Bill lived about a mile from my little house – he died a few years before I got there, and my next-door neighbor officiated his memorial service. At some point I was informed which house was Borroughs’ – just a run-of-the-mill house, with that tree in the back yard.
If you’re ever in Lawrence, be sure to visit the Love Garden store for used LPs and CDs.
Oh, and you’re right to school me about early rock guitar solos – thanks. I should have known better. I guess I was too focused on those British Invasion kids, who meant well but took a while to get with the program (case in point: anything Keith did on the 1965 Stones album December’s Children.)
Wow, interesting; thanks.
Sorry for the schooling tone. There was a lot of innovation happening then, but executing a solo was a known thing by that time. The Kinks seemed to want a bit of slop in it, but there’s a fine line between a bit of slop and sounding off.
Another solo on the edge - by a well-respected player - is **Vernon Reid’s ** solo I. **Living Color’s Cult of Personality. ** He plays some out stuff in there, at times I find it jarring within the context of a mainstream rock song.
No worries – anyone who’s seen that Sister Rosetta Tharp broadcast from like 1958 (as I have) should have known the timeline better. I’ll check out some T-Bone Walker now.
Start with Strollin’ with Bone, Glamour Girl and The Hustle is On. One of the best ever. I wrote a column on him in an old Teemings.
Thanks! I just now listened to “How Long Blues,” and a live version of “Stormy Monday Blues.”
Man, I am so pathetically white ;), (how white IS he?), I only knew the latter from Jethro Tull’s version, on their first, quite bluesy LP.
That’s one of his signature songs. jTull was doing an homage. Bobby “Blue” Bland also has a signature version.
Free Bird.
I completely reject the assertion that endless repetition is good music. Variation is what great musicians do.
(my bolding)
To Dave’s defense, he really had just turned seventeen when they recorded “You Really Got Me”.
I always thought that the point of the “You Really Got Me” solo was to demolish your expectations for a guitar solo, and that it succeeded. In 1964, it must have been the wildest ride on the radio.
I likewise have no lasting beef with Bruce Springsteen, with one exception: the guitar solo on Badlands is embarrassingly beginner-level, both technically and conceptually. Hire Nils Lofgren, already!
Oh, and everything I’ve heard by the Black Keys - my friend and Jim and I sounded exactly like this when we were 15, and we were just fucking horrible. 
To be fair to Ben Ratliff (and to Neil Young), no one’s advocating repetition pure and simple, but rather the delightful contrast of one stubbornly repeating element against other elements with more movement (in the case of Cinnamon Girl, the underlying chords – the “rhythm guitar” – still progress as usual).
While we’re on this subject, here’s a related, specialized effect heard in a few riffs: if you hold down a guitar string at a certain fret, the note will be the same (say, an A-flat) as the open string next to it, but with a slightly different timbre. If I recall correctly, two songs that take advantage of this subtlety are Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309 Jenny” and the Byrds’ version of “Turn Turn Turn.”
The solo on “Baby’s In Black” is almost comical - it sounds like the soloist learned guitar the day before. “The Night Before” just sounds stupid.
It is surprising that Paul and George Martin let some of these onto the final cut. Paul was assertive to the point of being bossy about the musical content of tracks.
John and Paul did some solos, not a lot however they are more musical and fit the song better than George could (usually) do . Probably only one or two an album. The most famous is Paul on “Taxman” a George composition.
An example of a killer done by George is on “Hey Bulldog”. Also “Something” - very tasteful.
Sure, you got a point, there.
Slight derail - the following solo will likely get poo-poo’ed by everyone, despite being another one of my soft-spots for this unabashed wank-fest (1:51 to around 2:36) from Cephalic Carnage.
The main riff from Pictures of Matchstick Men grates on me to the point that I’m ultimately rendered into a small pile of shredded cheese.
The bothersome sitar in Green Tambourine
Hey check out this solo (from 2:06 to about 2:40) for some honest-to-god Pink Floyd professionalism!
Funny occasionally seeing the drummer’s face, looking, well…unsure, especially during said solo. Oh and wonderful scream @ 2:52!
All I can really say is that the GuitarWorld article is a perfect example of why I never read that mag. We’re simply coming from different places. #2 is Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues”. I love the guitar playing on that song, it’s perfect for the context. That they don’t understand that makes their interpretation of “worst” highly suspect.
Bleah, always hated that mag. Lamest, weakest guitar mag ever.
For me, it’s not even so much the song selection of the article, it’s the writing. It’s like it was written by a 12 year old. Even on the songs that I agree contain terrible solos, I was getting angry at the blurbs.
Totally agree. I was very :dubious: when I saw that in the Guitar Player thingie. If anything - in many circles - the powerful (Les Paul?) work in that tune has reached almost legendary status.
Curious if you can elaborate on that a little, considering this non-guitarist figured it was an ok publication, but then again you’d know better than me.
Paul: Taxman, Ticket To Ride, Good Morning Good Morning, The End (w George)
John: Get Back, Ballad of John and Yoko, The End (W George.)
(IOW George was their guy)
If there’s more than this tell me. I don’t think so.
Anyone here ever try to construct a better solo to The Night Before or You Really Got me, or Cinnamon Girl? Didn’t think so.
Out on the tiles is just totally unappealing as a riff. Not good enough for rock and roll.
(For the OP: There needs to be a different thread for riffs and solos. They aren’t part of the same conversation are they?)
The hell is wrong with the solo in “You Really Got Me?”
Hey! HEY! The sitar is what MAKES “Green Tamborine!”
One of the tunes on the Young Fresh Fellows fifth album, This One’s for the Ladies (1989) – either “Carrothead” or “Middle Man of Time” – has a guitar solo that’s pretty much just playing a scale.
Of course, the YFF were a “funny” band, so they may just have been being “ironic.” That was a Thing in the '80s.