Larry Carlton "Fire Wire"

There are two reasons why Larry Carlton's "Fire Wire" is a rebirth for one of the great guitarists of our time. The first, of course, is Carlton himself. His playing here is more direct, more raw and emotional than anything he's laid down in recent years. The second reason is his producer, Csaba Petocz. A veteran producer who has worked on 37 #1 hit songs and 32 platinum albums, Petocz has spent time in the studio with Ted Nugent and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Metallica and Etta James, Elvis Costello and Aaron Neville. He's comfortable with hard-core, no-holds-barred, soulful blues and snarling rock & roll. And after attending one of Carlton's concerts earlier this year, Petocz couldn't wait to get into the studio and issue some marching orders. "Look, Larry is one of the great rock players of all time," he declares. "But when you mention his name now, people think of him as a smooth jazz player. That's great, nothing at all wrong with that, but when you see him live it's amazing how powerful he is when he just rocks out. So I began thinking: does the world really need another jazz record? Probably not; what it needs is to rediscover the rock & roll side of Larry Carlton."