PRESS REVIEWS
Dave Sharman’s ‘1990’ is one of the most audacious and
appealing rock guitar instrumental albums heard in a long time. Sharman
is a self-taught guitar whiz, who is unimpressed by most rock guitarists.
‘1990’ shows him to be a strong, lyrical player, with an innate sense
of how to mix articulate speed runs with mature theme lines and cutting
melodic solos for maximum effect. Witness a cut like ‘Borrowed Time’
which develops its mood with a huge dose of speed tapping, that swarms
about your head like a cloud of belligerent gnats, before exploding
into a rocking solo that serves as an emotional release before Sharman
returns to that intense tapping theme, like on the following ‘Forgotten
Souls’ a mysteriously developed melodic tale, Sharman impresses both
with the scope of his guitar skills and his well conceived yet free
spirited tunes. With a personal touch, he boldly jumps from blues
to funk to metal without losing his voice. Sharman’s a true monster,
and one of the best of the new breed.
- Buzz Morison, Guitar For The Practicing Musician
For years people have asked me, 'Where did you get the
inspiration for the cyber name, THE ATOMIC CHASER?' The inspiration
for my name was adopted from the song written by guitarist, DAVE SHARMAN,
from his album,'1990'. Dave Sharman is the real deal, an unabashed
guitar virtuoso who can play anything he wants but chooses varied
textures, atmospheres, funky harmonic combinations, notes carefully
articulated with the vibrato bar and thrilling runs where he both
throws down a speed gauntlet and has something to say in doing so.
- Tony Sison aka "The Atomic Chaser", All Access
Magazine
Sharman’s playing is exemplary throughout, he confidently
flits between rock to funk, to blues and all within the bat of an
eyelid, fortunately he proves to be more than equal to the demands
of each style.
- Dave Ling, Raw Magazine
In an era when Joe Satriani is selling out arenas and
Steve Vai is catapulting himself up chart after chart, the rock instrumental
album has never been a more commercially viable proposition. For young
Dave Sharman, is for my money the best guitar player I have heard
since Vinnie Moore and Sharman’s debut, ‘1990’ is infinitely more
pleasant on the ear than Vai’s ‘Passion and Warfare’. For most of
‘1990’ Sharman resists the temptation to indulge in the wee didly
dees with the rest of them, instead delivering some of the most melodic,
listenable guitar music I have heard for simply aeons. He covers all
the ballpark, with a kind of smug ease which makes lesser players
roll their hand into a frustrating fist and wanna pound those curly
black locks into jelly. Wheather it be the ice funk of ‘Cloud Nine’,
the almost Malmsteen style, bombastic hysterics of ‘Spellbinder’,
or the crawling blues of ‘Southern Comfort’, Sharman always sounds
right at home, it really is that good. Sharman let me tell you is
destined for big things, the only trouble is he knows it too.
- Paul Miller, Kerrang Magazine
Exit Within is an evocative collection of tunes that showcase
his remarkable virtuosity, ‘Man’ is a mean n’ moody opener that feeds
off Sharman’s spiralling guitar and the relaxed ‘Home’ works too,
while the instrumental cuts have enough character and charm to keep
the attention, the third LP should be worth waiting for.
- Dave Ling, Raw Magazine
Sure Sharman is good, a maestro even, but just like Vinnie
Moore he has that all too rare appreciation of feel, with ample quantities
of flair and technique. Furthermore, he has learnt from the mistakes
of others and recruited a singer, vocalist Thomas Brache gives it
plenty when required. Indeed opener ‘Man’ has some rugged rhythms
to augment the fretboard fire and brimstone of the Boy Wonder. Elsewhere
‘Home’ comes across like a Dio power ballad and ‘Cos You’re A Woman’
has all the sizzle n’ spit of an on-form Blackfoot, which is adequate
testimony in itself to drummer Neil Huxtable and bassist Neil Murray.
As for Sharman himself, he displays a wide variety of styles from
light, airy acoustic to classical Spanish, and from a bubbly exhibition
of hammering-on to banjo-mania, all of which involve the exemplary
musicianship of any self-respecting guitar God. However, it is his
ability to incorporate raw chords, choppy tempos and free-form solos,
all whacked through a distortion pedal and cranked up loud, that got
my blood racing. As long as he continues to write songs that highlight
his abilities without sacrificing structure, Dave Sharman could well
prove to be an exciting prospect for the future. He has done well
to avoid the pitfalls that so often befall the guitar-based artist,
and with a concerted effort may yet rewrite the rulebook.
- Sean Tyler, Karrang Magazine
The success of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani has established
that there is a healthy market for instrumental guitar records, and
if you’re a follower of unashamed fretboard indulgence then you’ll
love Dave Sharman. Sharman is a guitar genius who came to light last
year on Tommy Vance’s Friday Rockshow and was immediately signed up.
