Inexplicable Magic

[Adam Blake]

How does Scotty Moore play the beginning of the last solo on "Hound Dog"?
I have absolutely no idea. It is a miracle.

Similarly, Bo Diddley's intro to "Pretty Thing" is unplayable by a common mortal.

Having admitted complete stupefaction at these I hereby invite Forumistas to nominate their own favourite moments of absolute magic beyond the realms of musical feasibility. And I will try and decipher them! Ha ha! Or at least marvel at them with you...

[howard male]

Adam wrote -

I hereby invite Forumistas to nominate their own favourite moments of absolute magic beyond the realms of musical feasibility. And I will try and decipher them!

Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)

[Adam Blake]

Sorry Howard, I can't decipher that one at all, save to say that the poor bastard never had a chance and that it's a miracle he lasted as long as he did and I can't help thinking that he brought on the heart attack by stressing and worrying about trying to get through 50 gigs in London when he was obviously not "match fit" and that I sincerely hope he gets a little peace now in death that he never had for a second in life.

[Des]

One of my inexplicably magical moments has to be at the very end of Wuthering Heights where Kate's voice merges seamlessly into the soaring guitar solo that ends the song. Love it.

And the dying fall of West African griot melody lines always gets me every time - Kandia Kouyate expecially - it's that blend of joyful praise-singing and the sorrowful-sounding fade....truly inexplicable given the different culture yet universally accessible in terms of emotional power.

I could go on.

[Janet M]

Oh dear - I thought this was a "Oh Jack - Claim Nose" free site

[c hristian]

Intro to Sweet Jane on the Loaded album of the Velvet Underground.

[Adam Blake]

Intro to Sweet Jane on the Loaded album of the Velvet Underground.

Oh yes. Now that I can tell you was done with old-fashioned reel-to-reel tape echo, beautifully out of time and with the levels slamming into the red.
Try and do THAT with Pro-Tools!

Janet, I don't understand your post. Could you explain?

[Adam Blake]

One of my inexplicably magical moments has to be at the very end of Wuthering Heights where Kate's voice merges seamlessly into the soaring guitar solo that ends the song

Yes, that is a lovely moment. I can't remember who produced that record but it's a very nice bit of mixing/editing. I wonder if it was Kate's idea or the producer's.

[richardh]

Adam, in case Janet doesn't return to this thread , I think she was responding to Howard's post anagrammatically

[Hugh Weldon]

Don't know if this really qualifies here, but I thought of Jeff Baxter's solos/guitar breaks on Steely Dan's 'My Old School' - not so much to do with the nifty fingerwork perhaps but the arrangement and the way it plays against the backing, particularly the horns. Often wonder how improvised it was. Or knowing Dan, very carefully planned perhaps?

[Adam Blake]

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter's work with Steely Dan remains a benchmark of excellence in pop music. I'm glad you notice it. Makes me feel less like despairing. (See other thread re. instrumental prowess)

[Ian M]

Since it's topical, Eddie Van Halen's solo on Beat It would take some, er, beating for inspired musical magic.

[Adam Blake]

Eddie Van Halen's solo on "Beat It" was one of those moments in the history of the electric guitar - like Chuck Berry's intro to "Johnny B. Goode" or Jimi Hendrix's intro to "Purple Haze". After hearing it, you knew that the electric guitar's role in pop music had changed. For me, it was a sad thing because I knew that, however sincere a musician Van Halen was, the inevitable flood of imitators was going to set the cause of note articulation back so far that no-one would even consider it for an entire generation. And so it proved. (Note articulation is making each note sound nice, distinct and in tune. It's to do with tone and rhythmic placement, ie, where you place the note in relation to the beat.)

Tapping - which is what Van Halen incorporates so expertly on that solo - inevitably includes out of tune notes, it's just that they go past so fast that you barely notice them. Anyway, it became all about speed of execution - a perfect product of the 80's - and intonation became very secondary indeed. This led to the unspeakable debauches of such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani - which in turn led thousands of impressionable boys (I bet there wasn't one girl!) to regard learning to play the guitar as something comparable to athletics training (hey! I got 422 notes in 20 seconds today! If I can just get it up to 500...). Just like Hendrix inspired a million unlistenable guitar solos, Van Halen inspired a million taps on a million out of tune guitars put through a million effects pedals.

Great solo, though.

[howard male]

Adam wrote –

Great solo, though.

Firstly, I would argue that, no, it wasn’t a great solo. I remember thinking at the time that it just sits there in the middle of the track, somehow not a part of it, just a bloated bit of showing off clumsily gaffer taped in the spot marked ‘solo.’

Secondly, I seem to recall that some time after the event it was revealed that it was assembled from several different solos in the same way that vocal tracks are often the best bits from many different takes. So it surely doesn’t even qualify to be judged as a great solo, anymore than an athlete with bionic legs would be allowed to enter an Olympic race.

[c hristian]

About the solo....Eddy got a call from MJ, Eddy didn't believe it was MJ on the phone, so MJ had Eddy call him back. Eddy comes into the studio to record. He's very nervous about working with the great MJ. MJ and Brooke Sheilds come up to him, talk, tell him they are going to lunch. He just needs to record his thing in the 2 hours they are gone. He did.