Here’s the cover art for one of my latest mixes – a four disc box-set called Guitar Gods. A compilation like this invites furrowed brows, lists of corrections, and plenty of harrumphing from all corners. Strike up the chorus: “But what about ____________?” There were dozens more guitarists that ideally would have been included, but four discs seemed like enough, and the line had to be drawn somewhere.
World B. Furr (sometime commenter on this blog) was kind enough to collaborate on this mix with me, and help me figure out where to draw that line, and it was a clear case of two brains being better than one. We had a lot of back and forth about who to include and who to leave out, and inevitably there were compromises to be made.
From the liner notes to this mix, here’s a six-pack of guitarists who just missed the cut:
Ace Frehley – When I was a kid I thought every guitarist should sound like The Spaceman. But then somewhere along the way I grew up. Still, I have a strange desire to shout “ACE FREHLEY! SHOCK ME!!!” and put him in the mix. Didn’t happen… [dk]
Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman – Scott Ian of Anthrax once said that if he goes to Hell, there’s no doubt Slayer will playing on the loudspeaker. These two guys have spent the better part of the last 25 years kicking out some of the heaviest and most sinister riffs of all-time — never once losing the fire that first got things started. [Furr]
George Brigman – Brigman is a Guitar God for me because he represents the dreams of the everyman player. As a 17 year-old kid, Brigman self-released his debut album Jungle Rot in 1975 and then watched it disappear. Time has proven it a fuzzed out, lo-fi classic. [dk]
Mick Taylor – Although we ultimately chose ‘Satisfaction’ and the Brian Jones-era Rolling Stones, I feel it’s imperative to point out the genius of Mick Taylor. Few could argue that the Taylor years were the Stones finest, and that’s largely due to the “other” Mick. [Furr]
Peter Green – The driving force of the original, bluesy Fleetwood Mac, Green was one of the best guitarists of his generation. Unfortunately, he lost his sanity in a worm hole of drugs, and disappeared from the music scene for decades. But his is a brilliant, if truncated, body of work. [dk]
Alex Lifeson – There are a lot of excuses people will give for hating Rush. Alex Lifeson’s guitar work is never one of them. This guy is one of the greatest players ever and he’s one-third of the reason why I absolutely LOVE Rush. [Furr]
Without further ado…
[Here's the front cover...]
[Here's the inside front cover...]
[Here's the inside booklet cover...]
[Guitar pick photos courtesy of Umlaut!]
[Here's the guts of the inside booklet...]
[Here's the back inside...]
[Here's the back...]
[Here's the track listing...]
Disc 1ne
Chuck Berry * Johnny B. Goode
The Rolling Stones * Satisfaction [Keith Richards]
The White Stripes * Seven Nation Army [Jack White]
Link Wray * Rumble
Dick Dale & The Del-Tones * Let’s Go Trippin’
Cream * Sunshine Of Your Love [Eric Clapton]
Quicksilver Messenger Service * Mona [John Cipollina and Gary Duncan]
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia etc * Keepers (Live)
The Allman Brothers Band * In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (Live) [Duane Allman]
The Faces * Around The Plynth [Ron Wood]
Santana * Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen [Carlos Santana]
The Who * Won’t Get Fooled Again [Pete Townshend]
ZZ Top * La Grange [Billy Gibbons]
U2 * Bullet The Blue Sky [The Edge]
Disc 2wo
John Fahey * St. Louis Blues
Robert Johnson * Sweet Home Chicago
Mississippi John Hurt * Frankie
Muddy Waters * Baby Please Don’t Go
Bo Diddley * Who Do You Love?
