Jennifer Batten
Above, Below and Beyond

Imagine a statuesque blonde sitting on a Peavey 5150 quadricone 400-watt amp while her legs, wrapped in a mini-skirt, unleash her fingers in an incredible version of "Flight of the Bumble Bee," running up and down the neck of her Washburn as if it were a different kind of neck...
Imagine this woman stands up, bends slightly over herself, and starts a tapping solo on the base of "Giant Step" fused at the end with a "reprise" of Van Halen's solo in "Beat It" by M. Jackson with solutions even bolder than the original.
Imagine this intriguing daughter of Eve lets slip a whispered "take me anywhere for any length of time..." while passionately intoning the solo of "Ya Ain't Nothin' Like a Fast Car".

If you can imagine all these things, you can understand why a "strange" (very strange, especially regarding his sexual preferences) guy like Michael Jackson, in the 1987 BAD tour, a tour that consecrated him as the prince of show business, chose JB as the guitarist for that incredible tour.
No need to philosophize or beat around the bush: JB was an incredibly attractive woman who played divinely and attacked the stage like a bloodthirsty tiger: the top choice for any pop star and certainly the classic "cherry on top" for the show prepared by the former Jackson Five.

"Above, Below and Beyond" traces its roots back to that 1987 tour, as evidenced by the setlist featuring an instrumental version of "Wanna Be Startin Something".
Jennifer is good at playing, truly good. She has a technique on legato and tapping that produces a sound simultaneously soft and fluid, akin to her distinctly feminine grace, a technique that has nothing to envy from her celebrated male colleagues. Her delicacy sometimes abruptly vanishes to make way for a fierce, string-ripping aggressiveness as heard in "Headbangers Hairspray," yet the underlying theme is always marked by a light, clean touch, never overly ostentatious.

OK, so far we've said the lady is a knockout (who we would love to ride) and that she can play well. Let's talk a bit about composition... Oh, dear Jenny, here's where things don't add up! Music, my delightful harpist, is not just technique but (unfortunately for you) has a fundamental aspect called "creativity"...
I'm fine with you playing the "Flight of the Bumblebee" with totally unique and self-congratulatory fingering, I'm fine with the gratitude to Jackson who made you famous, and I'm even fine with your version of "Respect" for a sort of "Girl Pride," but come on, there's a limit to everything!
You can't, and I stress "you can't," which is different from "you shouldn't," record 13 tracks among which, excluding covers, I can only find displays of finger exercises!
You can't bring out the best in you only in solos: music is "also" about composition, my dear! I say this with all my heart: you are a fantastic instrumentalist, you cut a great figure with that flowing mane, you move so well you'd arouse a blind person, you have incredible sexual energy, why don't you stick to playing for others? If you can't compose, stay at home and let those who know how to do it compose!
OK, you handle the whammy bar fearlessly, you know how to use a Digitech DSP perfectly, you make that amp roar like an earthquake, your technique is remarkable and very varied, but when it comes to creativity, you're an absolute zero!

I must therefore make a distinction: this album helped me tremendously to grow as a guitarist: nothing to criticize. But as a music lover, it left me completely indifferent: it is disappointingly shallow. It's painfully obvious that it was conceived in bits and pieces, without a guiding thread and without the creativity (which requires time) that was needed.

Do what you like, it was a gift to me and I'll keep it, but if you're not an axeman, stay away.
Score 5 for the stunning woman and score 0 for the album: the average is the logical consequence of the absolute nothingness presented by the otherwise talented Batten.