The Official Off The Edge Website - Albums

Tracks:

Guiding Light
Discovery

Space Dream:
a.Starfire
b.Pulsar
c.Apollo
d.Cosmos
e.Encounter
Chilled
Unfinished Business, part 1
Free Flight
Riff Valley
Unfinished Business, part 2
Unfinished Business, part 3 (aka Nebula)

All instrumentation is by Peter Hanmer.

Recorded at Foxglove Studios, Johannesburg, South Africa between March 2000 and August 2002.

Release information:

September 2002, no catalogue number - special limited edition

Buy CDs:

Buy Off The Edge CDs online from Sugar Music Online Store.

Review:

A few weeks ago I received my copy of Off the Edge's 'Instrumentals, Volume 2.' Whether you're a fan of jazz, blues, new age, or just plain rock, there is something on this CD for everyone.

From the Alan Parsons-ish intro of Guiding Light through the seventh tune, Encounter, the first tune quickly establishes Peter Hanmer as a master guitarist with an exquisite tone and incredible vibrato rivaling only that of Tom Scholz of Boston.

The whole first half of this CD, which is jam packed with 14 gorgeous instrumentals, is one long song that tells a story through several guitars, and although each are separate tunes, there is a unifying theme tying each of them together. Peter's melodic guitar playing and writing is very evident throughout the whole first half of the CD, as each of the tunes takes you on a mini, unified journey through space.

On the second half of the CD, each of the more traditional tunes is melodic, and very well written and produced. Throughout, there is a mix of jazz, new age, blues, and straight out rock tunes, and in a few of the cuts, a few of the genres are mixed. The instrumentation and tasteful use of keyboards and rhythm guitars quickly give rise to the chills on several of the tracks. From the Santana-like Chilled through the bluesy Unfinished Business Part 1, into the edgy Riff Valley, the CD's excitement builds through to the final notes of the final track, Unfinished Business Part 3.

Overall this CD is of phenomenal quality, and presents a fantastic listening experience for close to an hour and you'd be hard-pressed if you didn't find something on this CD that really grabbed you.

-- Mark Gorrie, moderator of "The Watering Hole" Guitar Forum in Pennsylvania, USA, November 2004

Comments:

'Space Dream' sub-sections named by Brian Currin.