The Making of Road Games by Allan Holdsworth 

I like his and Gambales 80s stuff the best

I absolutely agree, hope to see your take on more of his work.

Thank you my friend! I was only 16 when he passed and too young to really know him or his music but I would’ve LOVED to ask him about these albums and just about his life and playing and stuff

Thanks so much

Ahh what an amazing story! Sadly I was only 16 when Allan passed so was too young to appreciate or ever see him live!

Thanks so much! I plan to create the making of metal fatigue soon

​@@rubyjones01oh, please, i love that album ❤

the production is great. IOU is my fav, but road games definitely has better production. i think metal fatigue has even better production, if memory serves, allan produced that one himself

To me, Templeman is just a giant ass; a corporate dude who assumed he knew exactly what to do because he had successfully produced rock. He was just a user who wasn't big enough guitar fan to realize that Alan's solos were extraordinary, But completely failed to understand the musicality behind them, and his dismissing of Holdsworth's brilliant songwriting, as him not knowing how to write songs, shows the real pearls before swine core of the relationship; neither Eddie nor Ted understood or appreciated fully what a privilege they were given, and instead treated it as if Allen owed them control of his music. I never gave a s*** about templeman but it is pretty disappointing for a fan of Eddie's, to see how little he really appreciated his superior and inspiration. He said some nice things about Allan's playing, and I always appreciated that, but man, the gall of trying to force his way onto Allan's record shows a side of Ed that it's sad to see.

I think it's fair to say they understand that making records is a business -- not a documentation of an art, but an expensive venture which major labels see as profitable investment. Labels don't sign for art, they sign to make money -- the more, the better, and stick it in the face of the other labels. Just how The Machine worked

@@Jobotubular True enough about the machine, but therein lies the problem; the cynical business of music has nothing to do with the actual intrinsic value of the music, and far from the meritocracy Eddie assumed it to be (conveniently enough when you're on top of the world, to assume that only the best rise to the top), it never was about finding and supporting the best most promising talent, but making as much money as possible. When Ed was dissing his hero in interviews for not falling in line, he demonstrated that the business of music brings out the worst in people. His ego was so bloated that he imagined he was doing Allan a huge favor, offering to pull him up onto the gravy train he assumed everyone should want to ride. He got all butt hurt and lashed out over the fact that Allan was far too strong a musician to fall into the trap. The very thing that probably attracted him (and all of us) to Allan's music; it's unique and untamed nature, became the sticking point that blew up the relationship. His ego blinded him to the fact that not everyone is driven by dreams of the rock star lifestyle, babes, mansions, and hot cars in exchange for shredding hot solos over catchy radio friendly R&R. He foolishly, ridiculously convinced himself he was good enough to demand to be Allan's musical partner, talked about reigning him in, said in a stupid interview "even I need direction", as if Allan Holdsworth needed an Eddie Van Halen and a Ted Templeman to rid him of his silly notions of making gorgeous complex tunes that came from his own creative mind, as vehicles for improvisational journeys, and get him on the right track of being a hit making rock shredder. The "even I need direction" was his idea of a humble statement, but was actually his assuming that he actually had a better perspective on his genius hero than the GOAT himself; ridiculously egotistical, and sad to see from the point of view of EVH fans discerning enough to realize Eddie was never remotely on Allan's level. It's fair to say that the business of making records, for a true artist, is secondary to the documenting of the art itself, selling the output is for the purpose of supporting the artist to create as well as possible. Putting the importance of maximizing profits over the importance of making as beautiful a recording as possible is the way business ruins art, and your statement not only elevated the profits above the art; it was completely dismissive of the function of documentation of art. It was dismissive therefore of the value of the people who are inspired by the idea of making music for the sake of music. That's why for the greatest artists like Allan, the business with it's greedy vultures, will always be repulsive.

@@Gregorypeckory - “The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.” (attributed to Hunter Thompson)

I'm quite thrilled to have Allan's music AND Van Halen the band and the guitarist just as they were. Edit: I typed the above before hearing Templeman's idiotic analysis. (Or Eddie's.) So funny, it's totally different than every other of his albums (rocking (and, yes, accessible) and totally awesome. WTH were they expecting with Berlin & Wackerman??