He’s amazing, granted but what else can you say? ‘1990’ is eight tracks
of impressive virtuosity with Sharman varying his tricks enough to
keep you listening. The title track is the first and the best, an
initial whammy bar explosion of deep growls and crackling radio voices
leading into a driving avalanche of riffs best heard extremely loud
in a fast car. ‘Atomic Chaser’ is funky, percussion fuelled and a
positive guitar riot, and Sharman’s at his best when the whole style
of the song moves away from a rock beat. ‘Southern Comfort’ starts
with cool slide and crunches into a dirty and mean boogie, a mouth
organ adding welcome contrast.
- Neil Perry, Select Magazine
Guitar prodigy Dave Sharman shows remarkable maturity
with his debut album, like a dream come true Dave’s talent was spotted
on the Friday Rock Show by producer Tony Wilson and the result is
this. ‘1990’ a studious instrumental collection, I can’t knock the
guy cos he not only plays guitars on this but keyboards and bass too.
The most interesting tracks are ‘Southern Comfort’ and ‘Cloud 9 (Sure
Feels Fine)’ for their adventurous spirit, ‘Southern Comfort’ finds
Dave in fine whiskeyed form, sliding and twanging up and down the
fretboard in true solo. ‘Cloud 9’…. on a different theme is a funky
horn-tinged slapabout rounding out his perfect repertoire.
- Pippa Lang, Metal Hammer
He aims for a more band/song approach to his guitar playing
than most of his widdly-widdly counterparts. He has got a touch of
the Joe Satriani about him too has this kid, going for memorable melodies
rather than hyperspeed bollocks hystronics, succeeding with tracks
like the thumping ‘Cos You’re A Woman’ and the frantic ‘Trucker’.
Overall this is a stylish and enjoyable album that will appeal to
more than just other guitarists.
- Anthony Noguera, Metal Hammer
1990 is strictly for the grunge and heavy metal guitarist
due to its highly explosive energetic force of pure unadulterated
hyper-paced guitar licks throughout the album that can definitely
compete with any of the top masters of its field. This is a definite
must be listened to…or you are missing the whole point in defining
true talent. For those who think they are good. Once you do listen…Hang
up your axe and kiss your ass goodbye, because this baby is going
to blast you and plant your ass down on the ground.
- M. Valor
Though the musical story of the year has been the sweeping
return of bubbly gum pop, aspiring guitar heroes are still pouring
out of the woodwork, each trying to show that they have the best new
chops on the block. One of the most intriguing young guns to hit the
street is Dave Sharman, who commands a die hard following in his hometown
of London, England. This might not seem unusual but when you look
back at the past decade in rock guitar, it was largely dominated by
American pickers. In fact, out of the entire heavy metal revival only
Sweden’s, Yngwie Malmsteen stood out as a foreign body, while the
rest of the pack has been Yanks. Where were the Brits who had a virtual
monopoly on the electric guitar in the 60s and 70s, spinning out monsters
like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Paige, Keith Richards, David Gilmour,
Paul Kossoff and Allan Holdsworth? Dave Sharman, with his instrumental
tour-de-force, ‘1990’, may single-handedly redress the international
balance, carefully blending solid song writing skills with a knock
out hammering technique, based in part on the inspiration of Van Halen
and Holdsworth. The guitarist breaks his own ground to, coming up
with some wild two handed playing that could presage a comeback for
a long ailing British guitar scene. Compositionally, ‘1990’ ranges
from heavy metal fusion, ‘Forgotten Souls’ to heavy blues and R&B
grooves, (‘Southern Comfort’ and ‘Cloud 9’). To more cinematic hard
rock instrumentals that wouldn’t be out of place in a Sylvester Stallone
or Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie (‘Borrowed Time’). Though the
guitarist gets extensive mileage out of straight left-hand hammer-ons
and taps, he can also pick like the devil, like in the Bach n’ roll
romp, ‘Pandora’s Box’ and in ‘Atomic Chaser’. ‘1990’ cooks from start
to end.
- Pete Prown, Guitar For The Practicing Musician
(excerpts
from an interview)
Dave has impeccable speed but just because he can play fast doesn’t mean he crams as many notes as he can into a stanza. He sounds a lot like Vinnie Moore. He also has that classical style that seemed to be required back in the 90’s. Dave is also very melodic and never over layers his instrumentals. He is a self taught Brit who has been playing and writing since the age of nine.
As I said I first got this CD back in 1990 and never did check out what Dave did after its release. Since MySpace has become such a phenomenon, I did my research and discovered a few additions to his discography. Give this guy a listen. Everyone I have ever played this CD for has marvelled at his talent.
-
Jeff Rogers, RoughEdge.com
