“Above, Below And Beyond” was first released way back in 1992. At that time I was a practicing guitarist heavily into Van Halen and Yngwie and, like many other guitarists, I devoured all the monthly magazines on the look out for hot new players, and during the late eighties and early nineties there were quite a few. I’ll never forget the day someone thrust a cassette into my hands and said “get a load of this, it’ll blow your mind”. As promised, after listening to said cassette, my mind was completely fried and any perceptions of progressing as a player were shredded. As the opening track “Flight Of The Bumble Bee” whizzed past I was left thinking “what the fuck is going on!” That album was “Above, Below And Beyond” by Jennifer Batten a female guitar player who was pushing the boundaries of two handed technique and guitar textures. It’s fair to say that she must have scared the pants off many of the big name guitar players at the time as the album demonstrated her frankly amazing and insane techniques to great effect.

It has to be said I have a fondness for this album and, after being out of print for many years, it is great to see it getting a new lease of life. Without  doubt it's a landmark album when it comes to guitar technique as it truly lifted the bar and threw down the gauntlet to others to get their “chops” in order. Even after all these years there are very few who have come close to matching her consistently inventive and technically intense workouts. Only Steve Vai has matched Batten’s wacky and off the wall approach and, as an album , Above, Below & Beyond has stood the test of time with only the processed drum sounds hinting that it is from the early nineties. On all the songs Jennifer’s guitar is literally in your face and every track surprises and delights with playing that is both joyous, crazy, inspirational and uplifting all at the same time.

If you are a guitar player who likes the sound of a guitar being pushed to the limit both technically and sonically or has an interest in albums that truly did make an impact on the guitar playing community you need to have this album in your collection as it's full of creative ideas and shows that it, in the right hands, the guitar still has endless possibilities.

Al Hey