Howlin’ Wolf * Smokestack Lightnin’
Albert King * Born Under A Bad Sign
Otis Rush * I Can’t Quit You Baby
Freddie King * Key To The Highway
Buddy Guy * A Man and The Blues
Johnny Winter * Dallas
B.B. King * Everyday I Have The Blues
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble * The Sky Is Crying
Albert Collins * Frosty
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band * East-West [Mike Bloomfield]
Roy Buchanan * Sweet Dreams
Disc 3hree
Nirvana * Come As You Are [Kurt Cobain]
Deep Purple * Smoke On The Water [Ritchie Blackmore]
Aerosmith * Sweet Emotion [Joe Perry]
Black Sabbath * Fairies Wear Boots [Tony Iommi]
Ted Nugent * Stranglehold
Spinal Tap * Sex Farm [Nigel Tufnel]
Sex Pistols * God Save The Queen [Steve Jones]
The Ramones * Judy Is A Punk [Johnny Ramone]
The Clash * Clampdown [Joe Strummer and Mick Jones]
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers * One Track Mind
AC/DC * Highway To Hell [Angus Young]
Van Halen * Eruption [Eddie Van Halen]
Ozzy Osbourne * Flying High Again [Randy Rhoads]
Guns N’ Roses * Mr. Brownstone [Slash]
Judas Priest * You’ve Got Another Thing Coming [Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing]
Iron Maiden * The Trooper [Dave Murray and Adrian Smith]
Metallica * The Four Horsemen [Kirk Hammett]
Rage Against The Machine * Bombtrack [Tom Morello]
Disc 4our
Andrés Segovia * Suite Compostelana: I. Preludio
Buena Vista Social Club * Chan Chan [Ry Cooder]
Jeff Beck * Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers
Led Zeppelin * White Summer/Black Mountain Side [Jimmy Page]
The Jimi Hendrix Experience * Little Wing
John McLaughlin * Peace Piece
Funkadelic * Maggot Brain [Eddie Hazel]
Neil Young * Cortez The Killer
Pink Floyd * Comfortably Numb [David Gilmore]
Buckethead * Lone Sal Bug
Dire Straits * Ride Across The River [Mark Knopfler]
The Beatles * While My Guitar Gently Weeps [George Harrison]
Les Paul * Lover
*****
[I'll be extremely disappointed if there are less than two dozen fired up comments about how we screwed this up. This mix couldn't possibly cover off on everyone's personal list of Guitar Gods, so I look forward to hearing who you think we missed, and what we got wrong. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to slip into my flame retardant Kevlar suit...]
Tags: Keith Richards, Otis Rush, Umlaut, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, John Fahey, Eddie Hazel, Ted Nugent, Albert King, Buckethead, George Brigman, Les Paul, Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, Mark Knopfler, B.B. King, George Harrison, Johnny Thunders, John Cipollina, Ry Cooder, Peter Green, Gary Duncan, Kurt Cobain, Eddie Van Halen, Dick Dale, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Winter, Carlos Santana, Angus Young, KK Downing, Glenn Tipton, Guitar Gods, Chuck Berry, Jack White, Link Wray, Jerry Garcia, Duane Allman, Ron Wood, Pete Townshend, Billy Gibbons, The Edge, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, Mike Bloomfield, Roy Buchanan, Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Perry, Tony Iommi, Nigel Tufnel, Johnny Ramone, Steve Jones, Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Randy Roads, Slash, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Kirk Hammett, Tom Morello, Andres Segovia, John McLaughlin, David Gilmore, World B. Furr, Ace Frehley, Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Mick Taylor, Alex Lifeson
19 November 2008 at 6:24 am |
This seems like among the most ambitious of subjects to try and tackle. I wonder if you guys were set on doing four discs from the very beginning or if you considered it being even bigger or perhaps smaller.
Suggesting people you may have missed seems like a no-win proposition because you’ve put together a hell of a collection. But I guess I’d wonder if Jane’s Addicton/Dave Navarro deserved mention? If Nirvana made the cut, how about the Pixies? Jorma Kaukonen? Are Rich Robinson/Black Crowes or Mike McCready/Pearl Jam just too lame or mainstream nowadays?