Thank you my friend! Eventually I hope to make one of these mini documentaries about all his albums and maybe some important side albums he was involved in!

Thanks Matt! I only got into him after he passed and I’m gutted I won’t have the chance to see him live 😭

Hey Gary, wow, thanks for writing in, please could I interview you for the next video on the making of metal fatigue! My email is reuben785@gmail.com I’d love to get the inside perspective on the Japan tour and next album from you, thank you so much

Thanks so much!!

Thank you my friend! The making of Metal Fatigue is coming soon 😎

Yep. Sad. But such integrity concerning his art. I am truly thankful for both his vision and integrity that allowed his art to reach us.

Allan didn't need a producer. Let alone a dictatorial jerk like Templeton who obviously didn't understand Allan's music. Rather as hendrix didn't need chas chandler or any other producer.

Thank you! I agree, I feel as an album it’s his best produced sonically and every track flows so well together, and the playing on it is absolutely killer from all involved! I can’t comment for sure on a possible Autism diagnosis but Allan definitely seems like an “outsider” in interviews, in the sense that you can tell he just wants to play his music his way. As a teenager I know Allan wrote down every single possible scale and grouping of 12 notes that it was possible to play on the guitar and gave all these scales his own names, which must’ve taken him ages to catalogue and put together!

As an engineer/ musician with autism in my family, (maybe me?) and having worked with probably a few high functionings, I do agree that Allan did possibly come across that way in video interviews. He had a lovable charm IMO, but I do love these kind of folks preliminarily.

Thank you so much!!

@@rubyjones01 I have to add that I'm a huge EVH fan, but the ego on him and Templeman, just assuming that they could "steer" Holdsworth in a different direction, knowing as they did, that he was a genius, but completely failing to see how brilliant his overall vision was; they wanted to make him a hired guitar virtuoso, and a freaky great soloist was all they got about him; pretty clueless on both of their parts. Ed was horny to put his mark all over the album of the far superior player, and got butt hurt that Allan rightly turned him down. This is a sad reminder that as great a force as Ed was, and often a genuinely personable guy, he could be a giant insecure assh*le when things weren't going his way. They were hearing a genius composer but all they knew was rock, and wanted him to dumb down his music to sell more albums. Utterly clueless, and utterly an a-hole move, dissing him in public, even with the disclaimer about "I hate to do this because he's a friend and an amazing guitar player...but all his records sound like Holdsworth records and I can't tell them apart!" Well if Ed couldn't hear the difference, he just don't really get what was great about Allan; he apparently just heard a lot of notes and untouchable soloing chops, and got excited about the guitar porn, never understood what gems Allan's songs were; every one of them! Templeman and Ed both showed that they weren't there to help Allan get his vision out' they wanted to exploit him and take over his career, steering him in directions Allan had no interest in. Idiots.

Wow thank you so much Evan! Been a long time fan of your work with AH and solo stuff!

Exactly!

Again, we're talking major labels here; their business model functions in units of hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Art can happen, but how well it sells is always the first consideration. Meanwhile, anyone can self-release their own projects just as they like -- but they'll have to set up their own distribution/promotion, which is mainly what the majors offer

Agreed! I love how the album sounds, would’ve loved for a full album with Williams on vocals with this lineup

Thank you for these videos - looking forward to watching more! @@rubyjones01

@@JimChlup thanks very much!

Very interesting! Jeff is a great player, love his work, it’s a shame it didn’t work out and he didn’t stay on much longer

Oh wow!! what a nice guy! Also the Facebook group is awesome!

Thanks very much! I didn’t want to make this documentary until I started reading about the album and thought the story needed to be told! Hopefully this summer I’ll be able to release “The Making Of Metal Fatigue by Allan Holdsworth”

Agreed! It’d be like Warner buying the Mona Lisa then Eddie Van Halen and Te Templeman slapping some green paint in the middle of the canvas 🤣

Thank you my friend! I totally agree, I can’t imagine Ted Templeman being too thrilled with Atavachron 😅

Definitely,

It's definitely the album I'd recommend to non fusion fans who want to check out Allan's works, as the Road Games material has a more easily accessible and discernible structure

Thank you friend! The making of Road Games is coming soon 😎