Getting to Know You

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I agree. Elvis lost his edge too. And then he started making movies. Errrrr.....

It may be a natural progression. Country music did the same thing with the Nashville Sound of layer strings and such. Only in the 70's did so called mainstream of country music get back to its roots with less glitzy production and more straight on instrumental sound. It's funny that bands like the Byrds of the later 60's and early 70's, the Flying Burrito brothers, and the Eagles were more "country" than some of the so called country acts. Gotta love the music scene. Fun stuff and always something to learn.

One other thought, why are there none or almost no rock instrumentals any more? Some of those were great, like Wipe Out, Walk Don't Run, Sleepwalk, Hold It (which was originally a blues song, IINM), etc. Other than SRV, who has done much with instrumentals lately? What are your favorites?

[W2DU]

Hi Dan,

You have some Alvino Rey on 78s? Glory Hallelujah! I had a bunch of them several years ago, but they got trashed without my knowledge. I cried.

Could we get into a deal? I'll pay you whatever you ask if you could burn a CD from those records. Actually, I'm doing the same thing with a lot of older records that I'm archiving to CD. Do you happen to have the one with Yvonne King singing "I Lost it at the Astor"? Turns out it was her fur coat. Another of his recordings was "Idaho", which we played many times when I played in his Navy band. His charts were great, most having been arranged by Billy May, one of the best arrangers in the business.

Walt, W2DU

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

Can't say I was in love with doo-wop, but the Flamingos had a winner with "I Only Have Eyes For You".  That ballad, with its spacey, slow, haunting, minor inverted line... that heavy, heavy reverb... yeah

[ka3zlr]

Anything "But" Pat Boone... LOL............

we need one them emocon thingys with it's head in it's hands like when yer sitting at a desk and your wife just told you the wedding ring slipped off her finger "Again" and went down the bathroom sink...Like that with Pat Boone...LOL...

[AF9J]

I agree. Elvis lost his edge too. And then he started making movies. Errrrr.....

It may be a natural progression. Country music did the same thing with the Nashville Sound of layer strings and such. Only in the 70's did so called mainstream of country music get back to its roots with less glitzy production and more straight on instrumental sound. It's funny that bands like the Byrds of the later 60's and early 70's, the Flying Burrito brothers, and the Eagles were more "country" than some of the so called country acts. Gotta love the music scene. Fun stuff and always something to learn.

One other thought, why are there none or almost no rock instrumentals any more? Some of those were great, like Wipe Out, Walk Don't Run, Sleepwalk, Hold It (which was originally a blues song, IINM), etc. Other than SRV, who has done much with instrumentals lately? What are your favorites?

OK Steve,

Lessee - Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson are the two who come to mind in the 90s, and to a lesser extent, at the present time.  Yngwie Malmsteen (whom I'm not a big fan of) also still does some instrumentals, as do the guys from Dream Theater (most of whom are Berklee graduates - very cool band with some real finger busting stuff).  Here's my list of instrumental songs I like, in no particluar order:

1. BTO - Freewheeling
2. Dixie Dregs - "Chips Ahoy".  I LOVE Steve Morse's guitar playing.
3. Dixie Dregs - "Conversation Piece"
4. Eric Johnson - "Cliffs of Dover"
5. Joe Satriani - "Crushing Day" (from the album "Surfing With The Alien - I saw Satch live twice).  World class playing with taste (I don't like self indulgent/showoff playing.  Play for the song.)
6. The Chantays - "Pipeline".    A cool sounding surf song in e-minor.
7. Johnny And The Hurricanes - "Beatnik Fly".  In 1959, Dave Yorko's playing was like the equivalent of heavy metal.  Besides, the "Peter Gunn" riff sure sounds cool.
8.  CCR - "Walk on Water."  Yeah, I know, John Fogerty sings a verse.  But the rest of the song is all instrumental.  So cool.  Kind of dark sounding.  And he sure does beat up on his Rick 325 for this song.  The lead playing is pretty good, and pretty wild for 1967.  "Pagan Baby" off of "Mardi Gras" is another song in this vein that sounds real cool.  A different kind of lead guitar style, than other guitarists were playing during that time period.
9.  Metallica - "Call of Cthulu" off of the "Ride the Lightning" album.  Yes Metallica did an instrumental song or two (they also did "Orion" off of the "Master of Puppets" album).  Most of their instrumentals are pretty long too (about 7 or 8 minutes, with 2 or 3 movements to them).
10. Some of the prog band stuff, like by King Crimson (such as "Larks Tongues in Aspic') is pretty cool too.
11.  Frank Zappa's musical interludes between songs - so cool.  They're like heavy metal jazz.  And the playing is quite manic at times.

There are others I like, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

The Dregs were cool.

Jessica - Allman Brothers Band
Green Onions - Booker T & The MGs
Mumblin' Guitar - Bo Diddley
Soul Sacrifice - Carlos Santana
Nashville West - The Byrds

and everyone's favorite, Frankenstein - Edgar Winter.

I agree. Elvis lost his edge too. And then he started making movies. Errrrr.....

It may be a natural progression. Country music did the same thing with the Nashville Sound of layer strings and such. Only in the 70's did so called mainstream of country music get back to its roots with less glitzy production and more straight on instrumental sound. It's funny that bands like the Byrds of the later 60's and early 70's, the Flying Burrito brothers, and the Eagles were more "country" than some of the so called country acts. Gotta love the music scene. Fun stuff and always something to learn.

One other thought, why are there none or almost no rock instrumentals any more? Some of those were great, like Wipe Out, Walk Don't Run, Sleepwalk, Hold It (which was originally a blues song, IINM), etc. Other than SRV, who has done much with instrumentals lately? What are your favorites?

OK Steve,

Lessee - Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson are the two who come to mind in the 90s, and to a lesser extent, at the present time.  Yngview Malmsteen (whom I'm not a big fan of) also still does some instrumentals, as do the guys from Dream Theater (most of whom are Berklee graduates - very cool band with some real finger busting stuff).  Here's my list of instrumental songs I like, in no particluar order:

1. BTO - Freewheeling
2. Dixie Dregs - "Chips Ahoy".  I LOVE Steve Morse's guitar playing.
3. Dixie Dregs - "Conversation Piece"
4. Eric Johnson - "Cliffs of Dover"
5. Joe Satriani - "Crushing Day" (from the album "Surfing With The Alien - I saw Satch live twice).  World class playing with taste (I don't like self indulgent/showoff playing.  Play for the song.)
6. The Chantays - "Pipeline".    A cool sounding surf song in e-minor.
7. Johnny And The Hurricanes - "Beatnik Fly".  In 1959, Dave Yorko's playing was like the equivalent of heavy metal.  Besides, the "Peter Gunn" riff sure sounds cool.
8.  CCR - "Walk on Water."  Yeah, I know, John Fogerty sings a verse.  But the rest of the song is all instrumental.  So cool.  Kind of dark sounding.  And he sure does beat up on his Rick 325 for this song.  The lead playing is pretty good, and pretty wild for 1967.  "Pagan Baby" off of "Mardi Gras" is another song in this vein that sounds real cool.  A different kind of lead guitar style, than other guitarists were playing during that time period.
9.  Metallica - "Call of Cthulu" off of the "Ride the Lightning" album.  Yes Metallica did an instrumental song or two (they also did "Orion" off of the "Master of Puppets" album).  Most of their instrumentals are pretty long too (about 7 or 8 minutes, with 2 or 3 movements to them).
10. Some of the prog band stuff, like by King Crimson (such as "Larks Tongues in Aspic') is pretty cool too.
11.  Frank Zappa's musical interludes between songs - so cool.  They're like heavy metal jazz.  ANd the playing is quite manic at times.

There are others I like, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[John K5PRO]

Ellen, Walt and all,
Interesting hearing about your musical pasts (and presents). In college in the late 70s we would get all sorts of bands coming through, and do live remotes from the best bar in town, on WUVT FM radio. Dixie Dregs were one of my fav's at the time, I can't count the # times I saw them live, also in DC later. Tight music...

Recently, after watching a PBS TV documentary on STAX records, I picked up Booker T and MG's/The Mar-Keys Instrumentals CD. It has some great original licks, Cropper, Dunn, and of course, Booker T.

I favor keyboards myself, although never really played gigs for $, just for fun in pick up bands at parties with friends. Nowadays, I tend to mostly listen and groove to bands that play Hammond B3's with Leslie speakers, either Jazz, Rock or Blues. Love that rich sound. ipod has really enhanced music for me, having the ability to hear exactly the songs I want to, from a life of listening. I have a huge old collection of LPs (worked in radio station), and still have a turntable, but rarely run it. CDs and digital are Sooo convenient. However, someday I do plan to burn all my best vinyl onto CD, but I cannot fathom getting rig of the LPs due to the cover artwork and liner notes.

[ka3zlr]

I kinda liked the newer kid on the block when he hit, not so new now, but Kenny Wayne Shepard, has some real clean "Decent" Fender grooves...I think he's touring alot or he was...I like that Chesney kid too, he puts on a good concert...Bob Dylan was doing a Grass roots tour here awhile back i went to see him...came away with a, That was That feeling sort of thing...Ok Next...

[K3ZS]

The Beatles were heavily influenced by American rock.    Their first album was original and led to their popularity.    If you remember, the second album was a cover of American 50's rock n' roll.    Some British record companies bought up the rights to a lot of American rock.    That is why you hardly ever hear some of the instrumentals and earlier popular rock singers.   When is the last time you heard Buddy Holly on oldies radio?   A few years ago I was putting 33's on to CD's as a sideline.   One fellow from Florida had some English 33's of all the recordings Buddy Holly ever made.    Some were when he was in high school and recorded from his garage on a wire recorder.    It takes up  six CD's.   Of course I kept my own copies.    If you check on Amazon.com and look up the "Teen Beat" series of CD's (English of course), you will find about all of the instrumentals from the 50's in that series.    I bought one because it was the only that had both parts of the Phil Upchurch Combo's "You Can't Sit Down" instrumental.

[AF9J]

The Dregs were cool.

Jessica - Allman Brothers Band
Green Onions - Booker T & The MGs
Mumblin' Guitar - Bo Diddley
Soul Sacrifice - Carlos Santana
Nashville West - The Byrds

and everyone's favorite, Frankenstein - Edgar Winter.

Ah geez!  I forgot about Frankenstein (BTW Ronnie Montrose - the guitar player on Frankenstein [and of the later group "Montrose"] still does instrumental rock).  I saw Edgar Winter perform it in a free concert in my hometown.  I also forgot about "Soul Sacrifice" (I shouldn't have, considering I cut my guitar playing teeth an Santana stuff, when I was a teenager).  I haven't heard the Bo Diddley song, or the Byrds song (I assume it's from their "Sweethearts of the Rodeo" period). 

For Booker T & the MGs, I prefer "Time is Tight" over "Green Onions". What a vamp on the guitar by Steve Cropper!   I read an interview in "Guitar Player" of both Steve Cropper and Stone Gossard (the rhythmn guitarist for Pearl Jam). Stone stated that Steve Cropper was a huge influence on his playing, and one of the greatest rhythmn guitarists of all time.  I agree.  Malcom Young of AC/DC is another huge rhythmn guitar player. 

People oftentimes forget that 80-90% of most rock songs guitarwise, consist of rythmn guitar.  Along with drums, bass and (if a band has one - most of mine didn't) keyboards.  Rythmn guitar helps set the groove and propel the song along.  One of the biggest weaknesses of a lot of instrumental rock music, is that all too often it is nothing more than an extended solo by either the hotshot guitarist, or in the case of jam bands, each member doing their solo spot.  A good instrumental rock song is just that - a song.  In other words, the instruments sing, instead of voices.  I'm not saying that they have to mimic vocals, but do they have to spend the entire song, doing nothing but showing off their chops?  I've heard albums that were like that.  They were extremely boring.

BTW Steve,  I forgot to mention Johnny A.  He gets a little poppy at times.  But he's completely instrumental with his music (in a "Guitar Player" interview I read last year or 2 years ago, he stated that he decided to make his guitar the singer, avoiding the need to deal with possibly temperamental vocalists), and has become pretty well known.  Here's a link to him performing "Oh Yeah"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ7amOCI6DI

Give him a listen.   BTW, the guitar he's playing, is his own signature model from Gibson.  I'd love to have one, but at $4400, its price is a bit too much for me.  Here's Johnny A's website:

http://www.johnnya.com/

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[AF9J]

I kinda liked the newer kid on the block when he hit, not so new now, but Kenny Wayne Shepard, has some real clean "Decent" Fender grooves...I think he's touring alot or he was...I like that Chesney kid too, he puts on a good concert...Bob Dylan was doing a Grass roots tour here awhile back i went to see him...came away with a, That was That feeling sort of thing...Ok Next...