Nice to see Duane/Dicky/the Allmans, Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits, Tom Morello/RATM, Zep, Floyd and the other standard bearers.
I’m not nearly as steeped in the temple of guitar worship as either of you, so if nothing else know that pretty much everyone in my office has ripped the mix for their own entertainment. So no matter what you guys get comment-wise, you must have done something, or a lot of things, right.
19 November 2008 at 7:31 am |
Between yesterday’s drive home, the drive to work and sitting at my desk this morning I’ve managed to get through almost the first 3 disks. And after looking at who is on disk 4, I must say it is a pretty comprehensive list and I certainly can’t fault you for the inclusion of any of your picks. Of course the list of really great guitar played is pretty endless so I’m sure you could have made this a 10 disk comp. Right off the bat I would have had to include a few major missing guys (at least for me) –
Frank Marino – Total Hendrix worship at its best!!!!
Robin Trower – Former Procol Harum goes Hendrix! Thank God!!!
Leo Kottke
Uli Jon Roth (Either Solo or with the early Scorpions) – He’s old here but he’s still got it!
Michael Schenker (Early Scorpions, UFO or Solo) – Shenker is 16 years old in this clip = he is a git god for sure!
Rory Gallagher – A bit of boogie never hurt anyone!
Brian May (Queen) – IMHO one of the most overlooked git players of all time….
Mark Farner (Grand Funk) – I know they sold millions but man could he ROCK! Wait around for the 4 minute mark and then some!
Leslie West (Mountain) – Fat? Yes? Fat Riffs? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alvin Lee (Ten Years After) – Best Woodstock performance????? Maybe….???
Robert Fripp (King Crimson)
Steve Howe (Yes)
How about yours truly w/ Ed Mundell from Monster Magnet???? Hahahaha!!!!
19 November 2008 at 9:00 am |
Davie Allan & The Arrows!
Elmore James?
T-Bone Walker?
Michael Bruce & Glenn Buxton (The Alice Cooper Band)
Ed King, Steve Gains, Al Collins, Gary Rossington – Skynyrd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19 November 2008 at 9:12 am |
Skynyrd, Thin Lizzy, and Pearl Jam floated on the periphery of our thinking on this. We never talked about it specifically, but my feeling is that groups with multiple lead guitarists faced a steeper path to inclusion because no one person was the guitar face for that group.
Thanks for the list Dick. Elmore James was an oversight that I just noticed myself the other day. Considering that he was a prime influence on Hendrix, that one hurt. Looking forward to checking out some of the video clips you linked to…
Esbandido – when you say everyone in your office “has ripped the mix” did you mean “ridicule” or “copy”. I’m guessing both…
19 November 2008 at 9:46 am |
this is a marvelous listen, gentlemen. an outstanding debut collaboration.
however, there is always another question that is always the flipside of “but what about_____?”
it is called, “how the _____ did ________ get in there?”
for me, the two that fall into the latter category have to be ted nugent and nigel tufnel, unless they are included for comic relief. (in that case, nigel would have sufficed.)
the most glaring case of the former, IMO, would have to be none other than prince, the artist formerly known as prince, the minneapolis genius or whatever you want to call him.
for grins, i am actually in the midst of preparing a cd “rebuttal” (for lack of better words). one that will even include trace amounts of estrogen beyond the glyph.
btw: great response, devil dickie.
19 November 2008 at 10:11 am |
First things first. Ya gotta define what exactly is a guitar god.
Is it mere technical prowess? Is it influence and originality? Or Is it swagger, style, a stage presence combined with guitar mastery? (My personal definition.)
Or is the dreaded combination of everything?
So what is it, DK?
19 November 2008 at 10:14 am |
Early in Kurt Cobain’s musical career, he and his band drove to Seattle to see a concert. Coming home from that, he was so inspired by the performance that he decided then and there that he would take up the guitar.
The Band? Black Flag. Greg Ginn is a musical genius, not only for founding the group and SST records, but for his totally unique guitar playing. I’m a big fan of Henry Rollins, but his role in Black Flag has been dramatically overstated as Ginn was really what made their music distinctive.
(if I had to pick a song to include, it would be ‘Nervous Breakdown’)
19 November 2008 at 10:26 am |
Mr. Newton,
I think your definition is a good one. If I had to give it a two sentence pitch, it’d probably go something like this:
A guitar god (sorry, GUITAR GOD!) is someone who is either ridiculously technically proficient, was a riff machine, or changed the game in some dramatic way. A whole bunch of swagger never hurt either (see Tufnel, Nigel and Thunders, Johnny).
Furr, you care to take a swing at this??
19 November 2008 at 11:10 am |
kudos to mr. cordell for nominating prince. He absolutely, positively has to be on this list. well done. I would nominate:
Johnny Marr from the Smiths. People worship at his temple. Sort of a modern day George Harrison.
Marc Bolan, T. Rex. If you’re going to call this Guitar Gods, he has to be on this list. Has to.
Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. OK, he played bass, but make an exception, will ya? Everything about him said God. He even died young to help things along.
Nick Drake: his guitar work (e.g. open tunings) are still revered.
Alvin Lee of Ten Years After. For years, he was called the Fastest Guitarist in Rock, or Fastest Fingers, or, well, you get the idea.
Dave Davies of the Kinks. Stuck a comb in an amp and came up with one of the most distinctive guitar sounds ever.
Stephen Stills: His guitar playing-on both electric and acoustic-on BS, CSN, and CSNY, even solo albums, is landmark. As was his cocaine consumption.
19 November 2008 at 12:26 pm |
Yawn…
19 November 2008 at 1:41 pm |
Curious about the inclusion of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Granted, a great song, but the lead guitar is all Clapton, no? If you want to acknowledge Harrison in this loosely defined category (which, frankly, is hardly necessary, given the competition), I would have gone with “Something” or “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”
Love the mix, boys. I always look to dk for stuff that’s not in my collection (but should be) so it never bothers me when a Dimebag Darrel is left out to make room for something like Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” or The Faces’ “Around the Plynth.”
19 November 2008 at 2:31 pm |
The two-part answer to this is: 1) Yes, we knew about Clapton playing the lead on ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and we actually discussed some other track selections. But it’s just such a damned fine song, and it fit the mix so well that we decided to keep it. 2) If I were to pick another Harrison track, I probably would have reached for something off of All Things Must Pass. There’s some heroic guitar work on that album, although it too features guest guitar work from Clapton.
No wonder those two ended up banging the same lady…
20 November 2008 at 4:53 am |
Damn…Furr’s too cool for you all. I respect that.
20 November 2008 at 8:00 am |
I’d say you two gentlemen successfully covered the gamut.
Definitely a mix worthy of mass worship…
20 November 2008 at 8:10 am |
Don’t let Furr hear you say that, or he’ll yawn…
20 November 2008 at 8:52 am |
Ok fine:
Guitar God definition = The dreaded all of the above. (Sorry Tony) Too many possibilities that can lead to God-like status. If it was merely technical prowess, we’d have had to fill 4 discs with plank-wankers like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and the likes. (All great, but oh so boring. And NO soul.) Instead, we chose Buckethead to fill that spot/genre. But certainly, stage presence and mastery go a long way and many made it for that reason too.
Ted Nugent is a perfect example of this. How could he NOT be included. I believe he’s the highest grossing act of the 1970′s and there were a lot of guitar gods from that era. Love him or hate him, he got more memorable licks in on the guitar and the Wang Dang Sweet Poontang than a lot of guys dream about. Not including The Nuge would discredit the entire mix. He’s a better guitarist than Joe Perry and Steve Jones, that’s for sure.
Phil Lynott doesn’t count. Neither did Lemmy and I tried to get him in here.
I’m still pained by Alvin Lee, Marc Bolan and Robin Trower not making it, but oh well. Elmore James was a huge miss. Sorry Elmore.
Prince could certainly belong. Great, highly proficient guitarist. But I think his genius is more about his complete vision of his music, as opposed to his guitar playing in specific. And since Cordell is preparing a response with some estrogen, Prince will fit in just wonderfully.
Stephen Stills is awful on the electric guitar. Acoustic work is brilliant, and that alone could get him on the list. But someone please yank that lovely White Falcon from his hands and give it to me.
Black Flag is certainly one of the most influential punk bands of all time, but I never saw the guitar work as anything remarkable in and of itself. (Not a knock, just my opinion.) Great band.
Lots of other notables mentioned and they certainly could have been here. Only so much room.
Yawn.
20 November 2008 at 9:29 am |
Other should’ve-been-here’s:
Dave Davies
Mick Ronson
Andy Summers (Yes, Andy Summers)
John Fruciante
Gary Moore
many more
20 November 2008 at 9:30 am |
Frank Black and Joey Santiago
20 November 2008 at 9:31 am |
Marc Ford
Rich Robinson
(I warned you about getting me started.)
20 November 2008 at 9:33 am |
Brian May, Dave Stewart, Johnny Marr, Johnny Greenwood… killer mix
20 November 2008 at 9:35 am |
Chet Atkins was another near-miss…
20 November 2008 at 9:58 am |
keep ‘em coming…keep ‘em coming.
20 November 2008 at 10:10 am |
Greenwood was discussed at length…
20 November 2008 at 10:13 am |
I would also love to have included folk guitarists Bert Jansch, Richard Thompson, and John Martyn…
20 November 2008 at 10:14 am |
Charlie Christian was a pioneering electric guitarist that one could build a pretty good case for. Ditto jazz guitarist Grant Green…
20 November 2008 at 10:16 am |
And (D’OH!) what about Django Reinhardt??
20 November 2008 at 10:22 am |
Ah, hell, let me toss a little Tommy Bolin into the mix. Dead at 25, but left a pile of fine guitar work in his wake. His solo on “Wild Dogs” still makes my nipples hard.
20 November 2008 at 10:49 am |
James Burton, Vince Gill and Brent Mason are no-brainers as well.
20 November 2008 at 11:08 am |
Who is Brent Mason??
20 November 2008 at 11:12 am |
The most recorded guitarist in Nashville history (I believe). If not, he’s #2.
Look him up.
20 November 2008 at 11:15 am |
In my opinion, sidemen and studio aces lack the requisite visibility for serious consideration as GODS. But if you were going to go there you’d have to consider Burton, as well as Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Steve Cropper from Booker T & The MGs.
20 November 2008 at 11:15 am |
D’oh.
Cropper is another first ballot, no brainer. Same with Baxter, but Cropper was a huge error if you ask me.
20 November 2008 at 11:17 am |
I don’t see how being a Studio Ace should disqualify.
Is Steely Dan any less of a band?
20 November 2008 at 11:19 am |
Speaking of The Dan, Larry Carlton.
20 November 2008 at 11:20 am |
Baxter could’ve made it on Doobie Bros work alone.
20 November 2008 at 1:48 pm |
I can’t believe Ted Nugent beat out Django Reinhardt!
But nevermind; I’m loving this compilation.
20 November 2008 at 1:57 pm |
Steely Dan isn’t any less of a band, but they’re hardly the traditional band configuration. The lineup for that group was an ever-shifting squadron of session players, and some of their albums credit more than 30 musicians. That doesn’t mean that Baxter and Larry Carlton aren’t gifted players, but the way The Dan used musicians as de facto sidemen served to undercut the visibility of those musicians. And while a high profile wasn’t the only qualification we were considering, I do think it’s a serious part of the equation.
