Released: 2002, Insideout
Ty Tabor has shaken the blues that plagued his inferior solo effort SAFTEY and delivered a great fun CD. That is the almost guaranteed cure for da’ blues, get together with your friends and have some jam and…jam! His friends, in this case are Rod Morgenstein (Winger) on the drums and John Myung (Dream Theater) on bass. He is the driving force behind this jam as he produced it, mixed, engineered and mastered it all in Texas. Insideout afforded him a decent looking release with lyrics, photos and a theme of jellys, jams and so on. Quirky but not mind-blowing.
Inside this jam jar we get 10 tracks of fun tunes, punchy, upbeat, simple sing-along rock style songs. This is more typical of his personal writing and singing style unlike the power-pop fuelled Jughead project. We get any number of songs that could fit on a King’s X album. Rod Morgenstein pounds his heart out on “Natures Girl” which is probably the heaviest cut on the album, despite a laidback vibe come chorus time. “I Can’t Help You” is an infectious opener with decent hooks. The songs are fairly conventional but the playing certainly is not. I don’t know if this was a “jam” in the truest sense of the word, namely unrehearsed, spontaneous and live off the floor, but if it was, these guys causal playing is better than most musicians serious and dedicated efforts!
Track eight, “I am The King” could be a hit with it’s simple yet funky bass and drum driven sound with big punched-up chorus and crunchy guitars. This bleeds into “The King’s Dance” a sister track that features Tabor (the king) in a great instrumental where the guitar takes center stage and he solos (dances) like we all know he can and wish he would more often.
Not a bad effort at all, and of the three efforts he has been involved with this year (Jughead and his solo album) this is my favorite. He brought back the rock and I’m glad. I would recommend this jam to anyone and will definitely have a second helping. Visit him at http://www.tytabor.net