A day for the guitar gods
Yesterday was windy and rainy: a perfect day for listening to the blues, so my CD player was occupied by a disc a colleague gave me for Christmas last year. It rounded up the usual suspects - Robert Johnson, Wolf, Son House, Muddy, B.B. - but a little more than halfway through the disc are songs featuring my three favorite guitarists: Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The Hendrix track is a studio version of “Red House,” and Hendrix nonchalantly turns in a killer performance. Good as that track is, though, the live version of the same song on the hard-to-find “Hendrix in the West” contains what are arguably the two greatest electric guitar blues solos ever recorded. The second one, in fact, could be used as Exhibit A in an argument that Hendrix was actually an extraterrestrial being. It is an electric, orgasmic, screaming cry of love and heartbreak. It’s a wonder his guitar didn’t melt.
Listening to those three tracks yesterday got me thinking: What are the five best guitar solos in my music collection? It didn’t take long to come up with this list:
1. Hendrix, “Red House,” from “Hendrix in the West.”
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Wall of Denial,” from “In Step.” Like Jimi, SRV was taken from us much too soon. “In Step” is a perfect SRV album, and this is his finest moment, as Vaughan lets his unfettered ability fly in a brilliantly relentless solo.
3. Richard Thompson, “You Can’t Win,” from “Watching the Dark.” Thompson sings, “They taught me to lie and then questioned my word,” then unleashes a solo that epitomizes rage. Why this guy is little more than a cult favorite is one of the current music scene’s great mysteries.
4. Eric Clapton, “NSU,” from “Live Cream.” Propelled by the rocket fuel of Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Clapton soars into an elliptical orbit that returns to the point of origin so suddenly and unexpectedly that the first time you hear it, it takes your breath away.
5. Duane Allman, “Stormy Monday,” from “Live at the Fillmore.” Despite his fame, the most underrated guitarist of his time. An impeccable, incendiary solo. Another great player gone too young.
Lists like this, of course, are good for nothing but rejoinders - so who are your guitar gods?
The Hendrix track is a studio version of “Red House,” and Hendrix nonchalantly turns in a killer performance. Good as that track is, though, the live version of the same song on the hard-to-find “Hendrix in the West” contains what are arguably the two greatest electric guitar blues solos ever recorded. The second one, in fact, could be used as Exhibit A in an argument that Hendrix was actually an extraterrestrial being. It is an electric, orgasmic, screaming cry of love and heartbreak. It’s a wonder his guitar didn’t melt.
Listening to those three tracks yesterday got me thinking: What are the five best guitar solos in my music collection? It didn’t take long to come up with this list:
1. Hendrix, “Red House,” from “Hendrix in the West.”
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Wall of Denial,” from “In Step.” Like Jimi, SRV was taken from us much too soon. “In Step” is a perfect SRV album, and this is his finest moment, as Vaughan lets his unfettered ability fly in a brilliantly relentless solo.
3. Richard Thompson, “You Can’t Win,” from “Watching the Dark.” Thompson sings, “They taught me to lie and then questioned my word,” then unleashes a solo that epitomizes rage. Why this guy is little more than a cult favorite is one of the current music scene’s great mysteries.
4. Eric Clapton, “NSU,” from “Live Cream.” Propelled by the rocket fuel of Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Clapton soars into an elliptical orbit that returns to the point of origin so suddenly and unexpectedly that the first time you hear it, it takes your breath away.
5. Duane Allman, “Stormy Monday,” from “Live at the Fillmore.” Despite his fame, the most underrated guitarist of his time. An impeccable, incendiary solo. Another great player gone too young.
Lists like this, of course, are good for nothing but rejoinders - so who are your guitar gods?