Milan Polak
Guitar Odyssey

Finally, I've been waiting for this moment for quite some time. We are in the presence, ladies and gentlemen, of one of the most beautiful guitar albums of recent times. The first release of this album dates back to 1995 and officially launched a then almost unknown Milan Polak onto the world stage. Obviously, in 1995, the impact this production had was colossal for instrument enthusiasts, as much as it was anonymous for all those who dodged and despised guitar virtuosity so explicitly expressed.

This production, originally named "Guitar 2001," soon became a small cult object of the utmost rarity, perhaps precisely because of this, our dear Milan, after riding the success of his previous work (which I also reviewed), "Dreamscapes," wisely decided to remaster his previous work and reintroduce it to his audience's attention, confirming and highlighting his incredible ability to interpret with passion, feeling, touch, and above all technique, very different musical genres. The album, for guitar lovers, unfolds well and "flies by" incredibly lightly in all its 52 minutes, never tiring the listener as it always offers new and astonishing interpretative variations. It must be said that the risk that all guitarists face, at least those who are very, very technical, is to produce and offer the masses an extremely technical product that can "tire"... Let me try to explain myself better; it has often happened to me to come across guitar works that are very beautiful, very well done, with incredible mixes and digitization of the recordings, but the guitarist's real work was limited to being a single 60-minute piece made of sweep, tapping, and other chilling techniques as difficult as they are sterile if not accompanied by an exceedingly "supporting" melody. It is here that our Milan stands out; this is what makes this work and the previous one engaging, exciting, and very enjoyable even to a layperson. "Guitar Odyssey," distributed by "Lion Music," in this new livery, comes with a new cover, this time futuristic. Milan leaves the Salvador Dali vision of Dreamscapes for something more Star-Trek-like: a lady guitar in a bar extends a mechanical "arm" and fills up on Guitar Oil from a bottle that strongly resembles the dear old "jack." The 13 tracks of "Guitar Odyssey," plus a bonus track, the demo version of "Where Were You Tomorrow." The tracks that particularly impressed me are:
More Than I've Been: Milan in Metal-Shredder version.
Could've Been Love: Milan in Al di Meola-Paco de Lucia version.
Chainreaction: Milan in jazz/fusion version, it seemed to me that I heard some passages of "Tilt" by Ritchie Kotzen at times.
Sylphe: Slow and technical ballad between classical and electric guitar passages. At times very Vinnie Moore with a pick alternating Paul Gilbert style!
Witchdance: As the name itself says, a beautiful rock atmosphere of "witch's dance," dark and heavy with curious progressive breaks.

In short... a "previous" work... that "confirms" Polak's ability already so fiercely thrown in our face with "Dreamscapes." Another CD to buy and keep in your CD collection and guard jealously to play it to all the current guitar heroes in the making, perhaps with a couple of admonitions shouting: "...you have to play like this."