This is a re-release of Dan Ridley's New Age Noodlefest, which was originally released in 1996. Dan Ridley (aka Sir Noodles Licksalot) has been playing the guitar and bass for about 17 years and he's done 4 albums so far. Dan himself describes this album as "a psychedelic, chops oriented record with a slightly eastern metal feel." After listening this album for the first time, I came to the same conclusion.

The material on this album is quite diverse (ranging from mellow, clean songs to metal). I've always been a fan of eastern scales, so it's nice to hear some melodic phrases using those scales... Songs are more or less melodic, but there were some straightforward metal parts as well. However, my favourites on this album were the mellow songs, which contained more laid-back guitar playing. The fact that Dan Ridley has his own distinctive style is a very good thing (there are enough artists who want to sound like "insert name of a famous guitar hero here").

Productional side of this album needs a little bit of work. The mastering has been done quite well, but I'm not totally satisfied with the mix. Also the distorted guitar tone (mainly rhythm) could have been better (it was occasionally too sharp and piercing, not so pleasant to listen in the long run).

All in all, New Age Noodlefest is quite good instrumental guitar album. I recommend it to the fans of instrumental guitar music. If you're interested in this album, you probably should write to Dan (ran_didley@hotmail.com). Dan writes to many guitar forums on the web, and every now and then he puts some of his songs available for download (check out guitar.com & John Petrucci Forum).


- MAGE (25.09.2004)

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LINE-UP:
Ridley, Dan (Sir Noodles Licksalot): All Guitars, Bass, Voice Overs and Mediocre Percussion Thomson, Dave: All Drums and Good Percussion
Producer:	Ridley, Dan
Mixing by:	Ridley, Dan
Mastering by:	Dyniss

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Forbidden Fungus 02. Choppin' Wood 03. Starry Night 04. Sir Noodles Licksalot 05. Silent Sister 06. Firewater 07. Cryptic Sun 08. Octagon 09. River's Daughter