Posted on 08/28/2006 4:17:31 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
Frank Zappa had some of the best pure guitar solos ever - can't believe he's not on the list. Hot Rats was great, so was Rat Tobago.
Thlank you.
IMO they made Zeppelin look like rank amatuers.
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The one bright spot was John Bonham on drums. If not for him I would've walked out after 5 minutes.
Saw Page one more time at the ARMS concert (Ronnie Lane's benefit for multiple sclerosis at the L.A. Forum) in 1983, and he was in far better technical form. ......although his new band, The Firm (feature Paul Rodgers on vocals), wasn't that good. Excellent show overall, though -- Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Page all did sets with their respective bands. ....and then they all got together and traded licks on "Layla" (the highlight of the show).
Yeah, I saw him a few times, too. Always remember Zappa sitting on a stool playing his guitar, with a cigarette jammed under the strings, while his percussionist was running his butt off banging gongs and other assorted noisemakers. Hardly seemed fair.
I saw Jeff Beck at the same show at Comiskey. He literally blew them off the stage. I couldn't understand how they could show their faces after Becks performance.
The only band I ever saw that was louder than Zeppelin was Blue Oyser Cult, or maybe Nugent.
Bonham and Jones held Zeppelin together IMO, and Plant is one of the most over rated rock singers of all time.
OTOH, I actually did walk out of a Grateful Dead concert once. Man did those guys suck....
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This is kind of interesting. Glad to see Dire Straits made the top ten, they're one of my favorites.
I walked out of Van Halen (in '81). Maybe the worst stadium show I've ever seen. But the babes in the audience were incredible.
Aerosmith in '78 wasn't much better, although fortunately they only played for a little over an hour. Disappointing, especially after their string of good albums in the mid-70s.
Plant is a poseur's poeseur (at least back in the day). .....embarrassing.
He played for 3-1/2 solid hours without a break.
At one point during "Moving To Montana" someone threw a frisbee on the stage. Zappa raised his hand and the band stopped. Not a sloppy stop, but a dead stop.
He said:"Please don't throw things at us. This may look easy but it's hard work. If anything else hits the stage we're leaving."
Then he said: "2-3-4." and the band started up exactly where they had left off. It was one of the most amazing musical moments I ever saw.
My brother saw Dweezils tribute tour and told me that he had remarked at one point during the show how difficult it was to put together a group of 'modern' musicians who could actually play his dads compositions.
Zappa was not only an amazing guitar player, but a very accomplished composer as well.
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I just saw him in a solo show at a small club.
I saw him a few years back with the latest version of Yes.
He has not aged gracefully. He looked like the Crypt Keeper.
Otherwise I would have had to include Grant Geissman's work on Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good album.
Nor could I leave out Al DiMeola's Fantasia Suite for Two Guitars.
Now we are talking! And what about Bill Frisell!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson belongs there somewhere.
Thanks for mentioning my man Pat Metheny.
"The Roots of Coincidence" rocks!!!
This is a list of the "Most Popular Songs That Had Some Kind of Guitar Solo In Them", not a list of the "Best Guitar Solos". ;)
"I Can See Your House From Here" with Metheny and Scofield is good stuff too.
Wes Montgomery is the best ever, and I'm not talking about the jazz lite stuff he did with A&M.
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