Kenny Wayne Shepherd's cool.   So is Kenny Chesney.  Another one you might want to give a listen to, is Brad Paisley.  He's quite the accomplished Telebasher.  But, in recent years, Nashville (being the slick pop country music town it is), has marketed him more as a singer, than a guitar player.  That's too bad, because he's a very good player.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[K3ZS]

Ellen- You made a Johnny A fan out of me,  added him to my Pandora stations.

[AF9J]

Gladto hear that.  Enjoy!

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

TNX for the Johnny A. link. Lots more on YouTube.

Another hit instrumental was Classical Gas (won a Grammy too). I never thought of it as a rock song though. Here's a good version of it by Jim Stafford. Yes, that's Jim Stafford of Spiders and Snakes and Wildwood Seed fame. The dude can pick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AYOHPSXlw&feature=related

[Carl WA1KPD]

Hi Dan,

You have some Alvino Rey on 78s? Glory Hallelujah! I had a bunch of them several years ago, but they got trashed without my knowledge. I cried.

Walt, W2DU

iTunes has 51 Alvino Rey songs

Carl /KPD

[AF9J]

TNX for the Johnny A. link. Lots more on YouTube.

Another hit instrumental was Classical Gas (won a Grammy too). I never thought of it as a rock song though. Here's a good version of it by Jim Stafford. Yes, that's Jim Stafford of Spiders and Snakes and Wildwood Seed fame. The dude can pick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AYOHPSXlw&feature=related

Have ever heard the original version by Mason Williams (who was also a writer for the "Smothers Brothers" show)?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mguzKze1sYo

Good stuff.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

And the much higher energy version by Tommy Emmanuel. He's fun to watch, let alone listen to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0eTp7SoNU&feature=related

[WD8BIL]

Ahh yes.... Classical Gas....

Big Time Wrestling w/ Johnnie Powers in used it for the theme !!!
Bobo Brazil, Flying Fred Curry..... ahhh, now that was real rasslin"

[W1RKW]

Just booked to see Johnny A. at the Iron Horse in N. Hampton in July.

[ka3zlr]

Excellent Piece...it was a moment in time at the height of the struggle..for Originality and Peace...in a differing rage against the machine...

Peace.....today..?

[AF9J]

And the much higher energy version by Tommy Emmanuel. He's fun to watch, let alone listen to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX0eTp7SoNU&feature=related

I watched it this morning Steve.  I'd heard of Tommy Emmanuel some time ago, but had never heard him.  VERY cool.  It almost sounds like a revved up bluegrass version.  Visually, he goes nuts on the guitar.  Thanks for sharing it.  I took a gander at his version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (a song I've always considered a bit schlocky).  His playing turns it into something special:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZNJf-h7F8s&feature=related

How do I describe his playing?  It's like a hybrid of Classical, Folk, Bluegrass, and even jazz (listen to some of the diminished chords in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow).   He even does two handed tapping (the intro to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), which was all the rage 20 years ago among Metal guitarists.  Guys like Tommy (and the late Michael Hedges) are the exciting acoustic players.

73,
Ellen - AF9J

[AF9J]

Just booked to see Johnny A. at the Iron Horse in N. Hampton in July.

That's right, he's from your neck of the woods (Boston - pretty close to you), isn't he?  You're lucky.

73,
Ellen - AF9J 

[kb3ouk]

I'm a musician, too, even though I'm not good. I play saxophone. And I was licensed last year at 13 years old. Someone mentioned something about AM 740 in Toronto, that's a good station. Comes in real good down here, and sounds real good on the old Crosley 25AY that I have.
shelby kb3ouk

[AF9J]

Cool,

A lot of us (and it seems even moreso, AMers), have a musical ear.  BTW, how's the FT-101 doing Shelby?

73,
Ellen - AF9J

P.S. - I recently picked up the FT-101's evil brother (the FT-301), and I'm having fun with it on 10m AM.

[kb3ouk]

It's doing pretty good. It seems as if there is a slight problem with ssb, since it drifs around badly. But it's ok on AM as long as I calibrate the dial the right way. Does the ssb filter pull out, or is it soldered in, I think I may just take the ssb filter out and stick a wider am filter in there, since I really don't plan on using it on ssb.
Shelby KB 3OUK