In the opening round of the battle, Boris were seen off by Williamsbach’s deployment of the vicious Roy Buchanan – Roy’s Blues (live ’76) solo into the open battlefield.
Williamsbach is now King Of The Castle Of The Axe – and the challenge is to dislodge the reigning champion by inventive and awesome guitar skills!
Things are now more democratic, so here’s the rules:
1. One entry each (Chris; I’m looking at you….)!
2. Please note when the solo you want to highlight kicks in (minutes and seconds, plz)
3. Each of you has one vote each, for either your favourite challenger posted or for the reigning champion, so wait til there’s a good lot of contenders and then cast your vote. You can’t vote for your own submission.
HAVE AT YE!!!
ROUND TWO IS NOW CLOSED FOR ENTRIES!
Double threat of Levine & Wobble assault. No solo, need a free hand for synth FX:
OK – second attempt at getting a minimalist solo onto the leaderboard. This one kicks in at 2:06.
It’s good; I remember it well. The audio on this clip isn’t showcasing it, imho.
It’s very rare for TP even to play lead guitar on stage, let alone a solo, not doubt on the why-keep-a-dog-and-bark-yourself principle. Here, though, having got the song out of the way, he starts behaving like a proper rock star and before long is alarming the audience by charging across the stage and thrusting his Fender at them. From 3.52, then after a bit he and Mike Campbell start taking it in turns.
Mary Jane’s Last Dance by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I really prefer duets to guitar solos. Wasn’t sure that was in the remit. They are so much more…more, aren’t they, whether playing nice together or whether battling it out for supremacy?
Time for a spot of J. Mascis and Dinosaur Jr;
At last! J Mascis always said his songs were just a few lyrics tacked on as a justification for a massive load of soloing!
Ry Cooder with Bobby King and Terry Evans on vocals for “Dark End of the Street”
A classic example of how not to barnstorm your way through a solo but to add to the song rather than overwhelm it. Ry’s solo kicks in at 2’49″
Slow attack – cunning!
Vote Ry! Vote Ry! Vote Ry!
For second place! Behind Dr Feelgood!
Just gorgeous. (My favourite slide guitar in there, too!!)
I am currently sharpening my white striped blade….then you’ll all be sorry…..;-)
Blimpy, can we pick someone who’s already been picked in a previous round?
Of course!!
Would that be “Ball and Biscuit”, Blimpy?
B&B hadn’t crossed my mind so far….but I am thinking same album…..
Jim Mortimore on baritone guitar in Arthur Brown’s current full electric band; video from 2010 but catch ‘em at Ray Davies Meltdown if you can
solo is short but sweet . . . and sour from 1.55 . . . General Riffage demands saluting
Is General Riffage a rank in the Shred Army?
The ‘newtome’ song scores big with me, TY, but not the guitar solo.
D’oh. Hit wrong key. Was about to add –
Don’t you just love Arthur’s grin to camera right at the very end?
The original version is a much more mellow and acoustic take, released on 2002′s ‘Tantric Lover’ album.
I’m voting for this one, although I admit to being influenced by liking Arthur a lot. I salute Jim Mortimore!
Is this game a bit like QI – if I say the words “Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird”, will the screen go black, alarms sound, and Stephen Fry will inform me that actually the studio version was the entire population of Jacksonville, FL playing one note each, and was thus not actually a ‘solo’?
No, but you might see me dancing round the front room with an air guitar …
Ali, if that’s what it takes to see you again at all, I’ll do it.
Wilko Johnson is playing at Holmfirth Picturedome in September if anyone local is interested … I have a comfortable floor …
1.10 and things get a little strange.
The solo that made me decide not to play guitar like a “real” player. still don’t know any scales or notes or stuff like that. You don’t need them
Pink Floyd- Candy and the Currant bun
some lovely stuttering feedback at the end too.
Cool!
Waaaay cool!
