Post by thesoundmonitor on May 14, 2004 21:02:23 GMT -5
GORDON STANKOVSKI
Loud Yearning
(Independent)
After all my years covering rock music in it’s various styles, I think I can truthfully say I have never received anything from Macedonia. From memory I have received a few CDs from Italy and Czechoslovakia, but never anything from the Republic of Macedonia. And as such am completely naïve when it comes to understanding how active the local scene is. Therefore I am unsure whether Gordon Stankovski accurately represents his country’s rock scene or not.
On individual merits alone, I am disappointed to say that Stankovski has a long way to go before he achieves any kind of global recognition. Stankovski it appears is a relatively competent guitarist modeling his music and style upon those flash eighties guys, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Lanny Cordola. And while I’ve long acknowledged the skill required to be so dexterous on a fretboard, I have been as equally critical in that few guitar maestros are able to translate that skill into the craft of songwriting. Stankovski is no different. Sue, he can play the guitar just like ringing a bell (as Bryan Adams once said), but the songs are banal, flat and of little longtime worth.
Stankovski has with him a fulltime band, though the compositions are all his. The production on everything except the leads are somewhat dry, while his vocals are in definite need of tuning. Some tunes are in English, while others are in his native tongue, but from I can make out, it’s all relatively shallow, juvenile material.
Given his competence in the six-string, I would hazard a suggestion that Gordon focus on session work, and leave the songwriting to the others.
By Warren Wheeler
Contact: gstankovski@yahoo.com
Loud Yearning
(Independent)
After all my years covering rock music in it’s various styles, I think I can truthfully say I have never received anything from Macedonia. From memory I have received a few CDs from Italy and Czechoslovakia, but never anything from the Republic of Macedonia. And as such am completely naïve when it comes to understanding how active the local scene is. Therefore I am unsure whether Gordon Stankovski accurately represents his country’s rock scene or not.
On individual merits alone, I am disappointed to say that Stankovski has a long way to go before he achieves any kind of global recognition. Stankovski it appears is a relatively competent guitarist modeling his music and style upon those flash eighties guys, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Lanny Cordola. And while I’ve long acknowledged the skill required to be so dexterous on a fretboard, I have been as equally critical in that few guitar maestros are able to translate that skill into the craft of songwriting. Stankovski is no different. Sue, he can play the guitar just like ringing a bell (as Bryan Adams once said), but the songs are banal, flat and of little longtime worth.
Stankovski has with him a fulltime band, though the compositions are all his. The production on everything except the leads are somewhat dry, while his vocals are in definite need of tuning. Some tunes are in English, while others are in his native tongue, but from I can make out, it’s all relatively shallow, juvenile material.
Given his competence in the six-string, I would hazard a suggestion that Gordon focus on session work, and leave the songwriting to the others.
By Warren Wheeler
Contact: gstankovski@yahoo.com