Who's faster: Yngwie Malmsteen or Vinnie Moore? That was the question back in 1986 when this recording was released.
An obvious clone of Malmsteen, Moore burst upon the scene proving that, yes, someone else could play "that fast too." The problem with Mind's Eye and the subsequent genre of shredding that followed was that it became stagnant.
Malmsteen turned heads from all musical styles because of his technical proficiency back in the early '80s, but those same heads quickly turned away to find out that there was little more being offered than really fast scales.
The speed alone was not enough to hold many rock or fusion fans' interests for very long, as each guitarist seemed to be playing the same ideas, just at faster speeds.
Without being too hard on Moore, he is one of the more interesting of the shredders and has one of the cleaner sounds.
Ironically, Tony Macalpine is the keyboardist here and would soon emerge with an identical sound to Moore's.
The better moments here are on the more aggressive numbers such as "In Control" and "Saved by a Miracle," with the latter containing a decent drum solo by the underrated Tommy Aldridge and a fine acoustic introduction by Moore.
Mind's Eye is a classic in the shredder community, but rates as just a display of technical ability to the casual listener.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In Control | Vinnie Moore | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 2 | DaydreamVinnie Moore | Vinnie Moore | Play | 04:31 | 10 MB | 29 MB |
| 3 | Saved by a Miracle | Vinnie Moore | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 4 | Hero Without Honor | Vinnie Moore | Play | 07:19 | 16 MB | 44 MB |
| 5 | Lifeforce | Vinnie Moore | Play | 04:02 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | N.N.Y. | Vinnie Moore | Play | 03:43 | 8 MB | 24 MB |
| 7 | Mind's Eye | Vinnie Moore | Play | 03:28 | 7 MB | 22 MB |
| 8 | Shadows of Yesterday | Vinnie Moore | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 9 | The JourneyVinnie Moore | Vinnie Moore | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 43 mins | 98 MB | |||||
| 43 mins | 273 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tommy Aldridge | Drums |
| 2 | Stephen M. Fontano | Engineer, Producer |
| 3 | Tony MacAlpine | Keyboards |
| 4 | Vinnie Moore | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist |
| 5 | Mike Varney | Producer |
| 6 | Andy West | Bass |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |