Ultraphonix is the story of the meeting of the bulimic and the discreet. In his thirty-five year career, bulimic George Lynch has never stopped playing. Seven albums with Dokken, twelve with Lynch Mob, ten solo albums punctuated by numerous collaborations, the guitarist has an impressive resume, as much as his unique and fluid playing and his immoderate love of improvisation. As for the discreet Corey Glover with his magnificent warm and soul voice, he will forever remain the founder, along with Vernon Reid, of Living Colour. Even with a rather uneven discography, the band was the spearhead of funk metal in the early nineties and remains above all the first metal band composed entirely of Afro-Americans. In other words, the combination of these two big names is enough to make more than one lover of strong musical sensations salivate.
And it is clear that the musicians enjoyed composing and recording "Original Human Music". This first album, although a little crazy, succeeds in combining the musical universes of the two charismatic leaders. Of course Corey Glover sometimes brings some tracks on the hot land of funk metal of Living Colour ('Counter Culture', 'Take A Stand', 'What You Say') but George Lynch enjoys a lot of freedom to develop his heavy riffs (the excellent 'Baptism'), his percussive solos ('Walk Run Crawl') and his taste for inspired ballads (the magnificent arpeggio of 'Heart Full Of Rain').
It is however when the musical universes of Lynch and Glover merge that the album delivers its most beautiful nuggets, by exploring the grounds of a very rejoicing shifted psychedelism, like the titles 'Free' subtly invoking Led Zeppelin and 'Power Trip' which will delight all the amateurs of '21st Century Schizoid Man' of King Crimson.
But whatever the musical color of the tracks that make up the opus, Ultraphonix never forgets the groove that dominates the album thanks to a particularly inspired rhythm section led by the precise drumming of Chris Moore and the exceptional funky bass playing of Pancho Tomaselli, the true revelation of the album. The talent of this explosive duo culminates in the fabulous 'Soul Control', a magnificent fusion of jazz rock, funk and soul.
Alas, eclecticism often has its limits. And Ultraphonix doesn't avoid the trap of an extra track. Hardly saved by a good work on the guitars, the track 'Another Day' is an almost incomprehensible lack of taste. A soulless FM mawkishness, totally anachronistic and particularly badly placed in the album's tracklist.
Too bad because "Original Human Music" could have been a flawless album. Fun and groovy, it remains however an excellent fusion album thanks to the listening pleasure it provokes and to the talent of the musicians who obviously had a lot of fun recording it. Let's hope that Ultraphonix will have a less ephemeral career than many others super-groups. The success of the album will no doubt decide that. So you know what to do!