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Earl Slick

From page 85 of Classic Rock Magazine March 2004

Cover of March 2004 issue.

‘Zig Zag’

(When!) Best known for his work with David Bowie and John Lennon, it would obviously be unfair to try to compare guitar wizard Earl Slick’s solo album to any of his previous collaborations. There are, however, some magical moments on ‘Zig Zag’, not least ‘Isn’t It Evening’, a track co-written with and sung by Bowie. Very obviously a labour of love for Slick, here he ropes in a few of his old muckers to add weight to tunes like ‘Zig Zag’ itself (Spacehog’s Roy Langdon does his best Bowie impersonation), ‘Believe’ (The Cure’s Robert Smith at his melodramatic best) and ‘Psycho Twang’ (Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott injects a shot of adrenalin). Unfortunately all too many of the instrumental tracks in between fall into the Satriani-ish, guitar wankery category, and while obviously great fun for Slick himself to play and produce they don’t make particularly exciting listening for anyone who doesn’t enjoy a Steve Vai gig. What the album does do is highlight what a great talent Slick is, and the fact that Bowie should feel fortunate to have had him on his last tour. Which is some compliment.

★★★ ★★

Brett Callwood