Artist: Tony Hernando 
   Title: TH III - Live
   Label: Lion Music

Lion Music are a label that has always supported the best European musicians and have brought forward many a talented musician into a wider audience.  Spanish guitar virtuoso Tony Hernando is a prime example of this commitment to the talent and the music out there just begging to be heard.

This is Tony’s third solo release on the label and is actually a double bonus album as it features not only a 13 track CD of both live and studio material, but also a 7 track DVD that capture Hernando live.  The 7 tracks taken from a selection of material recorded during his live performance in 2005 in Bilbao Spain.

Let's start off with the band behind the man, firstly on drums we have the master of the skins Mike Terrana, on rhythm guitar we have Chema Herraro, then we have Toni Ferrer on bass, and finally we come to Boris Dimitrov on keyboards.

The 13 track CD starts off with four tracks recorded live at GuitarFest 2005, starting off with the intro ‘The Stalker’, a true feast where power meets rhythm and a great way to start off the album.  Then it's onto ‘Now’, another great track that just powers its way through the speakers with Hernando at his immaculate best.

Then its time for one of my favourite tracks off the live section of CD the ripping rendition of ‘The Edge’.  The final track taken from the Guitarfest section of the album is the soulful ‘Truer Than Ever’.

Although some of the songs are the same as on the DVD these are totally different live recordings taken during varying live performances.  All are equal to those on the DVD because Hernando is a master at his craft, but it’s the new tracks and the remixes that really are the eye catching part of the CD for the great many fans of Hernando’s work.  With the reworking of the mystifying ‘Behind The Catwalk’ and the re-tracked and remixed version of the excellent ‘Outsiders’, with its heavy drums and driving guitar riffs, this is quite simply a great track no matter what version you hear.

Then it’s on to the two new songs, firstly the dark and menacing ‘State Of Mind’, which is followed by ‘Time To Believe’.  This actually is the only track on the CD to feature the vocals of the man himself.

The DVD section of the album not only features the seven live tracks. but also features a video clip of ‘Men And Machines’ and a photo gallery, but also Mike Terrana’s drum solo from the Bilbao show and a behind the scenes documentary which features footage of the bands rehearsal session in Madrid, shortly before the Freak Kitchen shows in Madrid.

If you’re a fan of not just good guitar playing, but great guitar playing, then you could do no worse than checking out what this Spanish maestro can do when he sets his mind to it.  A very comprehensive and overall quite impressive package of this particular artist and his music.

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