The OP picked it right, Elliot Easton is the king of saying what he has to say and getting out of there. If “Shake it up” comes on the radio, I might change the station after the solo, but I’m hearing that solo.
After I realized that, I was sad that I had nothing off the top of my head to contribute. I’m a guitar player, but I don’t think most solos are necessary at all. If the guitar solo doesn’t move the song forward, it should probably have been omitted. As was mentioned upthread, the solo break from “Whole Lotta Love” completely moves the song back into the riff. If the solos aren’t of that type, I’m probably not crazy about it. If I really like a solo, the song is usually all solo, and the rest of the song is completely devoted to building that solo.
Then, I realized that my favorite solo in a Tom Waits song (and possibly my favorite solo, period ) completely qualifies. The first time I heard “Telephone Call from Istanbul”, when the guitar solo started, it was an ecstasy like being on drugs. It’s just so bent. I’ve listened to many versions of this song played by Marc Ribon, and as far as I can tell, they’re all improvised, but they’re all that solo. It’s always bluesy, jazzy, and atonal. I’d like to know the rules he constructs them all by (if any), but I haven’t figured that out yet. Even in the slow version on Frank’s Wild Years clocks in at 28 sec, but the linked version on the album version of Big Time, and most of them, clock in at about 22 sec. The sax and bass solos both clock in at about 21 sec, and they’re both great. Trust me on the bass solo. I’m a bass player that thinks a bass solo usually verges on an unforgivable sin. That one makes me want to jump up and do interpretive dance.
Marc Ribon has other examples of gorgeous solos that are short. “Yesterday is Here” is another. But “Telephone Call from Istanbul” still wrings my brain out.
Nels Cline’s channeling Roger McGuinn for 23 seconds in the Geraldine Fibber’s “California Tuffy” makes me think I like guitar solos more than I think I did. Maybe they just have to be short?
scabpicker, I just listened to this solo like 8 or 9 times and it really is so bent and so perfect for that song, and so short that it’s bentness is hard to grasp. I cannot even put my finger on what’s great about it. Every time I listen to it, I nod along for a bit, hmmm, yeah… that was nice… then just bust a huge grin about 3/4 through. I don’t even know why! I love it and I’m really not even sure why I do. I think it’s because it keeps lunging toward atonality, like it’s teasing you, and never quite takes the plunge, and lunges back toward the melody at the last moment – phew! Safe again. But there’s more than that and I can’t quite analyze it in a few listenings. Thanks!
No worries! I agree entirely. Terrible, terrible musicians. I cringe when I hear that awful solo in “Summertime,” for example. Which is why I was really surprised that the lead-in to “Piece of my Heart” is so good.
And your analogy between Page and Clayton at their “breaking points” is right on. I think of moments when Michael Jordan would push some move or play just a little beyond the pale, and somehow keep it together and make the shot just as everything seemed like it was starting to unravel.
All good - and yeah, that sports analogy fits - Jordan was amazing that way; kinda like that play from Eli Manning to David Tyree to beat the Patriots for the first time - a lot of slop, but they somehow pulled it off.
My favorite line from Eddie Van Halen was an interview where he said that his goal was to sound like he was falling down the stairs but somehow landed on his feet. I love that.
And the crazy thing is, he can do it over and over again, it seems. For the movie, they recorded at least 3 different performances of that song. Like I said earlier, they’re all very different, but they’re still that kind of solo. The one that’s used in the movie is probably my favorite one. The audio is variable due to the movie context but it’s still damn good.
Through looking up the different versions of that solo and his other work over the last day, I’m starting to think that Marc Ribot is probably the most underrated guitarist that I know of. Heck, I knew about him, and I didn’t appreciate him enough yesterday. Great thread, squeegee. I need to go order some records now.
My favorite is Cross Eyed Mary by Jethro Tull. 10 seconds long, but it sounds like a much longer solo. Partly because it is preceded by a 10 second long flute solo, but also because the guitar gets right down to business with the note bending: it almost sounds like the guitarist was almost angry at how eager they were to start picking. Then, having quickly packed a full length solo into 10 seconds, they stop because they’ve said what needed to be said.
Flute solo starts at 2:29, guitar solo starts at 2:39
Re: Aerosmith: I always thought that Joe Perry’s series of three solos, each lasting four bars (about six seconds) ~three minutes into “Dream On” were brilliant examples of ‘less is more’, and constrast with Tyler’s vocals.
As soon as someone says “short guitar solos,” I think of Richard Thompson. His solos on his studio work tend to be short and unpredictable. I’ve always particularly admired his solo on “You Don’t Say” from Across A Crowded Room.
