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Released 1995 | Rutis
Music Ltd | RM 001 CD
I've been
talking about my solo album for the last 15 years! I think I've finally
cracked it now. A lot of people wanted me to do an album, and I wanted to,
so I tried all sort of things, from heavy rock to pop songs. Then one day,
it just suddenly occurred to me that I'm here to play guitar, so I started
playing about six hours a day and I came up with eleven songs, which I
recorded. Eight of the songs are just me, on guitar and the three others...
stuff about Mike [Lindup] and the drummer.
I did this stuff at home. I like to work in a relaxed atmosphere. I spend so
much time on the road - I've done more than 400 gigs with Sting over the
past five years, so my home time is really precious. I work at the top of
the house in the spare room - you'll see that the studio credited on the
sleeve notes is "The Spare Room" which is the only room in the house where
the kids aren't allowed free rein, and that's simply because I don't want to
have to spend hours resetting my mixing desk - and cleaning the jam off it!
The cover image on the album shows how home life and work have come together
on this album. Sasha Gusov, who took the photographs for the album, was
taking some straightforward
hand shots while I was
playing. My daughter Misty, who was just starting to walk, came tottering
over the way little kids do, and put her hand up to the fretboard. Anyone
who knows kids, will know that it is impossible to pose a shot
like that. Sasha grabbed it
and froze it in time.
First Touch, right?
Review: from All About Jazz by Jim Santella
Employing fingerstyle guitar and picked melodies, the smooth jazz
album First Touch represents Dominic Miller's first session
as a leader. No stranger to the recording industry, the guitarist
has worked with such notables as Sting, Phil Collins, and Tina
Turner. This 1995 debut album features his overdubbed guitars with
additional support on several tracks provided by guests. The songs,
Miller's own compositions, represent the easy-listening genre with
their floating melodies, pleasant harmonies, and loping "soft touch"
rhythms. Specific images sprout, as Boca weaves Latin and
smooth, Rush Hour contains suspenseful drama, Ten Years
includes dreamlike wordless vocals by guest Mike Lindup, and Scan
rests atop the locomotive rhythm supplied by guest drummer Barry
Kinder.
Review:
Alternate Music
Press by Dan Liss
Dominic Miller, a guitarist
who played with Sting, Tina Turner, The Pretenders, The Chieftains,
and Phil Collins, now has his own exceptionally smooth solo album,
First Touch. His relaxed, soulful, introspective style
captures the listener's attention with hints of intimacy and subtle
beauty. His soft touch on the strings displays a sense of calm,
delicacy, and closeness. Miller's deftness in handling his
instrument is what gave some of these other musicians, particularly
Sting, a distinctive sound. The guitar, in the hands of one who
appreciates its nuances as well as its power, is capable of weaving
magical melodies that enhance the mood of a quiet evening, warming
the atmosphere with tender, lyrical passages that seem to melt in
the air.
Review: from
Vitamin C
An inspired solo album from the man who has contributed so much to
Sting's sound. The sensitive, flowing charm of Dominic's guitar has
a soothing effect on frazzled nerves. His classically flavoured
compositions are refreshingly unpredictable that clearly reflects
his uniqueness. Highly recommended for those who wish to kick back
and float downstream.
Review: from
Alternate Music
Press by Ben Kettlewell
This album is one of the
finest guitar-based albums that I've listened to in a long time.
First Touch is a finely detailed body of music from this
refreshingly inventive instrumentalist who among other things, has
worked with Nigel Kennedy, Sting, and Phil Collins, and won the
"guitarist of the year" award from the London Sunday Times in 1983.
The album is a challenge to classify, yet a delight to experience.
Working within an acoustic guitar setting, Miller achieves a rich
quality of guitar-based music that is both technically and
emotionally satisfying. The album highlights Miller's range both as
a composer and performer. He shifts effortlessly from the dramatic
progressions of Do You Want Me to the cyclic Faheyesque
stylings of La Boca, to the warmth and resonance of
Eclipse and Looking For. The album is a real tribute to
the enduring character and irreplaceable sonic qualities of acoustic
instruments. The compositional style represented here is a real
marriage of harmony, rhythm and melody interlocking and becoming
poetry in motion. In summary it is both urbane and evocative, a
melodic, quietly enchanting body of work that is as touching as it
is polished.
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