Willie G. Moseley

Pragmatism: Unless the advertiser was born w/ a silver spoon in his mouth, I'd speculate about how lucrative those genres listed are (I never heard of any of the bands), so one wonders if such players could even afford whatever kind of upgrade gear the advertiser would be oriented towards. Plus, if that's the actual transcription from the ad, his grammar and spelling are so atrocious it's another reason it can't be taken too seriously...but I bet he texts a lot....

Tangerine Dream and Alan Parsons (nee the Alan Parsons Project) For my more-rational friends, it's hard to justify my Motorhead fixation....

Interviewed him twice; good conversationalist. I learned a lotta extraneous things, like the stage outfits for the Spiders from Mars (backing Bowie in the early '70s) were inspired by/modeled after the Droogs clothing in A Clockwork Orange (but were other colors besides white). I thought he sounded great on Wishbone Ash's Twin Barrels Burning album. One notable guitarist once told me with a laugh that he thought "Trevor Bolder" was the greatest name ever for a rock bassist.

I've got 90,000 pounds in my pajamas. I've got 40,000 French francs in my 'fridge. I've got lots of lovely lira, and the Deutschmark's getting dearer, And my dollar bills could buy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Tracy Nelson-listen to the last verse of "Mother Earth" by the band of the same name Christina Amphlett-voice somewhere between a hiccup and a burp, and she still scares me Aimee Mann Nina Simone Minnie Ripperton-especially the Rotary Connection stuff (Maya Rudolph's mom) Maddy Prior Tina Turner (especially in the Ike & Tina days)

Add Pat Metheny to my list; the definitive examples (for me) being OFFRAMP and FIRST CIRCLE from way back when. The first two Pat Metheny Group albums were brilliant--uncluttered, melodic and chock fulla unique guitar and bass tones, and the first one would make desert-island-top-ten list. Their second album, AMERICAN GARAGE, was a close, er, second, and I liked AS FALLS WICHITA, SO FALLS WICHITA FALLS, but once he got to messing too much w/ that blatting guitar synth, I got alienated. "Forward March" on FIRST CIRCLE was reason I stopped buying his music---like listening to fingernails on a blackboard. Although some interesting songs occasionally harkened back to that original melodic goodness ("Last Train Home" comes to mind), Metheny's was, and perhaps still is, an experimenter. Not that there's anything wrong with that; thank goodness some artists do indeed decline to rest on their laurels, but the flip side is that longtime fans of a particular early facet of the artists' music might not appreciate being sonic guinea pigs. P.S. "Sonic Guinea Pigs" might make a good name for a band, for that matter...

ANIMALS (Pink Floyd)-mindless, not mind-blowing (nor innovative) GUITAR SHOP (Jeff Beck)-the title track had some funny spoken word stuff, but that was the high point. I likened it to a Bruce Willis/Kim Basinger movie called BLIND DATE, where the funniest part was a Rick Dees radio bit playing during the opening credits. Basically sounded like a buncha jams. TUBULAR BELLS III (Mike Oldfield, import)-couldn't even finish listening to it, and I'm a huge Oldfield fan from way back. JAMMING WITH EDWARD (Rolling Stones)-literally, recorded jam sessions, hyped as such w/ a reduced price. I think it was either CREEM or ROLLING STONE that correctly asked "Why was this album released?" Whatever that EP was with EVH, Brian May, and Phil Chen, IIRC. Mercifully, I've forgotten. CHANCE ENCOUNTERS IN THE GARDEN OF LIGHTS (Bill Nelson) will prolly think of others later...

His performance at the Monterey Pop Festival was a musical and multicultural milestone, and was released as a separate album (that same year, IIRC). I used to own it, and I bet it still holds up.

Got my Midtown Standard P90 today. Interesting piece (and concept), and I'll hang onto it for a while. It seems to want to be a hybrid, just as the original 335 was a hybrid over a half-century ago. The chambered body balances well, and I like the idea that the bass P-90 is right up against the neck. The biggest plus for me, though, is the neck binding and trap fret markers. As noted on the board earlier, the precursor to macular degeneration I've got means I need big, visible stuff on guitar and bass necks. Wish there was a pickguard, and I wish the toggle switch was in a different location, but those are minor quibbles. This should make a decent utilitarian P-90 guitar...but I'm not sure I'd jumped on it at a higher price...

Jeezus---Sam Ash already notified me my Midtown's shipped! One wonders if this has anything w/ the lower-price MF option. Finding out about that alternative too late after the fact means I may try to send it back to SA after all if I don't like it...but I'm still hoping I will...

