Tamplin And Friends – An Axe To Grind – 1990

This was Ken Tamplin’s first solo album after the first dissolution of Shout. Many argued that it was Tamplin that was the blood of Shout and this album does showcase his excellent guitar work. Now I want to be clear, I am about to criticize this album BUT!!!! I like this album, my critiques are more of what I thought could have been done better. First of all Ken engineered and produced this album and this probably caused a few problems. Secondly I don’t like the production. The mix is very guitar heavy and other instruments seem to have been forgotten about. Thirdly many of the tracks simply weren’t album ready. Yes the guitar tracks are good but the rest of the supporting instruments simply weren’t ready to be recorded. A little more practice and direction was required. Fourthly the album has 4 novelty under 1 minute tracks. In my opinion an album shouldn’t have any more than 1 of these and that may be too many. Finally, and this is nitpicking, the album has several tracks that run together. This was out of style by this time as CD’s were the in thing and CD’s don’t deal with blended track very well. Now that said I like this album, in fact I love 2 tracks enough that they are on my regular rotation, Livin’ For My Lord, and Straight Between The Eyes. Oh and did you know that Ken is Sammy Hagar’s cousin?

Tracklist

1 – Livin’ For My Lord – 4:54
2 – The Continuing Saga Of Screwtape & Wormwood – 0:30
3 – Going All The Way – 4:08
4 – Never Give Up (A Wife’s Tribute) – 5:16
5 – Music Box – 0:58
6 – Not Alone – 3:51
7 – Goin’ Home – 5:27
8 – Bouree In E Minor – 0:44
9 – Straight Between The Eyes – 4:17
10 – I Hear Cryin’ – 4:49
11 – Armageddon 1:03
12 – Holdin’ On/The Chase – 3:44
13 – Take ‘Em Back – 3:22
14 – Believin’ (Is The Hardest Part) – 4:21
15 – All The Things You Are – 7:18

Credits
Art Direction – Ed McTaggart
Bass – Jeff Berlin
Co-producer – Lanny Cordola
Drums – Ken Mary
Engineer – Ken Tamplin, Roger Mielke
Layout – Joe Potter
Lead Guitar – Joe Diorio, Ken Tamplin
Mastered By – John Matousek
Mixed By – Dave Jahnsen
Photography By – Nigel Skeet
Producer – Ken Tamplin
Rhythm Guitar – Joe Diorio, Ken Tamplin

Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Intense Records
Copyright (c) – Intense Records
Distributed By – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Recorded At – Micronote Studios
Mixed At – Mixing Lab A
Mastered At – Soundworks West

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