Jimi is one of those guys that, like Shakespeare, did so many things so absolutely brilliantly that so many people stole from him that the phrases he invented went on to become cliches and then, after that, became part of the furniture. At this point, they’ve just *ALWAYS* been there.
If you, like Joe, had a gun in your hand and asked me to pick a favorite song, I think I’d have to pick Burning of the Midnight Lamp.
But you listen to that and you just start clicking on links and links and links and listening to more songs… but, before you go off and do what I did, there are a handful that I’d just like to point out to you.
Here’s a clip of Jimi on Cavett’s show where Cavett tells him that he’s one of the best guitarists in the world (you can watch more from that show here, start at 7:00 if you want to get straight to the interview)
And watching that reminded me of Paul McCartney telling this story:
And here’s a tape of Jimi Hendrix telling whomever was in the front row of this particular concert to plug their ears… I like to tell myself that it was one of the Beatles (jump ahead to 0:24).
So… what are you listening to?
Greg Sage of Wipers is another lefty guitarist from the Pac NW like Jimi, and his playing and tone was often compared to Jimi’s.
Here’s the title track to the Wipers’ 1981 Youth of America LP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaUzYISKKAI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
When it starts, you may be tempted to dismiss it as typical 80’s American hardcore (esp. the vox) – but stick with it until it hits the 2:50 mark, when it shifts into this locomotive krautrock fever dream, with weird feedback and tape effects and spoken word poetry, much like what Sonic Youth would be getting up to shortly.
Love this song; great band.
Not too many guitar heroes these days (though J Mascis and Doug Martsch are still doing good work). When I saw Dean Wareham do a Galaxie 500 set at a festival a few months back, I thought it was pretty sad that there probably wasn’t really another guitarist at that festival who had mastered the instrument like that.
While we are revisiting the great American postpunk guitarists, let’s not forget this. The video is appropriately disorienting, as is the vertiginous guitar solo around the 2-minute mark (I love the fact that it’s right then, as you’re wondering, “can this song get any *more* intense?”, that Mould & co. somehow kick it up a notch).
as much as i like g500, i never would have thought of them as featuring great guitar players because of the overall smushed/washed/faded shoegaze thing. i may just focus on tone instead of playing ability as i don’t play guitar and wouldn’t know how to judge ability.
i like the new squarepusher despite it not being massively different. he’s a virtuoso of a different sort. (warning vid is kinda annoying if bright lights annoy you)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvLAKrVbCBM
I am not a musician myself (well, I can sing, and played percussion in HS, but that is about it) but I think Wareham’s really underrated – when you see him live (I also saw Luna once) it’s apparent, at least to me. His solos (and there are sometimes several per song) are, for lack of a more descriptive word, very ‘musical’ – fluid and melodic, and emotionally expressive (Mascis is like this too), while still appearing to effortlessly alternate between fairly complex/structured/mannered, and improvisation (the solos vary from performance to performance, and sometimes appear to allow a missed or muffed note to influence their direction).
If you think Television has some good guitar playing (and I do, and was lucky enough to see them play live once with a Verlaine/Lloyd lineup), then Dean is basically doing that same kind of thing in his bands. Or Ira from Yo La Tengo, he’s another example.
I should mention too, in the interest of full disclosure, that I was kind of a G500 nut for a while, and still love/listen to them (and Luna too). I have the 1st 2 G500 records on vinyl, and also all the individual Ryko G500 CD’s, and also the beautiful Ryko G500 CD box set.
This is ludicrous, for a band that only had 3 real LP’s. I know this.
well yeah it’s a little silly but i’d much rather listen to them than a lot of stuff which came out of the late 80s and early 90s. though i think on fire is leagues ahead of anything else they ever did.
i saw the dinosaur jr guy open up for my bloody valentine in ny back when they did that reunion tour a few years back. he’s one of the many glaring, gaping holes in my understanding of the, for lack of a better term, “indie rock canon”. for me the whole thing is a buffet, outside of obviously transcendental classics like loveless.
Have I done Dinosaur Jr yet? I should, if I haven’t.
On Fire is fantastic, but Today is also really darn good – depends on my mood which one wins out on any given day. That Jonathan Richman cover is boss.
I dunno how much you’d get out of Dino Jr. now – as a more or less settled responsible adult it may not hit you the way it hits an awkward teen. J is famously limited as a lyricist, and singer, and speaker – but boy can he make that guitar talk for him. It wouldn’t shock me to find J is somewhat Aspie. Dino and Built To Spill are 2 guitar noodlers that I don’t mind.
Andrew Bird “Hands of Glory”
Full stream available from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/oct/23/andrew-bird-hands-of-glory-stream