2023 - Ten Years After...

[Van]

Alvin Lee was never really anything like a 'virtuoso,' which is the tag I often see people try to apply to the guy. The more I hear of him, the less impressed I become. Sure, he was mildly fast, but it was only gimmicky fast and repetitive as hell.

so being "fast" is your standard of what makes a great guitar player and what doesn't?

Nope. Where on earth did I ever say that? All I said was that he was mildly fast, and let's face it, his speed was his primary calling card.

and who ever said the guy was a "virtuoso"?

I believe Smackie Chan did, right here on this board. I'm not positive, but I think Derron may have done so, as well.

Sorry, you just grew up in the wrong era.....everybody I know had mad respect for the innovations he brought to the table.....comparing him to today's guitar players is patently unfair.....it's like comparing Babe Ruth to Albert Pujols.....Babe Ruth couldn't hit the shit the pitchers of today throw, but it doesn't take away from the fact that in his time, he was a baseball god.....

Umm, exactly what era do you think I grew up in?

[Felix]

All I said was that he was mildly fast, and let's face it, his speed was his primary calling card.

no it wasn't....AL had a very distinctive sound and by distinctive, I mean that when he started playing, I generally knew exactly who it was.....I can't say that about more than about a handful of the current crop of players out there who's sole calling card is that they can play really fast....now, take somebody like buckethead as good a shred player as there is and every time I hear that guy play I know exactly who it is.....he's fast, but he's also as innovative as they come.....98 out of 100 shredders I hear today I couldn't tell you who the fuck they are and there's no reason for me to care because they haven't taken the time nor put in the effort to separate themselves from every other shred player, so why should I give a fuck

Umm, exactly what era do you think I grew up in?

I don't know, which era did you grow up in?
I grew up in an era when great guitar players cultivated a unique sound that set them apart from everyone else out there playing.....that's what AL did and that's why I think he's under appreciated as a player.....

[LTS TRN 2]

Lee does have a very nice tone, by virtue of his 335 hollowbody. The same tasty cutting tone can be heard on the guitar solo in the irritating hit "Play That Funky Music White boy" where the singer/guitarist plays a rare Les Paul Florentine (hollowbody). That said, there's still not a great lead performance by Lee that I've heard. No real blues piece that can stand up. His true counterpart was in fact Mark Farner of Grand Funk. Isn't he on some bucket list? Why not?

[War Wagon]

Consider me one of those underwhelmed by Alvin Lee as well. Sure, he was good and I don't have anything bad to say about the guy, but he really doesn't rank up there in the pantheon of Rock Guitar
Legends.

Umm, exactly what era do you think I grew up in?

Speaking of Legends...

[Van]

Spending time in jail for being black and fucking white women in the South?

[Derron]

Bad week for rock guitarist's...

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=795628

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGdvkpHKxY

[LTS TRN 2]

Bad week for rock guitarist's...

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=795628

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGdvkpHKxY

Well, we can see why they shitcanned him for Steve Howe. Jeez, he starts out like Roger McGuinn, then a brief Herb Ellis walkabout (the band seems lost in this style), and then...some "space noodling"? Now ...it's almost like a Zappa tune without the jokes. I like the little Beatles snatch on the way out. '"Everything She Does"?

So what killed him? Bennies? Speed? Grass? Acid?


Or was it just the bangers and mash, along with some eel pie for desert?

[Mikey]

Bad week for rock guitarist's...

http://music.msn.com/music/article.aspx?news=795628

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUGdvkpHKxY

A bad week for apostrophes's too.

[Van]

Yep, I'm definitely enjoying Nick's contributions in this thread.

[Terry in Crapchester]

resident gay-smack aficionados will appreciate his very un-PC lyrics in his best tune, I'd love To Change The World

Everywhere is freaks and hairies, Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity ?


Where indeed.

With this crowd, I think these lyrics from the same song will cloud their judgment irrevocably:

Tax the rich, feed the poor.

his best tune, I'd love To Change The World

You don't know shit about Alvin Lee, obviously.

Ever listened to Watt or Cricklewood Green or On the Road to Freedom?

I'll defer to your knowledge of Alvin Lee. I was, after all, a little kid during TYA's heyday. You were what, in your mid-30's?

And I would stay away from a pronunciation like "best song" in any event -- far too fraught with subjectivity.

With that said, I think it could be said, without fear of contradiction, that "I'd Love to Change the World" is TYA's best-known song, by far, and #2 isn't even close. You can still hear "I'd Love to Change the World" on most commercial classic rock radio stations. I'm pretty sure that's the only TYA song in that sort of rotation.

[LTS TRN 2]

Yep, I'm definitely enjoying Nick's contributions in this thread.

Great, just remember, 9/11 was an inside job by Israeli Zionazis and we're all getting screwed and robbed by these vile criminals every day. And Vietnam was a catastrophe of murder and moral abdication in which we had absolutely no chance whatsoever of prevailing. And moreover, the plutocrat corporatists are moving hard to undermine any semblance of a middle class and freedom of information. If you had a connected set of synapses in your frontal lobe you'd be supporting Bradley Manning and Julian Assange with everything you can muster.

[Van]

Well, I was enjoying Nick's contributions in this thread, but then he had to go and Nick it all up.