All posts tagged Guitars

The Les Paul Special

Les Paul, the man who did so much to build and develop the solid-body electric guitar, died Thursday at the age of 94. Famously giving helping design the Gibson Les Paul, his name is as synonymous with the electric guitar as Leo Fender. The thick, heavy sound his guitar made when being pumped through a Marshall stack is the sound of pretty much every RAWK record you’ve ever heard (or at least, until ‘80’s poodle rock came along). And if you want to hear loads of those songs, you’ve come to the wrong place.

There's Only Two Les Pauls

Sorry, that was a bit abrupt. But I’m not a huge RAWK fan. Whilst I’m always partial to a bit of Led Zep or Guns’N’Roses, my thing’s always been at the more esoteric end of the rock spectrum. So, when I heard the news of Les Paul passing away, my thoughts didn’t go to Slash, they went to The Pixies, Manic Street Preachers, and Low.

Yes, Low.

Because Low, one of the quietest bands ever to grace this fair earth, play Les Pauls (or rather, Alan Sparhawk does). Seeing them live some years ago, they came on and started playing “When I Go Deaf”. As they suddenly kicked off into the loud part, Alan started sawing and pulling at his Bigsby-rigged Les Paul for all it was worth, and carried on even after the drummer and bassist had stopped playing. A fantastic moment.

Alan, A Les Paul, and a Bigsby

For a band whose whole ethos is pretty much the negative image of the Les Paul-toting rock gods, it’s a great trick to use the same instrument to create slow, (mostly) quiet beauty, as they had used to play songs like Kashmir.

It’s the same with The Pixies. Although Black Francis used a Fender Tele (with the occasional Strat), Joey Santiago was a Les Paul man. And it was unlikely that such a truly unique sound had ever been made before Joey strapped on his plank. I can still remember hearing “Bone Machine” on John Peel one night, back in 1988. Sounding like nothing I’d ever heard, the lead guitar was discordant and twisted, screaming in unison with Black Francis.

Joey, A Les Paul, and a Bigsby

And more was to come, with Doolittle taking Surfer Rosa’s twisted goodness and adding a huge hit of pop nous.

Mmmm, a gold Les Paul.

Last off, The Manic Street Preachers exploded out of Blackwood, South Wales in the early ’90’s. Can’t say I was a massive fan of them at first, what with me not liking The Clash and all that, but eventually James Dean Bradfield’s fantastic singing and playing, and their great way with a tune, won me over.

James, A Les Paul, and No Bigsby

They always said they wanted to sound like Guns’N’Roses, and on “Motorcycle Emptiness”, they sound like what Guns’N’Roses would have been if Slash had spent his childhood listening to Nick Drake.

So, three bands all using Les Pauls in ways that probably made Les Paul himself come out in a rash. Rest in peace, Les, and thanks for making music so much better.

MP3: When I Go Deaf by Low

MP3: Bone Machine by The Pixies

MP3: Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers

Buy Low’s “The Great Destroyer” (CD/MP3)

Buy The Pixies “Surfer Rosa & Come on Pilgrim” (CD) (What, you haven’t got this already?)

Buy Manic Street Preachers “Forever Delayed: The Greatest Hits” (CD)

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by loftandlost on August 17, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Music

Tagged Bizarre Guitar Tunings, Guitars, I Don't Like The Clash, Low, Manic Street Preachers, Music, The Pixies

Posted by loftandlost on August 17, 2009

https://loftandlost.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/the-les-paul-special/

Live Review – M Ward at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire

There’s something odd about M Ward. Whilst I’ve listened to three of his albums – Transfiguration of Vincent, Transistor Radio and Post-War – more than pretty much anything else over the past four or five years, I still haven’t really got a grasp of the man behind croaky voice, obscure lyrical themes, and that guitar playing. Would finally seeing him live crack open that mystery?

Nope.

First things first. Gig-goers in London – please take note. That nice, if somewhat kooky, lady up on the stage is trying to perform. Please don’t talk loudly all the way through her performance. It’s not nice. Bless Lavender Diamond though, she did try and get everyone singing, and nearly succeeded.

Lavender Diamond and her Flowery Guitar Tuner

It was a fantastic gig. M is a compelling performer, the band around him were excellent, and you can’t help but be astonished at what this man can do on a guitar. Opening with “Chinese Translation”, we were treated to the marvellous warm sound of his fingerstyle playing, bursting into a three-or-so minute solo. Some stomping tunes from the disappointing “Hold Time” followed, which sound a little better live than they do on the album, before he settled into playing some of his rather enviously huge back catalogue.

Really, a man this untouched by mainstream success shouldn’t have such a fantastic set of songs. “Poison Cup” was simply astonishing; coming after his acoustic set (which I shall return to, don’t you worry), the song burst to life, almost exploding from the tension. “To Save Me”, one of the few highlights of “Hold Time”, had M hunched over the piano looking like an even more deranged Jerry Lee Lewis. “Post War”, the first moment of calm in the set, was gorgeous, and showed M’s unexpected vocal range.

And then there’s the acoustic part. “Fuel for Fire” featured that rarest of things – a good harmonica solo. The medley which featured “Duet for Guitars #3” was absolutely jaw-dropping. This YouTube video gives some indication of what he can do:

Frankly, when you see it live, you just can’t believe your eyes. What this man can do with an acoustic guitar is beyond belief. I don’t think I’ve been that amazed by one man’s guitar playing since seeing Durutti Column years ago. I urge you to go to the man’s show, just to see what he can do. Jaw-dropping dexterity. And a lovely guitar too. I quite fancy one of them. It’s a Gibson Johnny A Signature. No, me neither.

