the list goes on forever...
You may just live to regret this thread ! I hear lots of guitar sounds that I think are fantastic and each time I'm listening to one or one comes to my rememberance, I just might pop into this thread.
It's more constructive than famous Dave, anyway.
solo on Trapeze's 'Will Our Love End'
On that album, I love the late Mel Galley's guitar sound generally but especially on "Keepin' time" and on "Medusa" tracks like "Jury", "Touch my life" and "Makes you wanna cry". I think he was one of the more criminally underrated British heavy rock guitarists, along with Tonka Chapman, Manny Charlton and Fast Eddie Clark.
Gilmour and May I think consistently have fantastic tone
May and Gilmour were the first heavy guitarists I ever took note of; even at 12 May's guitar playing on "Bohemian rhapsody" was notable, both the heavy riffing after the operetta and the solo that leads into it.
Because listening to "A saucerful of secrets" quite simply changed my musical headspace when I was 16, David Gilmour's playing {and I guess Syd Barrett's too} was, unbeknownst to me at the time, the open portal to a sonic universe that I journeyed into and have never really left or recovered from.
Richie Blackmore on In Rock
Ritchie's tone was so damn edgy on In Rock, he just switched to Strats from Gibson.
Just after hearing the first two Pink Floyd albums had whetted my appetite and caused an interest that was the most musically significant one I ever succumbed to, I got "Shades of deep purple", their first, and "Fireball". I love "Shades", one of the best 5 debuts I've heard. But I've always found Ritchie Blackmore's tone on that album really tinny, metallic and thin. I love all of his playing on the LP but sonically, I think the sound is pretty lame. It's a good thing the songs are so outstanding. By "In rock" and "Fireball", to superb songs had been added a sonic onslaught, guitar wise, that overwhelmed me and 30+ years later, still does. I can't think of anyone that got sounds like Blackmore back in those days.
But there are many great ones. I really dig Jan Akkerman's sound on Focus' single, "Sylvia", Paul Kennedy of Salad hit some wonderful tones on "Drink the elixir" and "Kiss my love", Eric Clapton weighs in with some wild sounds on the "Live Cream" and "Live Cream 2" versions of "Sweet Wine" and "Sunshine of your love", I like John McLaughlin's tones on some of the "Extrapolation" album and most of Mahavishnu Orchestra's first three LPs {"Inner mounting flame", "Birds of fire" and "Between nothingness and eternity"} and some of the next two {"Apocalypse" and "Visions of the emerald beyond"}, not to mention his blistering work on Lifetime's "To whom it may concern" and especially "Vuelta Abajo".
People used to rave about Al DiMeola but for me, he never stood a chance following Bill Connors in Return to forever. Connors is generally known for his acoustic stuff but his heavy rocking tone on the "Hymn of the 7th galaxy" album demonstrated the way in which {like McLaughlin before him} a loud electric rock inflected jazzer could be a dangerous and breathtaking weapon.
I also liked Steve Jones of the Sex pistols' guitar sounds. Simple, raw, overlayed with more simple and raw !
Where will this all end ? ! !
