and All the Colors
Groomed by his former label to be the Texas blues-rock heir apparent to the lateStevie Ray Vaughan, Ian Moore instead severed those ties and gratifyingly veered onto a musical road less traveled. Guitar heroics are still present, though they're no longer Moore's raison d'être. It's tempting to makeHendrixcomparisons (especially on "Johnny Cash and His Electric Bible" and the transcendent "Leary's Gate"), but only if it's also noted that Jimi's tastes and influences were historically much broader than the stereotype of him usually allows.Colorsis an adventurous musical melange that, like the brief utopian pop era it evokes, samples freely from a heady variety of influences ranging from blues and soul to folk and classical, seasoned with a sly dedication to melodic song craft. Moore has claimed as musical inspiration the modern synthesis of style and technology fashioned byLos Lobos, theLatin Playboys, andDaniel Lanois. Here he may have just done them all one better.--Jerry McCulley