Michael Hedges Torched
Windham Hill BMG

Buying the 'Last Album' from a favorite artist who's dead can be tricky. It wasn't that long ago that we all suffered from Double Fantasy disease, worshipping a record that wasn't that good because the legend behind it was gone forever. When Michael Hedges was killed in an auto accident in late 1997, he was in the middle of making this CD, so it should have that 'work in progress feel, right? Lets just say that Windham Hill figured that Hedges' half baked ideas sound as good as anybody else's finished product. They were right. This is a guitar-drenched adventure in the genius mind that was Michael Hedges. Thought not the momentous guitar explosion of Hedges stand-outs like Aerial Boundaries or Live on the Double Planet, Torched is pretty easy on the ears. This one has a few dreamy vocals and his trademark guitar gymnastics that prove that the music machine hype, this time was right. He was that good. -- by John Beaudin

Read our Feature on Michael Hedges