Away With Words Cambridge MA

Away With Words

Jim Matheos

Metal Blade Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/26/1999

I have always been a sucker for great guitar work, as anyone whohas read this site for some time now is aware of. I'm especiallypartial to acoustic guitar work; it takes a true artisan to be ableto wring notes out of an acoustic that one never thought werehumanly possible.

Over the last few years, I've been fortunate enough to be ableto listen to the works of some of these masters; names thatimmediately pop to mind include Doug Smith, David Pritchard, PierreBensusan and the late Michael Hedges. If you've never heard thework of any of these guitarists, after you're done reading this,run out and buy one of their CDs.

Now, you can add another name to that list: Jim Matheos. Hislatest album Away With Words shows the pure beauty of the instrumentwithout needing to rely on flashy pyrotechnics or riffing thatmakes it seem like his hands have no joints. In fact, it's usuallywhen Matheos sets up a basic rhythm pattern and allows hisbandmates to build on the work that his playing shines.

It's an interesting combination that Matheos has put together:virtuoso bassist Michael Manring (who might be the best unknownbassist - at least to rock fans - out there today), violinistCharlie Bisharat and drummer Mark Zonder. What is even moreinteresting is that, if I'm reading the liner notes correctly, theband didn't record their tracks together.