I guess while we’re posting different versions of the same song, here’s my favourite of all time. This is at Live 8 in 2005, the first time they’d played together for twenty-something years, and sadly the last time Pink Floyd would ever play together - Richard Wright died in 2008.
Waters’s voice is pretty crappy here, but Gilmour more than makes up for it, and for some reason that second solo has more punch than any time I’ve ever heard him play it. It gives me goosebumps.
(Side note: allegedly Scissor Sisters were watching from the wings, together with the bands’ wives, and they were all bawling their eyes out.)
That won’t load but Im assuming that it’s the concert in Berlin in 1990 right after the Berlin Wall came down. I agree it’s a great version. Of course gilmour was not there. But I was. Me and 500,000 of my closest friends.
It was originally recorded on a '56 Les Paul Goldtop…
Gilmour rarely plays anything particularly challenging lick-wise; but his interpretation and sense of phrasing and melody take his playing to the next level.
I don’t necessarily have a favorite live performance of this tune, but I like this one as much as any as far DG’s soloing. Live In Gdansk
A significant factor in Gilmour’s live tones is the combo of Cornish pedals/preamps + Hiwatt DR103 amps + Fane Crescendo 12A speakers. He used that setup often in the studio too, but he also used Fender Twins sometimes and much of The Wall was recorded with a Les Paul or Strat plugged straight into the board with lots of added compression and tweaking by Bob Ezrin.
I’ve owned a couple early 70s era DR103 amps with Hiwatt Fane plum label speakers (similar to Crescendos), and they are certainly among the most clean, articulate tone machines ever built…I should also say still articulate when crunching in overdrive. Upper harmonics bloom bountifully if the amp is dialed in right. I can plug in a Strat with active EMG pickups and it’s instant Gilmour clean tones. Add a Muff or Fuzz Face pedal for the more fuzzy tones.
As an amateur, I’ve learned many Gilmour solos, including Comfortably Numb. Technically, they have been quite easy due to the slow tempo and few “advanced” techniques like hammers and harmonics. The genius is in the composition and the emotional phrasing of the bends and sustains. His guitar tone also helps, making a single plucked note sound like a soul-shaking stadium-filling roar.
Of course you are correct - I am a huge fan of Less is More, Simpler is Better - but jeez, Knopfler is technically brilliant, too. He does stuff slowly that most folks can’t do even at slow speed - kinda like a great close-in magician. Gilmour doesn’t do anything challenging but puts his whole heart into it and was blessed with great taste. But yeah, both work the silences brilliantly - it’s not the notes; it’s the spaces between the notes!
I wanted to add that aside from how “tasty” Gilmour plays, another thing he does that I really like is his use of the tremolo arm. He uses it a lot during solos, but its never the “hot rails to hell whammy bar Van Halen divebomb”, its more subtle. Sometimes he’ll use it and its patently obvious, but I like it even more when he’s just wobbling it a bit to add nuance to whatever he’s playing.
I did see Roger Waters in a solo tour in Seoul several years ago, however. I don’t recall who the lead guitarist was, but you have to assume if he’s playing lead for RW he must be pretty good… he flubbed a note in the second (I think) solo in Comfortably Numb.
I had an uncle who worked for a record company when I was younger; he would bring us cutout singles (45s - remember those?) when he’d visit. One was “Another Brick In The Wall (Pt 2)”. As a goof, we played it a lot at 78 - at that speed, Gilmour’s solo really smokes!
“I’ll be playing that song off and on all day long on most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in my flat. Sign up for a five minute slot and drop by. If you could, bring some biscuits.”
