After a couple of short pulls on his obligatory pre-performance smoke of mind numbing and trance inducing properties, Gonzo (sic) begins proceedings with a very soft and mellow series of bass lines that evoke a slightly sombre and sad feeling whereupon he embarks on his piece-de-resistance being a song dedicated to his wife, Cathi. Gonzo is a bassist of some talent although I am not really sure why he would release an album for public consumption that was comprised of solo bass songs and nothing else. There is no guitar, drums, or keyboards at all on this six song release that saw the light of day in 2001. Accordingly, only a snippet of music of any recognizable structure is to be found here. The final mix is also very average and says little for the quality control of the product.
Between each of the first few tracks is a short spoken interlude either introducing the next song or making an announcement which I find totally unnecessary. The sound quality is pretty poor with no proper fades but to be fair to Gonzo, he does confess to this music being recorded on unregistered shareware. Strongest tracks are, "Life & Death", "Cathi's Song" and "Morning Mood" which has the foundations of being a pretty good rock song were it to be given the full band treatment. The final track is his live rendition of Jaco Pastorius's classic song, "America", played before an audience of a few hundred and although less than 2 minutes long, showcases the emotion he has for his instrument. In reality though, I feel Gonzo would be far better rewarded were he to concentrate his efforts within a proper band structure as his songs just don't quite make the grade on their own. Were he to offer some of these songs to his fellow band counterparts, I could envisage at least 4 tracks being used to great effect. This album has been made by a musician who has an obvious belief in his own talents, despite the minor recording flaws and technical imperfections but to be fair, I found his music quite engaging.
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