One Of These In Black Please, Dear Santa Claus

On a side note, what the hell is going on at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire? Two guys behind us were dragged out of the crowd for taking photos, and the roadie point blank refused to give me and another chap the set list. Very odd.

Sorry, going off-topic a bit there.

But all through the night I was thinking “There’s something odd about him”. The first clue to his odd behaviour came during a re-wording of “Magic Trick”, by singing “I’ve got one magic trick……I disappear”.

M Ward Himself

Then the night’s finisher “To Go Home”, a song not even his own, which provides the biggest clue. It’s that line “I’ll be true to you\Oh yeah, you know I will\I’ll be true to you forever or until\I go home”. That’s it with M. You know he’s only there to play his songs, and he plays them fantastically, with energy and dexterity, but there’s also a look in his eyes that tells us he doesn’t need us. When he goes home, he’s got his music, his 45’s to play at night.

You can see it in the strange gleam in his eye as he plays the piano, lost inside his own world filled with the rapture of the sound he can make. You can see it in the half-smile as he turns sideways, away from the audience. You can see it in the way he hardly acknowledges his band. It’s not that he’s unhappy up there, far from it, but you sense he’d be just as happy playing to an empty theatre.

What’s odder is that he’s probably the most prolific collaborator around at the moment, what with Jim James and Zooey Deschanel and Jenny Lewis and whoever else passes his way. What an odd fellow. But also a great talent, and someone definitely not to be missed.

“God, it’s great to be alive\Takes the skin right off my hide\To think I’ll have to give it all up someday”. Those words have been coming back to me for the past two days, as sung by a man close to genius, who we need more than he needs us.

MP3: To Go Home by M Ward

MP3: To Save Me by M Ward

Postscript: Our friend D, who had previously taken us to see the Stereophonics, came along as we had a spare. Having never heard of M Ward before, she loved it (who wouldn’t?) and asked what albums she should get. I said, “Transfiguration of Vincent, Transistor Radio and Post-War”. Sadly Post-War doesn’t seem to be on Amazon at the moment, so here are the rest:

Buy “Transfiguration of Vincent” (CD)

Buy “Transistor Radio” (CD/MP3)

Buy “Hold Time” (CD/MP3)

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by loftandlost on July 2, 2009 • Permalink

Posted in Music, Review

Tagged Guitars, M. Ward, Music

Posted by loftandlost on July 2, 2009

https://loftandlost.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/live-review-m-ward-at-the-shepherds-bush-empire/

Sonic Youth Geetars

Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh. If I was Fender’s Head of Marketing, and I wanted to go really out there with my artist endorsements (“New For 2009! G.E. Smith Guitar!”) who would I choose to get that valuable Lawyer-That-Was-A-Huge-Alt-Rock-Fan dollar (I’m looking at you, Searsy)? J Mascis? Nah, already done. Butthole Surfers? Too bizarre. Sonic Youth? But don’t they stick knitting needles into the strings, tune them all to A# and generally abuse the goddamn life out of their poor Jazzmasters and Mustangs?

Well, yeah, but in their dotage they’ve become quite willing to endorse themselves in all sorts of “fun” ways¹. And if you’re a lawyer or banker who spent their formative years blasting out “Sister” from their dorm room², then a funky messed up Jazzmaster might just scratch the itch that a Road-Worn Telecaster ³ or a *gasp* PRS just can’t scratch?

And you know, they are quite nice-looking guitars:

Lee's Guitar

Thurston's Guitar

Although they look a hell of a lot like the Electrajets (not a bad thing, I’d quite like one of these babies), what with that stripped down Jazzmaster/Jag vibe:

Dan Grosh's Lovely Electrajet

The band do really seem to have been involved in the design of these, which is nice. Different pickups, switches removed, just a volume knob – ok, so it’s hardly a Matt Bellamy Manson special but better than some of the lazy-assed endorsements out there. But surely the whole point of Sonic Youth is that they took the cheapest half-decent guitars they could find and modded the hell out of them themselves, to make them unique? So isn’t selling a massed-produced guitar that was meant to be different to everything else out there somewhat hypocritical?

A Proper Sonic Youth Guitar

In any case, I can of course be persuaded to change my mind on delivery of a nice new shiny Classic Player Jazzmaster so I can fulfil my Robin Guthrie/Tom Verlaine/J Mascis fantasies. Delivery to Loft and Lost Mansions, 7, London. Ta.

Anyway, in honour of this astonishing moment in guitar-endorsement history, here’s a few tracks of Sonic Youth abusing guitars, one from their most recent (and not at all bad) “The Eternal” LP, and one from the classic “Sister” LP.

MP3: Malibu Gas Station by Sonic Youth

(this MP3 has been removed as Sonic Youth’s record company apparently object to people posting an MP3 from their new album whilst advertising their nice new expensive guitars)

MP3: White Kross by Sonic Youth

Buy Sonic Youth’s “The Eternal” (CD/MP3)

Buy Sonic Youth’s “Sister” (MP3)

¹ Now isn’t the time for the sell-out arguments. Another time, maybe.

² Believe me, such people do exist.

³ Is it just me or is the whole “Road Worn” concept one of the stupidest things ever? Why not just buy a nice new Tele and bash the hell out of it yourself? Or hey, why not go to your local guitar shop and buy a genuine second-hand guitar, which will have more life and character than anything Fender will sell you for about $500 over the market, as well as supporting your local guitar shop, who quite frankly can probably do with the income?