I just signed up for a Midtown P-90 in cherry sunburst, based on this thread. That is indeed a no-brainer price, and it's a configuration I've always wanted to try (although I've had a couple of Robin Savoys w/ chambered mahogany bodies, those had an alternate wood for a cap). Plus there's the bound neck and larger (therefore more visible) fret markers. If I don't like it I ought to be able to flip it for what I put into it, and I'd imagine I'd actually interpolate the "Did you miss the Sam Ash Black Friday special on the Midtown P-90? Well here it is again!" or something like that. Plus, Sam Ash is a reliable advertiser for the magazine for which I write, and their reps and I have done vintage business in the past. Nevertheless, this is the first time I've jumped on something like this via the 'net. But I find myself hoping I'll keep it.

"Mad At You" was a great song and a great early video; ditto "Steppin' Out". There was a live version of the latter song that came out many years later was almost unrecognizable due to the much-slower tempo and alternate intro. Cool fretless bass sound on that live tune as well; for some reason I'm thinking it might have been Pino Palladino. +1 that Jackson's an "artist" as opposed to an "entertainer" or "musician"

Tbone's right; I'll sub Richard Wright for the Procol Harum dude

Keith Emerson Mark Stein Felix Cavliere Gregg Allman whoever the keyboard player was for the original Procol Harum

Semantics: My post RE the Fudge noted "collaboration between symphonic works and rock bands, as pioneered by the Vanilla Fudge", which meant I was referring to things like them interpolating Beethoven snippets on the first album (w/ "Eleanor Rigby") in 1967, and performing a kick-ass version of "Fur Elise" and "Moonlight Sonata" on The Beat Goes On ('68). That's different from newly-composed orchestral efforts between symphonies and combos, and as for that category I think you're right about the Purps' album. Curious that my favorite part of the Five Bridges album is a, er, cover song, a la the Fudge (Intermezzo from the "Karelia Suite" by Sibelius). Dunno about the Purps' inspiration, but members of numerous other bands like the Yes and Uriah Heep have noted being influenced by the Fudge. I also have the Dutoit/Montreal Symphony version of The Planets. I like than one better than the NY Philharmonic version, primarily due to the clarity of the recording.

The Planets is something that, IMO, usually needs to be as orchestrated as possible; i.e., I found Tomita's electronic version to be a bit unsatisfying. Methinks the soundtrack to 2001 was the progenitor of the a viable collaboration between space imagery and "strong" symphonic works, and then there was, of course, the inevitable viable collaboration between symphonic works and rock bands, as pioneered by the Vanilla Fudge. In fact, the way I became aware of The Planets to begin with had a connection to both a space movie and a rock band. This happened in the mid-'80s---I'd always been a fan of The Right Stuff (book and movie), and was fascinated with that film's rousing soundtrack, most of which was composed by Bill Conti of Rocky fame. An exception was the exciting music when John Glenn was launched---there were three booming notes (which might have been C, G and F#), followed by a fanfare, then a chugging, insistent string, uh, riff that picked up its tempo as the Mercury-Atlas picked up speed, culminating in eerie, light strings as Glenn achieved orbit. But I'd never really checked the movie credits, and the soundtrack would not be forthcoming for a few years (and the Glenn launch music sequence would not be included, per se---details momentarily). About four years after the movie was released, the Missus bought me the Emerson, Lake & Powell album, which included their cover of "Mars, the Bringer of War"...and all of a sudden I froze when I heard those three booming notes again. A quick perusal of the The Planets (I went out and purchased the version by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic) and the movie credits averred that the Glenn sequence was a melange of "Mars, the Bringer of War", "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" and "Neptune, the Mystic", and it fit the video imagery perfectly. The soundtrack to The Right Stuff would be released the same year as Emerson, Lake & Powell ('86) but while there's a passage that soncially references the Glenn launch, it's obviously not the same stuff that was heard in movie theatres. Musta been some kinds usage rights controversy that eliminated the Holst stuff from the soundtrack CD. Pity. The Planets would end up on a list in a column I wrote titled "Classical Music for Rockers", for good reason. I bet I would have enjoyed the Seattle concert, on accounta those video images probably fit the music as well. (Tangent: I"m about to put another space-oriented, self-serving announcement up on the O.C.)

Keep in mind that sonically, the original P-Bass was supposed to emulate an upright bass, right down to having string mutes. Desired tones evolved in popular music, so bass tones and the instruments, evolved. I've owned numerous G&L L-1000s, which Leo considered to be his modern, and ultimately-best, version of a P-Bass configuration. It, too, was one pickup and passive but was a lot more versatile (separate bass and treble, humbucking/single-coil/single coil w/ bass boost three-way mini-toggle...and that last setting sounds awesome). Yet you can make it thump if you wish. Back in the '80s, the one Fender P-Bass I used for a while was a '73 ash body w/ maple fretboard, and I still went for a warm, bright tone, playing with a pick near the neck joint (Joe Osborn was a, er, influence). At one point I used D'Addario Reds, and they sounded huge but went dead fairly quickly.

