Album Notes

Guitar Garden Music is proud to announce the release of GUITAR SAFARI, the debut CD from Sir Clive & the Raging Cartographers. Featuring an uncanny mix of ’60s surf and “instro,” with classic rock, shred and blues, GUITAR SAFARI is packed with 11 instrumentals sure to thrill your inner axe demon.

Says Sir Clive leader Pete Prown (also guitarist for the prog-fusion outfit, Guitar Garden), “This album is based on my fascination with the '60s surf era. The music of that epoch was pure and totally guitar-centric. There were no need for vocals or lyrics—just a simple guitar melody was all your local garage band needed.”

The Cartographers, however, amplify traditional instro with wild arrangements, shreddy-guitar tones, and the kick-ass drumming of studioman Phil Robertson. “It wouldn’t feel right if we tried to do an authentic, trad-surf record. So many people do that well already. Our approach is to ‘mix’ some vintage ideas—-like 12-string guitar, Farfisa organ (courtesy of the mysterious Count d'Farfiso), and electric sitar—-into more contemporary guitar styles.”

The result is a barnburner of a guitar album. Pete sets the pace with four hot instrumentals to open the album. “‘Attack of the Mysterons’ is sort of a ‘surf epic,’ in that I took a Rickenbacker 12-string sound and built it up to a massive, almost hard-rock finale. ‘Evil Surf’ has one of those wicked riffs that gets inside your head and won’t let go. That may be my favorite one the album. And people seem to really enjoy ‘Haybale’. This is an homage to chicken-pickin’ guitar. I’m not much of a country player, but I just love listening to the great old-school players like Jimmy Bryant and Joe Maphis. They just kill me.”

Continues the guitarist, “I put a short jazz improv called ‘Silla’ in the middle of the CD—it's a rare moment of quiet.” Then you’ll find the most traditional surf song on there, ‘Sly Fox’, which was inspired by a bout of listening to Sweden’s timeless instro band, the Spotnicks. At the tail end of GUITAR SAFARI, you’ll find the rocker “Over the Top”—replete with bass and electric-sitar solos—and two tracks that may bring Jeff Beck to mind, ‘Hot Wings’ and ‘Stratosphere’. “For me, as a guitarist of the '70s and onward, so many roads lead back to Beck,” says Pete.

“Ultimately, this eclectic 'power twang' approach is what GUITAR SAFARI is all about,” Pete concludes, “It’s that collision of ‘60s, ‘70s and '80s guitar, plus a few crazy, modern ideas. Above all, it had to rock. That was the whole ballgame right there.”