Track Listing

1. Ah Via Musicom
2. Cliffs Of Dover
3. Desert Rose
4. High Landrons
5. Steve's Boogie
6. Trademark
7. Nothing Can Keep Me From You
8. Song For George
9. Righteous
10. Forty Mile Town
11. East West

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14704 in Music
• Released on: 1990-08-06
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

One of the best guitar albums ever
The only reason this album gets 5 stars is because you can't award 6!! After 35 years of listening to music and thousands of LPs, tapes & CDs, this is up there as one of my desert island discs.
AMV starts with the intro track of the same name which sounds like God tuning up and then launches into ERic's signature finger-buster 'Cliffs Of Dover' but this is not just a shredfest. Melody abounds, I played this song for a drummer friend of mine who complained that he just couldn't get the tune out of his head! There is much more to this album than just one piece though. Take a walk through the open-tuned acoustic 'Song For George', the soaring 'High Landrons' or the tele-twangin' 'Steve's Boogie'. 41 minutes of perfection. Absolutely marvellous! Why haven't you got this yet??? Every guitarist should own a copy.
PS - I have offered a money-back guarantee to friends if they have bought this and not loved it.NO takers for refunds.
PPS - EJ played the Marquee in London when this came out - I was there! Still got the T-shirt.

Mad guitar man on speed !
Got this for the "cliffs of dover" track which is on Guitar Hero III for the wii(!) Reminds me of last christmas when Scottish Super Sarah would spasm on the wii guitar with a 12" grin, playing her little electric socks off to this merry track. Not much of an intro on this track - Eric's straight in guns a blazing with his fancy finger work, furiously speeding through to the end. It's not a race Eric! Not listenend to any other tracks from "Ahhh Via Musicom" yet though, but this one is great.

"a shooting star lighting up the silvery blue"
"Chops and tone in equal measure" was how Guitarist magazine summarised Mr Johnson in their 101 Essential Guitar albums review of this masterpiece. And while they got it right, there's a lot more to the man (and this album) than that.
Ah Via Musicom is a guitar masterpiece from the acknowledged "players player". The ultimate perfectionist, Eric Johnson takes his time with his craft, making sure that every thing is executed and sounds just so (the only downside to this is the agonising wait between albums).

And while ultimately a guitar album, we're not talking track after track of pointless shredding, but finely crafted songs in their own right, that allow the player to showcase his ability completely in context.

The album starts by teasing us with a gallery of guitar textures and the sounds of the great man himself firing off some practice runs. Slowly but surely, the heavily effected power chords break down until you hear that open bottom E string for the 1st time, as if plucked by the hand of God and delivered through his own heavenly back line; it delivers goosebumps every time. "Cliffs Of Dover" has begun and you know that life doesn't get much better than this.

"Desert Rose" continues things beautifully, but it's "High Landrons" for me that is the pivotal track on the album. A descending scale of jazzy chords cues the track in, and we're straight into a lead break (always a good sign). The track holds your interest through the verses with it's beautiful high altitude geography theme and great chords, but it's all about the solos in the middle and at the end of the track. They are quite possibly perfect. Eric takes you to whole new places in your headspace and one is left reeling with the sheer brilliance of the performance.

There's more still to come with "Steve's Boogie" (you can probably guess what that that track style is), a tribute to Steve Ray (fellow Austin, Texas home boy) and Wes Montgomery, and many other moments of intricate melodies and virtuoso guitar parts, but I think the album peaks with "High Landrons", so I'll leave you with an excerpt from the lyrics which describe Eric Johnson and his playing on it perfectly:

"a shooting star lighting up the silvery blue"