Jennifer Batten - Above Below and Beyond

The buzz on Jennifer Batten rose from the guitar underground, and the guitar magazines promptly began chronicling her savvy musicianship and highly original approach to the electric guitar in print. At one point Batten was in 6 different bands, playing everything from straight ahead rock, to metal, fusion, and funk. A major turning point came when she was selected from over one hundred guitarists to play in Michael Jackson's highly skilled band which toured the world for one and a half years playing for over four and a half million people. Jennifer wasted no time after the “Bad” Tour's grand finale, diving into work on her own album with renowned producer (and Stevie Wonder guitarist) Michael Sembello. The stunning results can be heard on “Above, Below, and Beyond”, the title appropriately describing the interesting diversity within. With this debut release, the world at large learned what all the excitement was about and despite being out of print and hard to obtain for a number of years is available once again via Lion Music,

Everytime I listen I discover new things on it. This album is not 100% Heavy Metal but very varied. But strictly guitar, Jennifer is a mistress of tapping. If you don't see her playing, you'd have a hard time figuring out how she pulls these bizarre sounds but tapping has got a lot to do in it. There are also many cat sounds too. However her clean songs also prove she also masters clean arpeggios and harmonics.
Will always remain one of my favorite albums.

Tracks

1. "Flight of the Bumble Bee"
2. "Ya Ain't Nothin' Like a Fast Car"
3. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
4. "Respect"
5. "Cat Fight"
6. "Headbangers Hairspray"
7. "Whammy Damage"
8. "Secret Lover"
9. "Voo Doo"
10. "Cruzin the Nile"
11. "Tar-zens Day Off"
12. "Giant Steps (Swing)"
13. "mental Graffiti (Rock)"
14. "Bonus Track"