ability when it was constructive to the song. I canít stress enough how rare and evolved a trait that is in a musician.
On top of all the guitar ability the album substantiated was the revelation that Shawn was a magnificent keyboard player. The music on the album is performed entirely by Shawn, and his drumming, bass playing, writing, and arranging skills are phenomenal. Several of the cuts are piano centered arrangements that take their foundation from classical music but tastefully include a variety of styles in a seamless amalgamation that defies categorization. Powers of Ten is a superb offering of masterful musicianship that is sublime yet accessible, containing an assortment of influences that indicates Shawn waded through the labels hung on different kinds of music to simply assess that music as either good or bad when considering its inclusion into his lexicon.
Unfortunately, this progressive attitude is probably what ultimately led to Powers of Ten being dumped en masse into the cutout bins just eighteen months after its release, to languish along side a bizarre cross section of forgettable dung that was recorded by fools who couldnít approach Shawn Laneís level of musicianship on their best days.
Warner Brothers had no idea how and where to promote the album, and it certainly didnít have much chance of getting radio airplay beyond some very limited specialty programming. Tight formats in radio had already caused playlist flexibility in all styles to be replaced with pseudo-musical assembly line products that reeked of an incestuous blandness. The desire in radio to be cutting edge was now emphasized not in the music, but with adolescent shock jocks who tried to legitimize their potty mouths as free speech. Alternative had become just another name for top forty. The sad truth is this fine album was probably dead on arrival, especially on a major label that could never see beyond its stable of coveted hit makers.
Ten years after I discovered Powers of Ten in a cutout bin, the state of marketable music is more pathetic than ever. And I can say with pride that Iím not responsible in any way for putting money in the pockets of people like Michael Jackson, Eminem, Kid Rock, or Britney Spears.
Hip-hop and rap ìartistsî have become self-mocking caricatures that are the equivalent of a 21st century minstrel show, albeit one that actually commands ridiculously extravagant amounts of money. What Milli Vanilli were once condemned for is now an open practice. Britney Spears and Janet Jackson take the stage with wireless headset mics that donít even transmit a signal while they lip-sync to their own studio-enhanced voices. They seem indifferent to their own poorly synchronized miming as they run around like pole humping strippers amidst a menagerie of cheesy dancers who are acting out meaningless routines. They camouflage a deficit in their talent by selling a manufactured image and spectacle that is long on bells, whistles, glitter, and sex, but extremely short on substance, integrity, and musicianship, all for obscene sums of money.
Recently, the press was buzzing about the incident during the Superbowl halftime show that involved Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. All I can say about that ridiculous stunt is this: If people who are light on talent are given that kind of a high profile forum, one shouldnít be surprised if they pull something like what they did to try and cover up the void in their abilities.
And speaking of the Jackson family, anyone who has ever slapped money down for a Michael Jackson album or concert is as responsible as Michael is for his conduct with young boys. Those caught up in Jacksonís faÁade have supplied him with the money and prestige to become a cunning predator. This is clearly a disturbed individual who has mutilated his face with unattainable ideals of perfection, obviously done something to change his skin tone, and courted young boys with techniques that could well be straight out of the North American Man Boy Love Association handbook.
Of course there are others besides the ones Iíve mentioned who are taking the public for a ride while they reap undeserved wealth and recognition. And the truth be told, these so called artists are apparently dishing up something the public is willing to consume. My next observation is so obvious itís almost embarrassing to say it. How anyone could possibly think that these transparent imposters are a worthwhile investment of his or her money when there are genuinely talented and deserving artists out there trying to make a living is beyond my ability to comprehend.
Shawn Lane sure didnít have to wear a glove on one hand. He didnít have to flash his breast. He didnít have to run around with all kinds of gyrating extras while miming and lip-syncing to studio manufactured tracks. He didnít have to rely on kindergarten stunts to try and market himself. He never would have considered doing any of these things, but sadly, if he had, maybe his music wouldnít have been overlooked to the point of being marked down to practically a giveaway.
In clubs and coffee houses all over the world, great music is being played by great musicians. Technology has made it possible for musicians on a budget to record great tracks in home studios and produce high quality, professional discs for sale at their gigs. These are the real artists in music. These are the people whose livelihoods depend on someone willing to pay the meager price of admission into their shows, and subsequently fork over the price of a CD that contains quality music. These are the people who deserve to be on the receiving end of at least part of the exorbitant amount of money the public is throwing at a select few insufferable con ìartists.î
Look beyond the surface when assessing the worth of whatís being pushed down your throat. Skip the charts and dismiss the choices of conglomerate owned radio station program directors. Listen to music with your ears, not anyone elseís, and certainly not with your eyes. Those flavor-of-the-month CDs - mostly containing one ìhitî that is being constantly regurgitated on the radio anyway - are fad, but great musicianship never goes out of style. Shawn Lane would tell you that if he was still alive. And it must be true because his album Powers of Ten has been reissued after previously being judged unmarketable. I recommend it or anything else with Shawn Laneís name on it for that matter. Sorry you missed out on getting it for $1.99, but whatever you have to pay, it will beÖworth checking out.