Twenty years ago in 2004 at a friend’s house he spun up a CD asking if I liked it. I did. Friend told me it was by the Tak Matsumoto Group. I ordered a copy for myself on getting home and listen to it regularly.
With two decades passing I didn’t expect there’d be another TMG album – only to be surprised that the trio of Tak Matsumoto, Eric Martin and Jack Blades reformed to record and release TMG II here in 2024. For this album the drumming is provided by Matt Sorum and he does a solid job.
As with the debut album, this second offering from TMG is a classy slab of forceful hard-edged guitar driven melodic rock with plenty of purpose behind it.
Well, would you expect anything else given the exceptional fretwork of Tak Matsumoto, the sublime vocals of Eric Martin and fluid melodic bass of Jack Blades?
Matsumoto is all over it without being overpowering allowing the others plenty of space to do their thing. Sparingly yet effectively used keyboard swells and spurts add to the listening experience very well.
Eleven tracks with a collective running time of around three quarters of an hour means none of them ramble on for too long. Instead the song writing gives concise songs all well composed and performed with a big, clear production job.
Crash Down Love sets the pace straight out of the traps. Crisp chunky guitar, huge hooks, melodies and chorus with a flashy Matsumoto solo.
And so it goes thereafter. To select a few…..Eternal Flames is punchy and hooky. Colour the World nicely a little heavier as are Jupiter and Mars and My Life with plenty of chunkiness and more Matsumoto heroics.
Dark Island Woman another thumper – then come the closing duo of the big, upbeat The Great Divide and the aptly titled Guitar Hero, a song which needs no explanation as to what to expect.
Have a listen to The Great Divide:
The collective of Matsumoto, Martin and Blades aided and abetted by Sorum have returned out of nowhere with this most fine album making one of the welcome and enjoyable surprises of this year.
>> TAK MATSUMOTO GROUP TMG II ON AMAZON <<
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