I don’t think being a studio ace was cause for outright disqualification, it just made the tag of GUITAR GOD harder to apply.
Are Baxter, Cropper, Carlton, Burton, et al excellent musicians? Without a doubt. Guitar Gods? Not so sure…
Every serious music fan probably has a slightly different idea of what constitutes a guitar god. That’s the main reason this was such a futile exercise from the outset: no matter who we picked, someone was getting shafted (and I’m not talking about Patti Boyd here).
In closing, I’d like to say: Mmmmm… dooobie…
20 November 2008 at 2:14 pm |
David Lindley
Andy Fairweather Low
20 November 2008 at 3:04 pm |
Esteban
20 November 2008 at 3:20 pm |
Leather Tuscadero
20 November 2008 at 3:30 pm |
Aaaaaaaaaaaay… now we’re talkin’ Mister F!
20 November 2008 at 3:35 pm |
Jack Mehoff
Richard Cranium
Don Keydick
20 November 2008 at 4:02 pm |
I couldn’t agree more – the guitarists for Yes, BTO and Emerson, Lake & Palmer should definitely be included.
20 November 2008 at 4:13 pm |
Can’t believe we forgot Uncle Pecos
20 November 2008 at 5:15 pm |
Dang, now we can’t get Furr to shut the hell up.
20 November 2008 at 5:33 pm |
You were warned!
20 November 2008 at 5:38 pm |
The only names left on my worksheet that haven’t been mentioned yet:
Charlie Hunter
James Williamson [Stooges]
Frank Zappa
Joe Maphis
Randy California [Spirit]
Steve Miller
20 November 2008 at 6:06 pm |
We can’t let this thread end without a nod to Yngwie Malmsteen and his now-famous mid-flight temper tantrum after a passenger spills a glass of water over his head.
http://www.blabbermouth.net/yngwie_tokyo_flight.mp3
It sounds like an outtake from Spinal Tap, especially when Malmsteen repeatedly shouts, “You released the fucking fury!” (It’s a phrase I use at least twice a day at work.)
Now that, my friends, is a Guitar God.
20 November 2008 at 6:16 pm |
Coincidentally, I was just explaining to my cat Oscar that we’d made it through an entire post called “Guitar Gods” without a single mention of Yngwie Malmsteen.
Now I have to go back in the other room and break that little cat’s heart…
20 November 2008 at 8:10 pm |
how could i forget ron holden & leigh stephens …!!!!
20 November 2008 at 8:12 pm |
er,,, randy holden…..
20 November 2008 at 8:33 pm |
I know it’s only a Wikipedia query away, but who??
20 November 2008 at 8:36 pm |
Dick, I actually like your guitar god candidacy better than those guys…
20 November 2008 at 8:50 pm |
And a word about Robin Trower. Furr pushed hard for his inclusion here, and he was on the fence until the last minute. I think he’s a great guitarist, and ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ is a fantastic album. More than anyone else, Robin Trower understood what Jimi Hendrix was actually doing on the guitar, and he made music that was the next best thing to Hendrix – no mean feat.
But that’s also the essential problem for me with Trower’s candidacy – any explanation of his music requires a discussion of Hendrix. A true guitar god isn’t following somebody else’s roadmap, no matter how many exciting places that map takes them.
20 November 2008 at 9:25 pm |
So I hear we got a regular Bobby Sands among us.
21 November 2008 at 5:52 am |
holden & stephens were the git players from blue cheer and randy holden put out an amazing solo album called population that i know you would dig dk…
i hear what your saying about trower but i don’t think he tried to mimic hendrix totally but took what he did and made it his own and in a post hendrix world, trower was a guitar god to many many people of that era…
who at that time was playing like that???
maybe its just because i used to listen to long misty days on my uncle dans 8-track in his van over and over again but for me trower deserves inclusion on any git god comp.
21 November 2008 at 8:17 am |
Furr, I dig your new icon/logo thing.
