Fans of mid-'70s
King Crimson or early-'70s
John McLaughlin could do a lot worse than land
Gary Boyle's second solo album in their CD player or on their turntable. The ex-
Isotope guitarist shows a thorough familiarity with the scales, and he (and the rest of the instrumentalists here) show a great affinity for 16th and 32nd notes, but the playing is always interesting enough and the shifting textures sufficiently diverse to hold one's interest across just over a half-hour -- the presence of guitarist
Gary Moore, among others, doesn't hurt in that regard either.
Electric Glide is very much of its era, steeped in mid-'70s jazz-rock, and there are a few moments that come perilously close to recalling the
Mahavishnu Orchestra's
Birds of Fire album -- luckily, he surrounds those intensely challenging moments with some more gently lyrical material, most notably the title track, which might have had a shot at some radio success, had it been a single. ~ Bruce Eder