OK, Roy’s playing is mightily impressive, but the face just did NOT say “awesome”. Well, the aal’bugger’s about to get double-mugged:
Shamelessly adding a ‘recently-deceased’ trump card on top of the pair of aces, here’s Scott Gorham and particularly the late Gary Moore with some Irish electricity:
Black Rose from the Thin Lizzy tribute show in 2005
The first two minutes gets the story over and done with, and from there until the five-and-a-half minute mark it just ramps up and up. Get your breath for a minute, then a final minute of synchronised tremelo-fingering.
Never been a big GM fan but by gum, he could play.
Isn’t that Danny Boy they quote? Can’t they think of a new trick, rather than rocking up traditional folk tunes?
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Absolutely, wb! Apart from it being a duet, rather than a solo, it contains no spontaneity, colour, emotion or originality. I’d put it in the same ‘music-hall’ category as the singalong bit of Hey Jude. Safe public mutual masturbation.
[I'm sorry, DsD, I know I shouldn't diss your choice but I'm still in a grump from yesterday's RR results and comments (JD doesn't seem to clock in on Friday either, it seems), so am being a little over the top. I'm sure you can take it. Although I don't like speaking ill of the dead....]
WHAT? Speaking ill of the dead? *checks pulse* Oh. Phew. You mean Gary. That’s a relief!!
No, I can take the criticism (though I think you are being a bit OTT there, Chris). I think you’re both missing the point slightly, in that Black Rose was written to precisely BE a rock updating of an Irish “from-back-in-the-mists-of-time-myth”, but hey-ho.
Off to my dad’s until late Mon eve in a few mins, so regrettably won’t get back here for any more unless I sneak onto his PC (unlikely: it’s in his bedroom).
Cheers, fellas.
Thanks for posting this – myself and Her Indoors were at this gig in Dublin. There were a series of great tribute gigs to Phil Lynott over the years, and while the Lizzy members bit was the highlight of the night, there was some serious money-grabbing and barrel-scraping further down the bill (Wheatus take a bow – came across like they had no idea who Thin Lizzy were – the Teenage Dirtbags!).
BTW I was looking for a nice live video of UFO’s Pack It Up & Go but couldn’t find one on You Tube….
Tony Peluso innit?
2.45 to the end.
or anything by Adrian Borland.
Gets my vote.
Now that one was a regularly heard tune in my childhood, but had been long-forgotten, I admit. Definitely ace, but it’s another song I want to shoot the producer for: why fade it just as Mr. Peluso is getting into his stride?
Thanks, severin.
Donds for what Darce said – don’t fade it out!! Top banana.
I could never understand why this sugar fix got stuck on to the front of this amazing ending – always used to fastforward my cassette player to this.
Dip in at about 1.44 for a small preamble to a 20 second killer held note followed by another 40 seconds of screaming fills and riffage. Jack White slays all before him.
One of my fave White Stripes songs of all time.
One note – however squally – does not a solo make, Blimpy. Reckon you unsheathed the wrong red’n'white blade there, my friend.
I will return!! To triumph in round three!!
Sorry, messed up and posted too late so can I re-post what i posted before please, i.e. The Pink Fairies and “Walk Don’t Run” – solo kicks in around 2.43 – even if you don’t rate it, the video is amusing:
PS – you need to listen right through to the end
Hello again, you really need to listen to this, it’s ace …
Well I believe in Fairies so I’ll vote for this one.
I was listening to them the other day and thinking what a great drummer Twink was ( is ?) and how much better they could have mixed some of their stuff.
Very true, very true …
I thought this was quite awesome. I really have to think about where to cast my vote.
Second favourite guitar solo.
..at 1’01″ & 2’42″ I should say.
Jerry Garcia‘s solo on Alligator, from around 5:20. But tune in a little earlier to get in the swing.
