Squonk wrote:
I dont know if anyone else has these moments.
I was listening to Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven (From 'The song remains the same") , and yes I know it has become the cheesy song that guitarists in the 70's always played in guitar shops!(remember 'Wayne's World" ?)
But Jimmy Page's Solo always pushes one of my buttons. I dont know which button it is, but it's almost a goosebumpy, spiritual thing that kind of goes beyond technique, ability etc.
I know that Jimmy isn't the best out there but that solo, the way that he builds it right up to the climax with all the tensions and emotions effects me every single time.
Well it's almost impossible to talk objectively of that song, such is it's myth and reputation now. I think it's a pretty good solo in the way that it matches the song. This might lead me down a tangential path of discussing wether or not Jimmy Page is "one of the best" and what does "best" mean anyhow? He had great ideas, he came up with some killer riffs and a lot of great guitar parts (solos and not solos) that fitted the songs so well. One of the best - who knows? One of the most effective - you betcha.
But I digress.
There are solos, pieces of playing that .... well I don't know if they touch my soul, but they certainly seem to refresh the parts that most can't even reach.
I alluded to one of those recently in another thread: Richard Thompson's soloing on the title track of his 1982 album
Shoot Out The Lights. I've listened to that so many times now, over a long period of time, and I still get a thrill - especially from the 2nd solo.
Interestingly, in view of the points you made about Page's work on
Stairway to Heaven, it's the building and release of tension that I find so striking about this particular solo. I have several versions of that song from various live recordings, and some of them are technically better, but few match the visceral thrill of the original (despite what Thompson himself says) and the way he cranks the tension up and up and up, let's it go and then starts building again.
Others (and other players). I was listening to Led Zeppelin III on the way to work this morning. Page's solo on "Since I Been Loving You" is just so good, another of those solos that I find repeatedly satisfying. Again it's a perfect fit with the song, and also, IMO, one of Page's very best recorded solos. There's a sort of climax, anti-climax, climax thing in that song. Page builds the solo beautifully, the band stops, Plant wails the next line of the vocals, and Page has turned the volume down and almost chucks the next guitar line away. Then they start building to the 2nd climax - the whole band contributing. It's not a great song, but it is a great performance.
David Gilmour has a great sense of drama in his playing. I'm not that wild about "Comfortably Numb", but Gilmour's solo on that song is well justly well regarded. He gets in another great solo on "Time" on the
Dark Side Of The Moon album.
One of Clapton's lesser known (I think) solos: A live version of "Sleepy Time Time" in which he seems to play with abandon but really is exercising a lot more control than is apparent - or has a really good musical instinct and just trusts that. That's a thrilling solo.
I'm not sure he was a great player, but I love Mick Ronson's work on the
Ziggy Stardust album. What a fab noise.
Jerry Donohue's first solo on Joan Armatrading's "Tall In The Saddle". There's one of those amazing displays of string-bending that he can unleash, and, again, great use of dynamics and musical tension.
I still think the best solo that Mark Knopfler ever recorded is on the first Dire Straits album, on the track "In The Gallery". To me that solo doesn't just fit that song well, it also adds to the story telling in the song. A great piece of playing, a very well constructed solo.
I'm mostly steering away from Thompson here because I could go on for hours and get boring, but one more I must mention, and it's on a song of his that doesn't get a lot of attention. "That's All. Amen. Close The Door" on his
Mock Tudor album. That builds so well and then explodes into a real storm of emotion. A pity the engineer and/or producer faded that one when they did because listening to the fade out you get the feeling that Thompson still has plenty in the tank.
