Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U. - Live in Japan 1984 (2018)

Live In Japan 1984 marks an end-point in the first phase of Allan Holdsworth’s touring career as group leader. It’s his first posthumous release approved by his family estate.Herein is the closing live set of Holdsworth’s “I.O.U.” band, featuring live versions of material from his first three studio releases starting with Allan Holdsworth, I.O.U., and followed by the Grammy-nominated Rood Games.

With a young, new rhythm section recruited locally after his permanent move to Southern California, Holdsworth continued with the core of this band as a power trio featuring drummer Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Johnson. Wackerman had been recommended to Holdsworth by Frank Zappa, and after Jeff Berlin’s departure, Wackerman suggested Johnson, who was already one of LA’s most renowned and gifted session players and leader of his own group, Flim and the BBs. The band began in England with drummer/keyboardist Gary Husband, and launched in the U.S. adding vocalist Paul Williams, who’d worked with Holdsworth early in his career with the prog-rock band, Tempest. By 1984, Holdsworth had garnered a Grammy nomination for Rood Games. Yet his miserable experience working with a major label for that release led to his opting for working with new indie label, Enigma Records, for his 1985 release, Metal Fatigue, the last to include the I.O.U. group name.

By 1985, Holdsworth had begun touring with all-instrumental bands, adding keyboards, and thus Live In Japan 1984 marks the last high quality live document of that band -- a live recording of exceptional sound quality — and the last to demonstrate a wave of sound and playing technique innovation before he delved more completely into an exploration of guitar synthesis, and shifted his recorded music to predominantly instrumental works.

The live tracks here were originally released in 1997, but Holdsworth declared that release “unofficial” due to a business dispute at the time. This new Manifesto Records re-mastered version of Live In Japan 1984 offers a historical window into Holdsworth at the peak of his performance and creative capabilities prior to the next major creative phase in his career, when he turned his focus to the innovative development of guitar synthesizers and alternate scale guitars after the retirement of the I.O.U. band name. This release provides a spectacular glimpse into Holdsworth’s live playing and music several years after he launched his storied solo career in America and includes live versions of “Metal Fatigue,” “Tokyo Dream,” “The Things You See (When You Haven’t Got Your Gun)” and “Where Is One,” tracks he rarely or never performed live after this date.

— Chris Hoard