Archive Review: Neil Zaza's Staring At the Sun (2001)

Personally, I don’t think that Cleveland, Ohio really deserves to be the home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That institution should have been located in Memphis, home of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dewey Phillips, Sun Studios, and Stax Records. However, I will give the city its due praise – its football fans are diehard loyalists, WMMS is a decent radio station, and there’s something in the water from Lake Erie that spawns rock bands. Maybe it’s radioactivity in the lake or smoke from the flames burning frequently on the Cuyahoga River but Cleveland has churned out musical mutants like Stiv Bators and Cheetah Chrome, the James Gang, Pere Ubu, and the Michael Stanley Band for decades now. Now you can add Neil Zaza to the lengthy list of musical treasures unearthed from the “mistake on the lake.”

Playing in the same major leagues as Steve Vai or Joe Satriani, Neil Zaza pursues a similar guitar style, his notes ringing with crystal tone and cheetah-fast riffs raging with flaming clarity. For his sophomore album, Staring At the Sun – engineered with some skill by Zaza himself – the Cleveland axeman enlisted the help of the Journey rhythm section, bassist Ross Valory, and drummer Steve Smith. The resulting songs are thick and juicy on the bottom end, the Valory/Ross axis straining their instrumental muscles to keep up with the youngster Zaza. The six-string work on Staring At the Sun is mean and lean, however, Zaza ripping off notes with surgical precision.

Unlike many guitar heroes who merely want to dazzle an audience with explosive speed and pyrotechnics, Zaza incorporates melody and song structure along with the dazzling fireworks. “The Wonder of You” offers some tasteful riffs beneath an engaging melody while “New, New Math” features a powerful rhythmic heartbeat pounding behind Zaza’s blazing fretwork. Falling water and thunderclaps open “Rain,” a gentle, brilliant song that showcases Zaza’s complex style and natural virtuosity, the band assisted on the track by Satriani bassist Stuart Hamm. The album closes with an inspired reading of “Purple Rain,” Zaza displaying his guitar prowess in redefining this signature Prince classic

There are no vocals on Staring At the Sun, just some found sounds and Zaza’s astonishing guitar playing. That’s really all you need, however, Neil Zaza earning a name for himself as one of rock guitar’s elite talents with Staring At the Sun. (Neurra Records, released 2001)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine