Inexplicable Magic

[Adam Blake]

I can well believe it. By the way, Howard, the process of patching together a "Master" solo from a number of takes is standard industry practice - and it doesn't sound gaffa taped in to me. But hey, I'm not going to argue about it. It changed the way guitar solos in pop records were perceived from then on. How you or I may or may not feel about it hardly matters.

[Dayna]

Maybe one of Bob Marley's songs is what you'd like better.

Bend Down Low. Can you decipher that one?
The rhythm is so interesting.

[Adam Blake]

Does it have a moment of inexplicable magic on it? My experience of Bob Marley is that the music has a warm and inviting atmosphere and that his voice is distinctive and attractive, with sometimes trite but often thought provoking lyrics. The rhythms are sometimes complex but usually pretty consistently unchanging throughout a given track. I know Bob's a sacred cow - an Elvis or Dylan figure to many - but me? I can take it or leave it alone.

This thread is about favourite bits, moments etc. My favourite bit of a Bob Marley song is the way the guitar solo comes bubbling in on "No Woman No Cry" which is one of the best songs ever written by anybody at anytime. Now THAT'S magic!

[Ed Howarth]

I still absolutely love the guitar breaks for 'Reeling in the years' by Steely Dan. They just seem to keep winding the song up tighter and tighter.

[Adam Blake]

Totally agree. When I was a kid I used to listen to that in amazement - and I still do! Is that "Skunk" Baxter again?

[Adam Blake]

Just to get away from guitar solos for a moment here: does anyone else on the Forum know that Roland Kirk album "Kirk In Copenhagen"? It was recorded live in about 1963 and the last track is an impromptu minor key blues at an evil fast tempo titled "On The Corner Of King And Scott Street" - a tribute to Ronnie and Pete who'd just been hosting Kirk in London. It quickly develops into a wild solo flute workout which has to be heard to be believed, but the way the rhythm section come back in for the finale is an absolute miracle. I daresay any competent jazz rhythm section of the day could have handled it (I wonder if they could now) but there's such fire in this recording, it just crackles with excitement (and yes, the vinyl crackles too, ha ha!!). THAT'S magic in music: Telepathic intuitive understanding between highly skilled people in total synch with each other under knife-edge conditions of rhythmic precision. No brain surgeon was ever more exact.

[Des]

In Simon and Garfunkel's 'America' - that deliciously mischievious off-kilter. spiralling clarinet(?) phrase just after 'I said his bow-tie is really a camera'. Gets me every time.

[Adam Blake]

Yeah, that's ODD. There are a lot of strange moments on that album "Bookends". Definitely S&G's best.

[Dayna]

Maybe one of Bob Marley's songs is what you'd like better. Bend Down Low. Can you decipher that one?
The rhythm is so interesting.

Does it have a moment of inexplicable magic on it?

It seems I have a hard time with showing how my comments fit in to what you guys are talking about, so all I wanted to do is clear up what I meant.
I know now that it wasn't part of the original song, but in the version of this song on this first Bob Marley CD I bought, the moment of magic I was thinking of was the way they have mixed in some piano that gives it an interesting rhythm. It reminds me of the piano in the song by Fats Dominio; Whole Lotta Lovin'.

[garth cartwright]

I've heard Beat It a lot recently as Flo's kids love it - that comment in the MJ obit section here about Billie Jean being a "great song/production" being even more apt here with Quincy Jones laying on all kinds of effects and the video being one of the best - maybe the best - ever. Eddie's solo is perfect for such a bombastic, tense, dramatic tune. Thing is, I liked Van Halen from when their first album came out in -what - 1978? I was in my early teens and listening to lots of metal and while the band were nothing special in terms of tunes Eddie's guitar playing was unbelievable. They went on to loosen up and become a really good rock band - the antithesis of early 80s sullen English stuff like Joy Division, i used to tease the indie kids by blasting Van Halen at 'em - and always that amazing guitar sound. Adam, you must have cocked an ear to Eddie back then - how did he manage to sound so different to every other metal guitarist soloing? Yes, his influence was awful but so was the influence of MJ if we considered what happened to black pop after Thriller. Eddie seemed to not only play faster but to be able to get a tonal quality that no one else had. Where did that tapping technique come from? I went to see the Wailers when they toured just after Bob died and Al Anderson started soloing like Eddie over a big dub rhythm - we all went crazy!