And if you need to hear what happens next (he plays some more tunes and it rocks along nicely):
That second half has a feel of the Allman Bros about it (Jessica) – good, but my money is still with Gary Moore at the moment (or my own nom, of course)
Jessica? That’s the Top Gear theme music! That may be about the most depressing Dead put-down I’ve ever come across, Ali (but I’ve listened to a live version on Spotty and, once that is out of the way, I can sort-of see your point with regard to the jam, especially when they quote the same Donovan tune. And the two bands did spend a lot of time together on stage.)
Sorry Chris, I like the Alllman Bros … (but not Jeremy Clarkson)
Joe Bonamassa – Blues Deluxe
Main solo (and it’s a long un) starts at around 2:50
Nice slow-burner, Amylee. The vocal reminds me of Steve Miller, not sure why!
I am going to miss out on this for the rest of the weekend due to me being in Rome.
I will not be happy if Hendrix isn’t the ultimate guitar slinger though.
If I was still playing I’d be introducing Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman and Walter Trout at some point
Have a good weekend, Carole.
We need a conversation about Walter Trout: on the basis of the Face The Music live album – bought purely on a friend’s recommendation – I just don’t see the appeal. My (as I’ve repeatedly admitted) non-musician ears were left with the impression of a technically competent player, but all flash and no feel. Am I missing something?
I’m off too, though to a slightly less exotic place than Carole – Milton Keynes! And I’d have been suggesting RT’s Calvary Cross and Bo Diddley’s Bo Diddley for future rounds.
Not sure that, as King of the Axe Castle, I should be making suggestions, rather than lording it over my subjects and quickly donning protective clothing ahead of the inevitable crashing fall later today.
Nevertheless, after previous comments, I feel obliged to shout:
Toffeeboy You want minimalist?
DarceysDad You want performance and energy? (Actually, I’m not sure that’s what you do want, but let artistic licence allow perf and en to stand in for gurning).
Here’s the mighty, mighty Wilko Johnson with the original Dr Feelgood lineup, covering I’m A Hog For You, Baby in a way that Lieber/Stoller surely never intended. Designed to look chaotic, but listen: it’s as tight as a camel’s arse in a sandstorm. And, go on, count the notes in the solo (1:27 onwards, but do listen to the whole thing). I make it 36 bars, two notes. Brilliant.
Actually, DsD, if you count Lee Brilleaux, there’s plenty of gurning….
Incidentally, Wilko always uses blonde Telecaster guitars with the tortoiseshell scratchplate, which he sprays black with car paint, and each of the about 4 (he plays each one to death) he’s had has the autograph of a Wilko guitar hero on the back. I remember him saying that when he was invited to the Barcelona Guitar Expo in the early ’80′s, he was seriously worried, because his old guitar had fallen apart, and the new one was painted but not signed.
‘I needn’t have worried,’ he said, ‘Two doors down from my room in the hotel was Steve Cropper. Job done!’
What a great guy. Still touring out of a transit van, too.
Saw Wilko for the first time recently in The Lexington, basically an upstairs room in a pub. He was virtually unnoticeable sitting opposite me with his drink but as soon as he took the stage…. WOW!
Used to go to see Wilko every month at The Cricketers, behind the Oval cricket ground. A story I tell that no-one believes concerns his slow blues ‘Don’t Let Your Daddy Know’, during which he would usually do the play-behind-your-head thing and finish the song sort of cradling the guitar in his arms because the strap had gone awol. Well, one night the finish varied in that Wilko ended up holding the guitar by the neck in his left hand at arm’s length to the side. His fingers are making a grabby-thumb F chord (first fret up near the head, if you’re not a player), the guitar is vertical, front pointing to the audience, head pointing to the ceiling. Wilko is occasionally reaching across his body with his right hand to strum. After one strum, he jerks the guitar upwards, still at arm’s length, letting the neck slide through his loosened grasp and re-grabbing at the third fret for a hammer-on G chord. Accurately and in time with the music.
Never saw it before or since.
The man is unique even though he took inspiration from Mick Green of The Pirates. I used to watch him regularly at the Half Moon in Putney in the 90s and to see his technique close up was stunning. A true legend and massively underrated guitarist.
