Under The Influence

The other day someone asked me for the most embarrassing pick from my collection. Being the sort that can never bear to throw away music I have a good number of questionable records to nominate for this dubious honour. Even though the bulk of said collection lives on the opposite side of the world to me this one jumps still straight to mind.

I was given this album by a friend - from memory it came free with a guitar magazine. The music itself is not too bad (though it's pretty bad), it's the image that really does it. I believe he builds his own electric violins shaped like claws and the like and then gives them names like The Violator. Completely stuck in the past, not the good past either. I feel like I should give this problem a name - possibly Derek Sherinian disease

So anyway, I'm on Mark Wood's website (take a look at the promo video) and I notice something - he's in Trans Siberian Orchestra! You know, the guys that did that song made famous by the xmas house video. Solid gold.

Cheesy to the extreme... though just look at the name, it's a dead give-away. I can't believe people still make music like this (in 2006?!). What's up with the moonlight sax?

Over the top guitar solos form the foundation of every song. Just more Satch style guitar wank when it comes down to it. Haha - Blood Of The Snake, what does that even mean?

52 minutes of self-indulgent guitar work is a bit hard to take - though once one submits to the cheese it's enjoyable enough and there's gold at the end of the painbow - Billy Idol and Slash join them for a light cover of In The Summertime.

All I can think is either I've gotten the dates wrong (reissue?) or there's a pocket of people out there somewhere who have been cut off from the rest of the world since the early 90s. Now, that's just sad.