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An instrumental track by Billy Sheehan that I really want you to listen to at least once

An instrumental track by Billy Sheehan that I really want you to listen to at least once
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This time, I’ll introduce one instrumental track by Billy Sheehan that I recommend.

Introduction

If you look for his solo albums or the albums by Niacin, the group he’s in with John Novello and Dennis Chambers, you can listen to plenty of instrumental tracks—and there are some I recommend among them as well... but!

The one I would absolutely love for you to listen to is this: Flandre.

Exquisitely covering classical masterpieces

As you’ll hear, this “Farandole” is an instrumental piece crafted using the theme from Bizet’s classical masterpiece, L’Arlésienne.

The original song is,Past articlesIt’s the one featured on the TALAS live album “Live Speed On Ice” mentioned earlier, and you can also hear it on the two-disc reissue album “Billy Sheehan Talas Years.”

In the 1980s, many cover songs based on classical pieces were released.

While many feature 'neo-classical' guitar styles led by the likes of the famed Yngwie Malmsteen, this late-period TALAS track, 'Farandole,' is a bit of an outlier.

It’s straightforward, full-throttle hard rock, you know? (lol)

Still, while skillfully preserving the flavor of the original, the arrangement lets you enjoy the exhilarating twin lead of bass and guitar throughout the entire piece, which I personally find groundbreaking. What do you think?

In particular, the part in the second pass of the intro’s main theme where the guitar and bass, which had been in unison, play slightly offset lines.

The part in the latter half where, behind the guitar playing the main theme melody, Billy’s bass drops an insanely elaborate fill-in.

If I start listing them, there’ll be no end to it…

Anyway, it’s a song that made me think, “This is amazing!”

Back then, I tried to copy it but gave up, and I’ve left it alone ever since (lol).

Late-season TALAS, unexpectedly!?

For this live album, everyone except Billy had been replaced from the original trio lineup of TALAS.

This results in a four-person hand configuration.

I call this the “late-period TALAS,” but Billy sometimes writes it as “TALAS (ver.2).”

As for that later-period TALAS, they actually did a one-night-only reunion show at an outdoor event held in Rochester, New York, on July 19, 2017.

The trigger for the reunion was apparently when drummer Mark Miller visited The Winery Dogs’ backstage with his family. It was his first time seeing Billy in over 30 years.

The original TALAS occasionally does reunion shows, but it seems this later lineup of TALAS was performing “for the first time since Billy left,” so you can appreciate how special that was (lol).

And that’s when they did it for me!

Embarrassing as it is to admit, when I saw this, I was so moved that I cried.

I never would have imagined I’d get to see a clear video of Billy playing that “Falandore” together with the late-era TALAS members...

It’s truly become a good era, hasn’t it?

Strictly speaking, the guitar wasn’t played by Mitch Perry but by a support musician; even so, the performance was very faithful to the sound on 'Live Speed On Ice,' and I thought it was a fantastic stage that brought back memories of that era.

As an aside, in other videos you can hear the vocals by Phil Naro, and I was amazed that his voice sounds exactly the same as it did back then. Bands with real talent never lose their luster, no matter how much time passes.

Together with his ally Tony MacAlpine

We will also introduce videos other than TALAS.

This is Falandole with my ally Tony MacAlpine.

Billy doesn’t appear at all, though (lol).

Tony's occasional smiles during the performance are truly wonderful.

Since Billy participated in Tony’s debut album Edge Of Insanity (released in 1986 and also highly recommended), the two have reportedly been best friends.

The aforementioned video featured a performance by PSMS, a group formed by these two along with Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian.

This is a bit of a tangent, but at dog camp, there was a time when Billy came over to the dinner table where I was.

At that time, they told me something like this.

Do you know Tony MacAlpine? He has perfect pitch. But he can’t read music. I can’t read it either. Same with Eddie Van Halen and Dennis Chambers. We listen to each other’s sounds with our ears and play together. What matters is the ear.

Watching Tony's expressions in the video, I feel like you can sense that they're communicating with each other in real time through the sounds you hear.

If Billy had been in the picture too, he surely would have been watching Tony’s movements with a smile.

Music is written as “enjoying sound,” and I feel like that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Even Mike Portnoy was influenced

Mike Portnoy—known as a super-technical drummer who could silence even crying children, from bands like Dream Theater and The Winery Dogs—said in an interview that he was influenced by the playing of Mark Miller, the late-period TALAS drummer.

I tend to be biased toward Billy no matter what, but I’ve come to realize once again that, generally speaking, TALAS really is an amazing band.

Was it actually Mike’s idea to cover “Phantasmagoria” in PSMS?

Even when they cover 'Shy Boy,' they look like they're having so much fun.

So, this time I wrote about the late-period TALAS-related topics from Falandole.

I hope this is helpful.