Ok what is your favorite solo in a song - any era....

Some amazing solos mentioned already. I have to be consistent and say that the solo in Everyday by Slade has always been a fav of mine - much more pop tyhat anything else but that's a good thing in its own way. The solo was played by the bassist - Jim (Whild) Lea.
SLADE-Everyday - YouTube
'Tain't exciting or dexterous - it has always struck me as right for the song & that's the point in the musical sense isn't it.
Others I dig are the solo in Come Up & See Me by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel because it was so outlandish to throw a melodic classical guitar bit in there as well as how good it sounds in the song.
In the total opposite direction is Jimmy Page's solo in Cocker's version of Bye Bye Blackbird. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSR3lzRj8-c It separates the song: draws a line down the middle like Matisse's Green Line did to the portrait.
Hw about the lead work on January and Magic by Pilot - they really were extraordinary for a pop song - hook & dexterity tied up & probably better than the songs.
ANYTHING on the 1st Richard hell & the Voidoids album, particularly Love Comes in Spurts, would rate as superb to my ears & whilst, at 1st listen, they may seem contrary to my "right for the song" premise, closer listening and familiarity with the songs may suggest that they are, indeed, crucial to the song. Richard Quine put the chaos that was Hell's life into the songs as Hell was too rooted in convention to do it with the writing. (Quine on Matthew Sweet's mid period LPs is an example of beautiful playing that decorates and compliments a song without being essential as the songs are so strong tey could be played on a Uke in a ute & still go over effectively).
Can I really bypass the solo in Don't Fear the Reaper? Or almost anything by Tom Verlain & Richard Lloyd on the 1st Television album.
Then again, closer to home the solo on my song Eyes Wired Open, played by our own Ido1957 is superb.
 
My favourite solos tend to be guitar solos, though there are certainly some non-guitar solos that I really like. There are so many great solos that right now I'm having a hard time even thinking of one.
 
Gerry, I had a hard time pick just one so I went with EWO because it makes the song.
 
rayc said:
ANYTHING on the 1st Richard hell & the Voidoids album, particularly Love Comes in Spurts, would rate as superb to my ears & whilst, at 1st listen, they may seem contrary to my "right for the song" premise, closer listening and familiarity with the songs may suggest that they are, indeed, crucial to the song. Richard Quine put the chaos that was Hell's life into the songs as Hell was too rooted in convention to do it with the writing. (Quine on Matthew Sweet's mid period LPs is an example of beautiful playing that decorates and compliments a song without being essential as the songs are so strong tey could be played on a Uke in a ute & still go over effectively).
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You know, I absolutely love those Voidoids records and the first couple Matthew Sweet records too, but I always thought Quine's guitar work was just annoying. Especially on the Matthew Sweet stuff.... It's like he's not even listening to the song and just shredding and it doesn't even sit in the mix that good, imo. Many times I've wished someone would remix those records and take him right out, though he was a "great player" and played with Richard Hell and all.
 
FF,
I know what you mean - & it's a matter of taste & sensibility I suppose. The work Quine did with the Voidoids was almost antipunk but it was also off the wall in the same way the lyrics were & he oft times, to my mind, seemed to fly based on those words - Love Comes In Spurts could not have been served by a solo that was in any way more conventional than Quine or maybe Velrain.
Richard Lloyd was just as decorative/integral for Sweet. The albums Sweet has done since without either guitarist are full of great songs and performances but miss that special magic.
 
ZaGhost said:
One of my faves has always been at the end of Try Me by UFO
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Michael Schenker has been long lionized for his playing when he was UFO but I think Tonka Chapman on the hugely underrated "No place to run" album turned in a load of fantastic solos. They were short, simple, melodic, exciting and wholly effective. It was no fluke either because a few years previously with Lone Star on the "Firing on all six" album, he'd done likewise.
 
Greg Rolie's organ solo in the studio version of Soul Sacrifice is great. Greg did a lot of good solos on those early Santana albums.

Glen Buxton's bizarre solo on Alice Cooper's The Ballad of Dwight Fry.

On the Rolling Stones song Heartbreaker there's a short solo that I think fits the mood of the song perfectly. I don't know if it's Mick Taylor or Keef who plays it.

My favorite of all is Rat Tomago by Frank Zappa from the Sheik Yerbouti album.
 
George Harrison on "Old Brown Shoe". I first thought Clapton did it. I believe it was the B side to "Lady Madonna".
 
Neil Young - Like a Hurricane
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights (guitar solo at the end of the song)
King Crimson - Starless (Great guitar, sax, bass, drum solos, great vocal)
Rolling Stones - Sympathy For the Devil (what a great spiky lead guitar sound)
Kinks - You Really Got Me
The Who - My Generation (bass solo)
Ringo's long drum solo on Abbey Road

Add:
Fleetwood Mac - The Chain (guitar solo)
 
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I don't know how I missed this.

John Frusciante - The Past Recedes.

Somebody already mentioned Maggot Brain.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Mellowship Slinky in B major & Californication.

Jimi Hendrix - May this be Love.

The Beatles - Love you too.

Grisha Goryachev - Bulerias (Sabicas)
 
I like....

organ/synth/whatever solo in House of the Rising Sun--the Animals

Hotel California dueling guitar solo/duet

Hmmmm idk what else really. Then again it is pretty late :D I think I'm much more a "riff person" than a solo person.
 
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