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| The Velvet Underground White Light/White Heat LP (Verve Records, 1968) |
Favorite Guitar Solos Week draws to a close with the greatest guitar solo ever in the history of recorded music, from the second album by The Velvet Underground, 1968's White Light/White Heat. Now, there's crazy soloing all over the place here, so, to be more specific, I mean the solo starting at roughly the -2:20 mark, right after Lou "Walk on the Wild Side" Reed says the above line. |
UFO
No Heavy Petting
LP
(Chrysalis Records, 1976)
So, yeah, I'm a metalhead. Deal with it.
It was 8th grade when Jeff B______ asked me one day in Spanish class, snidely, Baltimore, do you like anything besides heavy metal?
He was a dick, and not the good kind. The following year, I rationalized to myself that I couldn't possibly be gay, 'cause I liked such tough music.
Amongst bands making said tough music, UFO was already one of my favorites. I even managed to see them that school year, with godlike guitarist Michael Schenker still in the band. It wasn't 'til 11th or 12th grade that I got this album, however. His soloing on this song floored me. I couldn't believe how fast he was playing! Sadly, he only lasted two more studio albums and left after the recording of their second live album, the classic Strangers in the Night.
NOTE: The intro to this song is my primary ringtone. Yeah, I make my own ringtones, bitch.
NOTE2: Schenker was the replacement for guitarist Bernie Marsden, who replaced Larry Wallis, who replaced Mick Bolton, who played on the previous UFO song I posted, Timothy.
NOTE3: Larry Wallis was the original guitarist for Motörhead, featured here just two days ago. Yes, the world of rock'n'roll is rampant with the sin of incest.
NOTE4: Schenker may be godlike, but his work outside UFO ranges from OK to awful. Be forewarned.
NOTE5: Astute listeners may realize that, if you take the main riff here and slow it down . . . Voilà! You get Jane's Addiction's Mountain Song.
Bitches. I've never liked them; I'm not even gonna hyperlink to 'em. HA!
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| Black Flag Damaged LP (Unicorn/SST Records, 1981) |
Whereas Snakefinger played the wrong notes in the right places and Ollie Halsall was unhinged, Ginn was just . . . alien. On the one hand, his solos sound almost like completely random collections of notes. On the other, they work! I watched him closely a few times at shows; it may have seemed like chaos, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing. I also observed him practicing scales before soundcheck when a friend of mine promoted a Black Flag show. Picking a single song wasn't easy, so I went with this one as it's one of my favorites and he solos just about non-stop for the entire thing. I cheated on the pic again. I own the original pressing of this album, with the tiny Unicorn logo in the lower right as in the photo, but it's the middle of the night. I get my best results photographing album covers (since they are too big for my scanner) on bright, sunny days, when I can use natural light. I'd not had a chance in the last few days to go take pictures, so I was naughty. Please, forgive me. Or don't. Whatever. :-P |
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| Motörhead Ace of Spades LP (Bronze Records, 1980) |
This album was one of my Christmas presents from my dad when I was 17. I knew it was due to be released sometime not too long beforehand, so I begged him for it, and he came through. A few months later, they came to America for the first time, touring with Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz. They were the openers, of course, but they blew Ozzy off the stage. This is tagged magazine discovery because I first heard of Motörhead when I was 16 and their second album, Overkill, was reviewed alongside the lone Hawklords album, in issue 39 of Trouser Press. The reviewer savaged them, so when I found one of their records not long after, of course, I had to buy it. 'Twas a wise decision, though I had to check the speed on my first listen, 'cause there was just no way humans could play that fast! |
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| Kevin Ayers First Show in the Appearance Business The BBC Sessions 1973-76 CD (Band of Joy, 1997) |
I really can't think of a better word to describe the playing of guitarist Ollie Halsall with Kevin Ayers. I've featured Kev before, and Ollie was most likely the soloist on that song, in addition to this one, but there are no musician credits on the wee 7" record or sleeve. Ollie's soloing on the original studio version of this song on Kevin's fifth album, The Confessions of Dr Dream and other stories, was certainly out there, but this version, recorded for BBC1's John Peel Show on July 9, 1974, makes it almost sound tame, in comparison. The studio recording, btw, was his first work with Kev. The two ended up working together until Ollie's untimely death in 1992. I'd actually known Ollie's name since 1978, thanks to his being a studio Rutle, but never heard him really let loose 'til I started listening to Kev in the early '90's, thanks to my friend Audrey. He was also in other bands, like Tempest and Patto, but I must confess I have not yet checked them out. I only have so many ears, you know. |
So, this one's a bit more conventional than yesterday's, I suppose. Hey, man, I have feelings, you know? Guitarist Julian Swales' solo on this song may be simple, but it's emotionally devastating. It makes me want to grit my teeth, close my eyes, rock back-and-forth, cry, etc.
Sadly, Prince of Mars
proved to the the final song on Kitchens of Distinction's final album. They did release a final single, but it was under the name Kitchen O.D. (no, I don't know why). Leader Patrick Fitzgerald went on to record a few singles and an album under the name Fruit. He followed those with a couple of EPs and an album under the name Stephen Hero, then developed a fear of spaces (or the malevolent spirit of James Joyce) and released two albums under the name stephenhero.
No matter the name, everything he's done is genius, imo.
Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.
The Residents
Satisfaction
7" single
(Ralph Records, 1976)
So, I'm back!
I've decided to start doing the occasional (or maybe frequent) (it's my blog–you can't stop me) theme week, starting today.
So . . .
This week's theme is Lightning's (that's me) favorite guitar solos. 'Cause, like, I'm a guitarist. Of sorts. Well, I own several guitars. Sometimes I even touch them.
First out of the box has one of my favorite solos and also happens to be my favorite cover song of all time. I bought this as I was easing into punk rock in my 17th year, and it was an ear opener, all right. Up until then, I'm not sure I'd ever heard anything so gloriously ugly. The guitarist on this charming piece is Phil Lithman, better known as Snakefinger. I can't remember where I read this, or who wrote it, but it's a perfect description: Snakefinger plays all the wrong notes in all the right places.
I've flagged this as both USA/Louisiana and England for a good reason. Firstly, The Residents are originally from Shreveport, LA, as am I. Secondly, Snakefinger is a Brit, and he's the soloist. So there. He was formerly a pub rocker in the UK, btw. His playing and singing with Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers is not the sort of thing that would lead one to expect . . . this.
I cheated on the cover for this one. The pictured cover is the original 1976 issue, which was something like 200 copies. I ripped this from my 1978 repress, which was 30,000 units, allegedly.
