Album of the Day

Seven Worlds, by Eric Johnson (1998): EJ broke through in the guitar world with his 1986 album Tones. What a lot of folks didn't know at the time was that Johnson had been around since the mid 1970s, most notably with the fusion group The Electromagnets. In 1977, he went into the studio to make his first solo album, which wouldn't see the light of day until 20 years later. Not surprisingly, Seven Worlds isn't as impressive a work as a whole as Tones or Ah Via Musicom, but it's got some excellent bits. It's interesting to hear earlier version of the Tones tracks ("Zap" and "Emerald Eyes") and the acoustic "A Song for Life" is beautiful. I wouldn't consider it an essential EJ release, but it's nice to have.