Is that 'Around the World' video out on DVD? It's classic. I haven't seen it in a number of years, but methinks the tune Crunchee refers to was recorded in Bombay, and the audience was ecstatic (eyes rolling back into some of the attendees' heads, etc.). I also seem to recall "Born in the Fifties" from Hong Kong (correct me if I'm wrong), and of course, Sting being spat upon in France, and he responds at the end of "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" by hocking a flying oyster of his own.

"Roxanne"-the Police's signature song, and it has a sing-along facet that some others don't "Can't Stand Losing You" and "So Lonely"-last two songs of the band's early '80s Atlanta concert (in a huge venue that doesn't exist anymore). The audience reactions indicated there was a reason why those songs were placed in the finale and encore spot.

Hawkwind--Live Legends DVD dub to CD (1990 Nottingham concert). Space Ritual is still the ultimate, however. It was 85 degrees here this afternoon.

First time I saw and heard him was on the old "In Concert" TV show, when he was in the Edgar Winter Group, and he and Dan Hartman (also now deceased) traded instruments in the middle of a song called "Let's Get It On" (not the Marvin Gaye tune). Interviewed him in San Jose in the mid-'90s, and he was delighted that an interviewer remembered that "schtick" segment, as he called it. He was very conversational, discussing the details of how he got the "Bad Motor Scooter" sound on the first Montrose album, and how feminists protested the cover of Jump On It. I always thought Open Fire was a trailblazing album of sorts, as it was an instrumental album by a guitarist who had primarily been known for working with singers or bands with singers....but the first thing he said when I asked about it in the interview was that it wasn't ahead of Blow By Blow. Classy guy. True musician instead of a rock star.

Admittedly, this was inspired by the also-fresh thread on DLR looking old, and off the cuff, I can think of these: 1. Roth don't do knee drops no more 2. Tommy Shaw don't do that high kick no more 3. Nils Lofgren don't back flips offa trampoline no more (he's had both hips replaced, fer cryin' out loud)

The first four Mott the Hoople albums should be requisite listening for any student of hard rock guitar, although the third one (Wildlife) might be optional, with the exception of a live cover of "Keep A'Knockin'"---the first, second and fourth albums were produced by Guy Stevens, while the band produced the third, and it kinda shows... The first album (self-titled) and second (Mad Shadows) have been seen on one CD. Shouldn't come as a surprise that as the band began to garner notice, Ralphs was influenced by Leslie West's uncomplicated crunch from Les Paul Jrs. The fourth album, Brain Capers, was the definitive early '70s British rock album, FWMOW. It came out in '72, when I was a senior in college; I borrowed the LP, dubbed it to cassette, and spent hours in my (usually-parked) Valiant listening to it over and over. Important guitar tracks, IMO, include the following: First album: "You Really Got Me", "Rock and Roll Queen" Mad Shadows: "Thunderbuck Ram" Wildlife: "Keep A'Knockin'" Brain Capers: "Death May Be Your Santa Claus" (wotta song title!), "Darkness Darkness", "The Moon Upstairs" For that matter, some songs on Brain Capers that aren't guitar-centric ("The Journey", "Second Love") are excellent. I don't think Ralphs and Hunter have ever sounded better. This is one album that I made a serious effort to seek out on CD. I thought All the Young Dude sounded kinda sissified compared to the earlier stuff. Comparison invited.

The 'N.O.S.' label has its attraction in the guitar market. Keep all of the case candy as well, but inspect it on a regular basis; one of the NOS instruments I was hoarding...er, retaining went thru some kind of transformation due to the original finish not be applied correctly at the factory, and I opened the case on one occasion to discover it appeared to have leprosy. Had to send it back to the factory, which means I ended up with a new, unplayed guitar that was a factory re-fin, and that's how I had to present it when I sold it...which was soon after I got it back from the factory. That experience left a sour taste, and what NOS instruments I might have (or will have) are checked regularly. That being said, if the guitar's already two decades old, it probably won't have any deterioration problems unless moisture/humidity factors come into play.

BTW, the Gittler guitar has six pickups, one for each string. I think mine sounds like a Strat in the middle pickup position, FWMOW. One of the latter sonic tests was thru a blackface Super Reverb, which seemed to validate such an opinion. The Gittler tuners' patents were involved (as a defendant's exhibit, IIRC) in some kind of patent litigation between competing headless guitar companies some time ago, IIRC When not being played, it can be used as an outdoor VHF TV antenna...