TIM BURNESS

Tim Burness was born in 1961, into a family of classical musicians. He grew up listening to different types of music including classical but mostly rock: The Beatles, The Monkees, Mike Oldfield, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Genesis (Steve Hackett to be more precise). Between 1978 and 1982 he played in different bands, but did his first studio recordings with the band Crossover. In 1982, Tim contributed guitar parts to two songs recorded by Australian singer Karen Halliday, around the same time he also played with Beverly Craven. He recorded his first solo album that same year (which then became the band Burnessence with the addition of Keith Hastings, Alf Wright and Geoff Law). After a few line up changes, Burnessence recorded their second album in 1984 “I Am You Are Me”, followed by a tour in England.

In 1989 Tim started his own record label “Expanding Consciousness” and released his first solo single “Learning To Fly” which had national radio play. This was followed by the release of a solo album in 1990. Three years later Tim made his first studio contribution of music for the ambient band TUU. In 1997, with “The Infinite Ocean” Tim finally received national and international airplay, meeting with great reviews. “Finding New Ways To Love” was released in 2004 including Fudge Smith on drums (Pendragon, Steve Hackett, Henry Fool).

Tim released his latest solo album in 2007: “Vision On”. He has a great team of musicians working with him: Fudge Smith again on drums and percussions, Keith Hastings on bass (ex-Burnessence, Andalus, Alan Darby), Monty Oxymoron on keyboards (The Damned), Julian Franks on percussions. Tim plays guitars and keyboards and does the vocals.

Tim’s main interest other than music is psychological astrology (not newspaper horoscopes). His favorite food is fried organic tofu and soy sauce. We asked him what three CD’s he currently has in his stereo and he said: Radiohead’s “In Rainbows”, Porcupine Tree’s “Fear Of A Blank Planet” and lastly Sigur Ros’ “Takk”.

We sent Tim three songs from three independent bands/artists to review for us, and he was generous with his time to tell us what he thought about them.

Please note that our proGuests have no information about the bands other than the songs we select for them.

You can visit Tim's website at: www.timburness.com and his myspace page at: www.myspace.com/timburness

Good upbeat songwriting, well-arranged vocal harmonies which remind me a bit of Crowded House or The Beatles. I was waiting for the bass and drums to come in but they never did, I guess they're coming from a more folk space than pop or rock... I wish them all the best! Annafairs website is: www.annafaironline.com

You can't beat a bit of jazz noodling now and again. It sounds like a live recording? Very refreshing as I haven't listened to this sort of thing for ages, I used to love a bit of Herbie Hancock or Weather Report. Nice guitar, nice vibe in general, maybe a bit too long for my taste but I like it. Visit David's myspace page at: www.myspace.com/davidjpalmer

This track is probably more up my personal street than the other two, superficially at least. Its a spacey ambient groove, great stuff but I have heard so many people do this sort of thing so much better. The beats seem to be getting a bit lost in the mix, and a bit more development of the musical themes might hold the listener's attention more? Again I wish Uttu all the best, I came back for a few extra listens, a good track to have pulsing away in the background. Visit UTTU at: www.starlight-origin.net