21 November 2008 at 8:35 am |
I think dk picked up a guitar once. Can we include him as a shoulda? The club no longer seems so exclusive!
21 November 2008 at 8:39 am |
We’re working on the 25 disc addendum…
21 November 2008 at 9:31 am |
I understand why you left Alex Lifeson off the list, Geddy Lee and Neil Peart definitely overshadow him. But to choose George Harrison over him is interesting. The Beatles weren’t a guitar band. I’m sure George is an excellent guitarist, but guitar god??? Not nearly compared to Lifeson.
And I agree with Jason above, Brian May should be on that list, he’s way more of a guitar god than Harrison. Queen had two very unique qualities that made them stand out, Freddie on vocals and May on guitar.
LOL at Nigel Tufnel. He’s a guitar god only in his own mind.
22 November 2008 at 9:13 am |
Ah Rush. In order to seriously agitate my wife, I don’t even have to put a Rush album on the turntable, I only need to set it out within her line of sight. She’ll usually react like she’s found another woman’s phone number in my pocket, asking questions like “What is that?” “What do you intend to do with that?” and “Can I throw that away?”
I’ve always been sort of a middling Rush fan myself. Love Farewell To Kings and some of their first album. ‘Spirit Of Radio’ is a great song – ‘Tom Sawyer’ too – but most of their stuff just sounds like the audio version of Sci-Fi to me.
And as we all know, people who love Sci-Fi REALLY LOVE it, while the rest of us are left shaking our heads, asking “What’s the big deal there?”
Rag Mama Rag recently posted a great article that breaks down her love of Rush. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it here…
22 November 2008 at 9:15 am |
I also wanted to say how great it is to see “Tony Iommi” “Umlaut” and “World B. Furr” as the last three tags on this post. Without two of those three, this mix probably doesn’t get made…
22 November 2008 at 9:40 pm |
how can the P have a problem with Rush? I’m not the world’s biggest fan, but I don’t get the repulsion.
22 November 2008 at 9:59 pm |
Jealousy
3 May 2009 at 6:12 am |
64 comments?!?
I just wanted to point out that Hubert Sumlin was the Marc Ribot to Howlin’ Wolf’s Tom Waits. (Willie Johnson also played guitar on Smokestack Lightnin’.)
Okay, now I’ll go back and read what everyone had to say.
3 May 2009 at 6:50 am |
All right. Back now.
Comments on the comments:
• James Osterberg & dk: Regarding George Harrison, reminds me of a story Joe Walsh recounted. Starting out, he was so impressed by the solo on ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ that he spent hours and hours learning to replicate it perfectly, only to find out years later that George had doubletracked/overdubbed it.
• dk: It’s ridiculous to categorize Richard Thompson as merely a folk guitarist. That man is one of the best rock and roll guitarists ever.
For virtuosity I nominate Jerry Reed, Lonnie Johnson, and of course Robbie Robertson.
For knowing when not to play and making the spaces around the notes just as important (à la Hubert Sumlin) I nominate Marc Ribot and John Lee Hooker (especially his minimalist solos from the 1953 Detroit sessions- so emotionally impactful because of the tension-building propulsive, droning guitar rhythms preceding them).
Also Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith.
3 May 2009 at 6:51 am |
ooh dern. didn’t unbold after “james osterberg & dk:” *sigh*
3 May 2009 at 7:51 am |
Done. As always, thanks for the great comments…
3 May 2009 at 8:52 am |
Thank you. You’re too kind, especially since I seem to be getting all snippy over on the Springsteen post.
26 June 2009 at 10:10 am |
Dude, where the hell is Paul Kossof from Free? C’mon – he’s the Frog Prince of Guitar Gods!
3 February 2010 at 9:18 pm |
Where’s Richard Lloyd??!!
3 February 2010 at 9:20 pm |
and St. James Gurley!
glad GeorgeBrigman made the list.