Feeding the Wheel

Editorial Reviews
From the Artist
"I am a tremendous Terry Bozzio fan, and it blew my mind to have him playing on this record with me. After a couple days of playing with the music he called me up and he really related to 'Revolving Door', because it has a very classical section at the beginning. He's like 'oh man, we can really talk!' And it's really funny, because out of the whole album, that's the classical section, modern classical music, a little bit atonal and aggressive. I think it excited him to do the whole project because his head was in that mindspace as well." "'Revolving Door' has a lot of different styles; it keeps on changing with a lot of different meters. John Petrucci plays some really outrageous guitar solos on it. It was named 'Revolving Door' mostly because - almost like a Dream Theater kind of thing - it keeps on turning stylistic courses. That's one of the more wild and crazy tunes. It starts out with this heavily orchestrated kind of thing. Eugene Friesen and Mark Wood are playing, so you have cello and violin supporting the orchestration. And after it finishes this kind of 20th century classical thing, it goes into a kind of Irish prog riff." 'Crack The Meter' features yet a couple more art rock legends. "That's my radio song," laughs Rudess. "Actually it's a tip of the hat to the prog fusion of old, in the sense that it sounds a little Dregs-y, or like UK. This is also the tune that Billy Sheehan performed on. Steve Morse played on 'Quantum Soup' and he also played the solos on 'Crack The Meter'. And what was a blast about 'Crack The Meter' is that it gave me a chance to do some trading off with Steve, which we used to do a lot of in the Dregs."

Product Description
Feeding The Wheel is a milestone in the man's personal expression, comprising eleven instrumental tracks (with a bit of dramatic spoken word) that demonstrate the skills of a man that is both technologically and technically at the top of his game. "This album is important to me because I haven't done something like this since my album Listen. What it is is kind of a full statement of my musicality. You know I'm involved in a lot of different styles. Dream Theater is known for their progressive rock/metal combination and I can certainly relate and I have a lot to say in that area. But in addition, I also have a lot of other styles that I've been playing over the years. What I've always done has been a hybrid. Even when I was 12, 13 years old I was mixing styles together. My first piano lesson was with a guy who basically taught me all the chords and how to improvise. And from there I went into very serious classical piano training. So right from the get-go, I was! involved in exploring, just playing what came out of my mind. But if someone asked me what kind of album this is, I would say a rock album, even though some of it is jazzy, some classical, some perhaps leaning toward Dream Theater. So it's a blend."

Feeding the Wheel

Feeding the Wheel,Jordan Rudess,Magna Carta,Neo-Prog,New Age,Pop,Rock

Feeding the Wheel

Tracks:

The Voice (Intro)
Quantum Soup
Shifting Sands
Dreaming In Titanium
Ucan Icon
Center Of The Sphere
Crack The Meter
Headspace
Revolving Door
Interstices
Feel The Wheel

Album Description

Feeding The Wheel is a milestone in the man's personal expression, comprising eleven instrumental tracks (with a bit of dramatic spoken word) that demonstrate the skills of a man that is both technologically and technically at the top of his game. "This album is important to me because I haven't done something like this since my album Listen. What it is is kind of a full statement of my musicality. You know I'm involved in a lot of different styles. Dream Theater is known for their progressive rock/metal combination and I can certainly relate and I have a lot to say in that area. But in addition, I also have a lot of other styles that I've been playing over the years. What I've always done has been a hybrid. Even when I was 12, 13 years old I was mixing styles together. My first piano lesson was with a guy who basically taught me all the chords and how to improvise. And from there I went into very serious classical piano training. So right from the get-go, I was! involved in exploring, just playing what came out of my mind. But if someone asked me what kind of album this is, I would say a rock album, even though some of it is jazzy, some classical, some perhaps leaning toward Dream Theater. So it's a blend."

Customer Reviews:

Feeding the Wheel.......2007-01-04

typical stuff out of U of M Jazz school. Steve Vai, Dave LaRue and others make this an outrageous cd. equal to any Pat Metheny or Allan Holdsworth stuff.

Killer keyboardist accompanied by great musicians equals a blast! .......2006-09-13

This release from Jordan is a diverse selection of instrumentals that fuse rock, jazz, funk and classical styles. "Feeding The Wheel" has plenty of strength with prog-rock tunes like "Quantum Soup" and "Feed The Wheel", but also includes slower melodic songs like "Shifting Sands" or "Headspace", and amazing solo keyboards on "Interstices". The talented guest musicians include Terry Bozzio on drums, Steve Morse and John Petrucci on guitar, and Billy Sheehan plays bass on "Crack The Meter". The bass on the remainder of the disc is played via the keyboards and you hardly notice the absence of a dedicated bass player. Recommend for prog fans or those who enjoy thick keyboard orientated material.

Joe.......2005-05-13

i have never taken the time to rate an album before, but i have to do it to this CD. WOW!!! I'm a sort of DT, Satriani, and Vai freak (and Pat Methany) but never has any album i have ever owned reached this level.

Yeah, this guy can play, and play fast. However unlike DT train of thought(which sounds kind of like math), this CD is just so much more complete!

Reminds me of DT scenes from a memory as it is very operatic and well structured. Also reminds me of some of Satriani's ballads in that there is a sense of direction. But saying this CD is a mix of DT and Satriani is not correct. In short this is a CD no Musician of any kind should be without, as well as normal human beings. You Must Buy This.

word of warning- only two of these songs remain in 4/4 for the whole duration, the rest are in ????????

I'm speechless!.......2005-03-03

Having enjoyed Jordan's work with DT and LTE, I decided to give this album a chance. I couldn't be more impressed. These are excellent songs. I'm not a keyboard expert, so I can't give a description of all the technique, but needless to say, Jordan can rip. The songs are so interesting and complex. The other players compliment the songs nicely. People that love very creative music, that rocks and also soothes, this album is highly recommended!

AMAZING - AMAZING - AMAZING ..........2004-04-02

THIS REVIEW is of great importance because it is my first and only review. I do not bother writing reviews (not much time to do so) but in this case I will do it to pay tribute to this extraordinary guy! I feel that this is the least I can do to thank Jordan Rudess for the present to my ears :)

I had the big chance to see this guy live in Glasgow ('98 or '99) opening a Dream Theater show. He was playing alone with his drummer (MRG) and you had the feeling that there was a whole group out there. He was AMAZING!

I was probaly the first Greek who got this album (haha) since I found it when I was in Finland for vacations. Since then it has been number 1 in my playlist (more than 2 years !!!)

This guy blends so many styles so well that you feel jealous of him (if you are a musician ;-) His technique is top class but the most interesting in my opinion is the "thickness" of his music. Every time you listen to a song you will discover new things.

My favourite songs are:

2) Quantum Soup -- amazing end
5) Ucan Icon
7) Crack the meter -- very energetic
9) Revolving Door
10) Interstices -- very smooth blending of almost every piano style
11) Feed the wheel

This is the BEST keyboard album ever in my opinion!

Rating: 6/5 (this is not a mistake ;-)

Feeding The Wheel
Average customer rating:
Feeding The Wheel
Rudess , and Jordan
Manufacturer: Magna Carta
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000LWIX9W