by Matthew Greenwald

Steve Stevens is well-known as one of the supreme architects of heavy rock & roll guitar, as his epic performances on Billy Idol's hits such as "White Wedding" and "Eyes Without a Face" readily attest. This solo album is a wonderful surprise. Stevens' explorations into classical and flamenco music will certainly catch a lot of people off guard, but that's probably precisely the point. Stevens wails and floats through the tracks here with a snake-like abandon, mostly on classical, nylon-string guitar. Flamenco.A.Go.Go also borders on being a dance record, and the rhythms and tempos will no doubt grab every listener. It's mostly an instrumental album, although there are a few wonderful vocal sections. In the end, you have a wondrous, exploratory album which presents one of the finest guitarists of the last 20 years flexing his muscles and stretching his creativity. Fabulous.