OT: Great Forgotten Rock Guitarists

Submitted by Robbie Moore on

It's hot. It's (almost) summer. Not much going on in the "on topic" world so...

Was savoring some Elmer T. Lee with my bourbon drinking buddy and we started talking forgotten rock guitarists. My selection was the late, great and very much forgotten Toy Caldwell. Played with Marshall Tucker in the 70's. Check out his work on the song "Ramblin." 

And your selection is?

ST3

June 14th, 2017 at 3:21 PM ^

Personally, the first time I ever heard of Lukather was from listening to another great, underappreciated guitarist, Nigel Tufnel. He was giving an interview on the radio and provided his own list of the guitar greats - Beck, Satriani, and Lukather.

BTW, Lukather contributed to "Break Like the Wind."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Break_Like_the_Wind

 

mGrowOld

June 14th, 2017 at 3:04 PM ^

Ronnie Montrose: Montrose I is still IMO the greatest hard rock album from start to finish every recorded.  And "Rock Candy" is the best needs to be played REALLY loud song (amazing drum intro) ever.

Rick Derringer: "Rock and Roll Hootchie Coo".  Need I say more?

Manny Charlton: Nazareth.  The song "Hair of the Dog" (usually misnamed as "now you're messing with a son-of-a-bitch") is another great party anthem. 

UMBSnMBA

June 14th, 2017 at 3:29 PM ^

At Wings Stadium in Kazoo. I think they were warming up Peter Frampton. (Things are a little fuzzy from that decade which included my UM undergrad.). Amazing concert.

elhead

June 14th, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^

The track Mwandishi, which has a crazy 15/8 time signature. Montrose played the guitar, while David Rubinson (legendary Bay Area producer now retired in the south of France) handled the wah-wah pedal to fit the 15/8 time. True story.

Everyone Murders

June 14th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^

Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd.  Marquee Moon is one of the great all-time guitar albums.

Also, Robert Quine's work is oft-overlooked.  Just listened to Lou Reed's The Blue Mask on the way to work, and it was amazing.

And, to tie it together, check out Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend, one of the great guitar-pop albums of all time.  The line-up of Sweet, Quine, and Lloyd was just fantastic.

PurePetron

June 14th, 2017 at 3:57 PM ^

Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you.  The guitar solo on "Waves of Fear" perfectly captures the spirit of the song and is as inventive as it is unconventional - truly a spirited, artful guitarist.  All of the (albeit limited) Richard Hell catalog wth Quine is incredible, as are most all of his other collaborations.   

Religious reader of MGoBlog, almost never post but felt compelled to do so when I saw this - Tom Waits recognized how talented Quine was, yet somehow he has slipped through the cracks as far as known, influential guitarists go.

El Jeffe

June 14th, 2017 at 3:16 PM ^

He's not forgotten but do yourself a favor and go check out some clips on the YouTubes of Johnny Marr. That man could hear leads in simple chord structures that are just incredible.

Fun possibly apocryphal fact: I once heard that the Smiths would lay down the basic tracks and then Marr would crank up the volume to 11 and then play leads off of the overtones. That's why the notes simultaneously don't seem to be "there" and why they work perfectly when overdubbed.

I mean:

Berkley@MainMan

June 15th, 2017 at 1:03 AM ^

You beat me to it. My favorite guitar player of all time. He also chose to pick many his cords rather than strum them straight up.A genius!! I recommend listing to the album, "Hateful of Hollow." This is Johnny in full B-Mode. More specifically listen to the albums version of"Still Ill." He totally takes over the song, his playing jumps out in front of everything else, including The Mozz. It was Johnny Marr that saved Morrissey from himself, initiated the relationship, and the forming of the band.

MY. HERO.

Larry Appleton

June 14th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^

Brad Whitford.  I know, how can a guy be "forgotten" when he's in one of the biggest American bands of all time?  He was constantly overshadowed by Joe Perry, and did his blue-collar work on the rhythm.  But MAAAAAAAAN, that guy can rip it when given a chance!  

MIGHTYMOJO91

June 14th, 2017 at 5:52 PM ^

Lifeson is absolutely one of the greatest ever in the greatest band ever! Alex, Geddy Neil are the consummate professionals. Next to Pink Floyd there is no one better for a live show!