Master of Paradise

Master of Paradise
Studio album by Tony MacAlpine
Released	November 2, 1999[1]
Recorded	Early 1999 at Clear Lake Audio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles; Allen Street Studios in New York City
Genre	Heavy metal, instrumental rock
Length	49:37[2]
Label	Shrapnel
Producer	Tony MacAlpine
Tony MacAlpine chronology
Live Insanity (1997) Master of Paradise (1999) Chromaticity (2001)

Master of Paradise is the ninth studio album by guitarist Tony MacAlpine, released on November 2, 1999 through Shrapnel Records.^[1] This album marks the first (and so far only) time MacAlpine himself has provided vocals on any of his releases, as all but two of the tracks contain singing; the final two being instrumental.

Early pressings suffered from a mastering error, which resulted in the overall volume being very low.^[3] This was corrected on later pressings, but yet another manufacturing error arose afterwards which remained uncorrected, this time involving the track listing: the order was printed incorrectly on the back cover, along with an image of MacAlpine mistakenly reversed to show him playing a left-handed guitar.^[4] The correct track listing is shown below.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]

Steve Huey at AllMusic gave Master of Paradise three stars out of five, saying that it was not a stylistic departure from MacAlpine's previous albums while highlighting MacAlpine's singing: "The results aren't always incredible, but MacAlpine generally gets the job done, solidly if unspectacularly." He also likened his neoclassical guitar work to that of Yngwie Malmsteen and recommended the album for fans of shred guitar.^[5]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Tony MacAlpine, except where noted. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Maker Is King"	3:49
2.	"Tears of Darkness"	5:24
3.	"Live to Die"	6:50
4.	"Circus"	4:14
5.	"Still"	5:05
6.	"Master of Paradise"	6:14
7.	"Time"	5:18
8.	"Imagination"	4:55
9.	"Final Hour"	4:32
10.	"Au bord d'une source" (Franz Liszt)	3:16
Total length:		49:37

Misprinted edition / Japanese (Victor Entertainment) and Korean (Seoul Records) editions
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tears of Darkness"
2.	"Live to Die"
3.	"Circus"
4.	"Still"
5.	"Time"
6.	"Master of Paradise"
7.	"Imagination"
8.	"Maker Is King"
9.	"Final Hour"
10.	"Au bord d'une source"

Personnel

• Tony MacAlpine – vocals, guitar, keyboard, engineering, production
• Atma Anur – drums
• Larry Dennison – bass
• Brian Levi – engineering, mixing
• Albert Law – editing, mastering

References

1. "Solo Discography". tonymacalpine.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-21. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
2. Master of Paradise (CD release "SH 11352").
3. MacAlpine, Tony. "Session Notes: Master Of Paradise". tonymacalpine.com. Archived from the original on 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
4. "Tony MacAlpine - Master Of Paradise Images". Discogs. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
5. Huey, Steve. "Master Of Paradise - Tony MacAlpine". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-11-28.

External links

• In Review: Tony MacAlpine "Master Of Paradise" at Guitar Nine Records