I’m in hog heaven!
As you say, brilliant!
Dammit, why are there no remotely decent Sonny Sharrock videos out there?
My vote goes to Ry Cooder. I generally prefer taste and feeling to bombast and effects pedals.
Right…who’s ahead so far then?
I’ll vote Wilko.
Happen to know one of the later Feelgood guitarists. Complete tool, unfortunately.
FRANK ZAPPA, More Trouble Every Day. Solo starts at 3:20.
I’m the first to admit that I don’t know nuthin’ about the art of guitar playing, but that doesn’t stop me from loving the sound. Peter Green is one of my guitar heroes. This takes my breath away. The momentum starts to build at 2:22 and goes on.
Fleetwood Mac – I’ve Got A Mind To Give Up Living
Oooh, that’s very nice. Anybody define whether this was first released by Paul Butterfield or BB King (or anyone else)?
Very very nice – but my vote is still will Gary Moore so far.
Evening all! A bit difficult to arrive in late to topic, but this one should make you sit up and listen. For the uninitiated, Rory Gallagher was a Blues rock Irish guitarist, taken from us far too early. Rory had a no nonsense approach to playing music and paid his dues playing with may of the great American bluesmen such as Leadbelly and Muddy Waters. If you like this, you should check out his Irish tour 74 which was also filmed for a documentary. An unflashy, gutsy master of that bashed up Stratocaster!
Don’t know if I’ve got an alternative vote, a single transferable vote or if it’s straight ahead first past the post rock. Saw Rory at Birmingham Town Hall that year, fabulous: Hang my colours here.
Rory was a rocked-up bluesman. Gary Moore was a rock guitarist playing the blues. There’s an indefinable yet unmistakable difference, and Rory will always win any comparison for me.
Absolutely spot on williamsbach! Much as I like Moore as a rock guitarist, I was appalled to learn that he was going to “re-discover” the blues back at the end of the eighties. I saw him a few times in London, but one of the blues gigs was all I could handle!
Moore didn’t seem to be a specialist in anything other than rock – he also dabbled with psychedelic folk, jazz rock and a bewildering foray into drum/beats. I think his major problem was that apart from Phil Lynott, he had nobody to bounce ideas off whose opinion he respected, and consequently ploughed a lonely furrow of experimentation which oftentimes didn’t make best use of his talent.
Fabulous, I’ve been thinking about Rory Gallagher and wondering whether to nominate something, but couldn’t decide what.
I am so torn! There are some great solo’s here, but although I am tempted to vote for Ry Cooder, and unless something even more fabulous shows up, my vote goes to the current supremo, Roy Buchanan.
I’m back…is this as far as you’ve got? I vote for Ry Cooder.
I am also back – I’ll vote for Ry Cooder too.
Did you have a good time, Carole? (I did.)
My vote’s for Wilko!
Hey Blimpy! Are you working on Round 3? I have a killer-diller doing that sideways-skip warm-up that footballers think looks so cool…
Here I am!!
So, has Ry Cooder won then?
My count is:
4 for Ry (Chris, TFD, Carole and self)
2 for Wilko (Shoey and Mmoloney)
1 for Arthur Brown (Beth)
1 for Carpenters/Tony Peluso (Toffeeboy)
1 for Pink Fairies (Pairubu)
1 for Gary Moore (Ali)
1 for Rory Gallagher (TY)
1 for incumbent Roy Buchanan (SpottedRichard)
Did I miss anybody? Can I tempt anybody with a (virtual) FIFA-style brown envelope to add votes for Wilko?
PS I didn’t see a Blimpyvote…
MY vote is for Tony Peluso ( i was very nearly swayed by the Wilko!) , which then makes Ry the winner!!
I will get cracking on round three!!
ROUND TWO IS NOW CLOSED!!
(would a poll-daddy be a good idea for round three?)
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