Another heavy guitar question: I love the work of Mick Taylor with the Stones. If we take the tune Sway, my question is how does he get such a raw yet resonant sound as he solos over the song. He does great solos on several other Stones tunes but on Sway he simply appears to take over the song, keeping its melody while expressing its discontent with wild beauty and hostility. Ever since childhood i have marvelled over his playing here - is he referencing Albert King? why does he sound so powerful? How come he never came close to it again? Why has no one else matched it? As you can see, I am obsessed!

[Paul Inglis]

Totally agree. When I was a kid I used to listen to that in amazement - and I still do! Is that "Skunk" Baxter again?

Adam, that amazing guitar part is played by Eliott Randall. He is a New York based session musician and producer. Baxter does play some of the supporting guitar on the track - the harmonised riff that appears toward the end is him, and Denny Dias plays rhythm guitar throughout.

Randall's extended solos are just magnificent ... virtually no bends until the very last part of the song (which is the giveaway that it's not Baxter) and lots of jazzy chromaticism based around A Mixolydian (and a touch of A Dorian). The song itself is in D major. Randall uses a vintage Strat but with a humbucker fitted to the neck position to obtain his trademark sound. He's played on a lot of stuff over the years - Doobie Brothers, Carly Simon, Peter Frampton, the soundtrack to the movie "Fame" and also the Steely Dan albums "Katy Lied" and "The Royal Scam"

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter did some great magic too. Off hand I would suggest his solo on "Rikki Don't Lose That Number".

Another magic Dan-related moment is the solo for "Peg". That's Jay Graydon - nowadays better known as a producer.

[Adam Blake]

Thanks for that info, Paul

Garth, sorry I didn't see your question until just now. Will have a listen to "Sway" in a tick (skipping over the preceding track, of course!) As for Eddie Van Halen, no I didn't listen to him in the late 70s. All I was listening to in the late 70s was punk and punk related. I think tapping was invented by Tal Farlow in the early 50s but I wouldn't be surprised if Van Halen wasn't the first person to use it in a rock context. Judith made the interesting observation that chords in Rock music (as opposed to Rock'n'Roll) don't decay - the notes in the chords have endless sustain, achieved via compression and distortion. I don't actually like that sound very much. It makes me feel tired after awhile. Consequently I tend not to listen to metal or rock very much.

OK. "Sway". Taylor is maybe playing a Les Paul, but more likely his trademark SG. He's playing in C blues scale - against a veritable swamp of Keef'n'Charlie, plus a Paul Buckmaster string section. It's a big sound. It may be Jimmy Miller's production that you find so intoxicating. It must be one of his biggest productions for the Stones. Having said that, Taylor's playing IS impressive, although I think he's better on the long Santana pastiche second half of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking". I can't hear any Albert King in there, more Freddie King via Eric Clapton's live playing with Cream which would have been a seminal influence on the young Taylor. But it speaks to you! And that's what counts.

[Ed Howarth]

Could I suggest another moment of Steely Dan related magic.? The final track on Donald Fagen's Nightfly - Walk Between the Raindrops just makes me smile and feel so good every time I hear the organ opening.

[Paul Inglis]

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.

(Digging up old threads)

Another moment where the voice merges with guitar is on Bowie's song "Lady Grinning Soul" (from the '73 album Aladdin Sane). Bowie's wordless vocals at the end of the song blend into Mick Ronson's lead guitar in a way that is quite magical.

In fact, on reflection I'd bet that this song was a bit of an influence on the young Kate Bush (and "Wuthering Heights").