Thursday 28 July 2022

Best musicians I've seen - guitarists: time to get off the fence

 I shortlisted four guitarists as the best I've ever seen - David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Robert Fripp and John Frusciante (22 March) while prevaricating about whether this was even a sensible question.  I can explain this by recalling a music journalist's review of a Traffic gig. He noted that he'd never thought Stevie Winwood to be that good a guitarist (and he isn't, though a great musician and songsmith). However, at the gig in question Winwood's solo in Sometimes I Feel So Uninspired dripped with emotion and made the journo's hair stand on end. So it's not just about pure technique. And Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists clearly allows for innovation and influence as well as playing ability.

Nevertheless, even if it's a daft question, which of my shortlist do I pick?

Of the four the guitarists the one I listen to the most now (and probably over time as well) is Frusciante, whose work consistently impresses while not detracting from the songs. If you wanted a guitarist to produce the perfect fills for your song, Page would be the conventional pick because of his long stint as a session musician before joing The Yardbirds and forming Led Zeppelin. (Or at least he would before he got a bit drug addled). But Frusciante would probably be the most reliable at nailing it for you and quite possibly more adept at turning out a guitar break that sounds a bit like, oh, Hendrix, Clapton, Page, whoever you'd like it to sound like. He has a significant body of solo work which I'm not very familiar with. It is mainly less commercial, some of it verging on avant garde with oddly fewer flashes of the crisp guitar playing we know him for.

If I had to pick a song for the Desert Island featuring one of my four guitarists it wouldn't be Frusciante, though. It would be Page's Dazed and Confused from Led Zep I or Ramble On from Led Zep II with it's brilliant, jagged electric riff smashing over the lyrical acoustic backdrop to the song. (I still don't understand how this works, but golly it does). Or Gilmour playing Astronomy Domine on the live album Ummagumma, a perennial favourite of mine. (Though I read an interesting blog by music producer/tour director/equipment specialist Mark Thompson which noted that the recording bears little resemblance to the gig he actually attended, with rather a lot of overdubs, apparently typical of many "live" albums. But never mind, I love it).

Which of the guitarists would I want to see again if I could be transported back to a gig in their prime? That would be Gilmour, though probably because I haven't seen him play live since the early 70s. A Pink Floyd gig later in that decade or the 80s would be just the ticket.

Although I'm a great admirer of Robert Fripp this means I'm down to three (though I have seen him the most of them and also most recently).

Regardless of how "good" I thought they were, which of the four did I actually most enjoy seeing play? That would be Jimmy Page, who I saw pretty much at his peak with Led Zeppelin in 1971, with more of a catalogue to showcase than when I first saw Gilmour in 1969.  And there was a huge tingle of excitement when Page joined Roy Harper at his 70th birthday gig at the Festival Hall in 2011 for their glorious extended acoustic duet in Roy's The Same Old Rock.*

Which guitarist was I most excited about seeing for the first time? None of the above, actually: Mick Jones of The Clash. I know, punk guitarist, three chords and all that but I've just been listening to the guitar runs on Complete Control from the eponymous first Clash album and I can understand exactly why watching Jonesy gave me such a buzz. I may return to that thought with an account of the 1981 gig some time. I'd claim Jones was a great musician but no way was he one of the world's best guitarists.

My 'favourite' guitarist? That might actually be Mick Jones or Del Bromham. And of course, had I seen Hendrix the question probably wouldn't need any debate with myself.

So, where does that leave me? Against my original question, the most competent technician on his instrument, I'd go with Frusciante. But hang on, which guitarist impressed me most when I saw him play? That would be Page, followed by Fripp. Frusciante sounded faultless but in the end you can't separate the playing technique from the performance and your involvement with what they are playing (well, I can't anyway).

So while Frusciante is the guitarist I enjoy listening to most on my hifi or in the car, the guitarist who impressed me most when I saw him was Page. So I'm going with Jimmy. 

So it's Page joining my supergroup on guitar with Keith Emerson on keyboards, Jon Hiseman on drums and Dick Heckstall-Smith on sax. Now I need a bass player and a singer...


* You can see a passable if wobbly recording of this performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2bdLAVHbQU though the subtlety of Page's playing come across better in the original studio recording, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwdamD86t8M

2 comments:

  1. I'll agree over Gilmour and throw in Ulco Bed, Lee Ritenour and Norman Brown. The best bass player would be James Jamerson. Now drums is tough as my worst nightmare is a drum solo so I'll go for any drummer with class who knows how to stay in the background such as Harvet Mason. Keybords Bob James or Joe Sample. On Sax well Candy Dulfer or Snake Davis of course. To sing Edsilia Rombley.

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    1. I'll have to check some of those names out!

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