Solos that speak

[Buzzy Fretts]

+1 on My Old School - Jeff "Skunk" Baxter. Wicked fun. We used to crank on that tune in my old band (I covered horns)- what a blast. Jeff wears a mean beret too.

[RichF]

Serial I'm right there with you on Crack The Sky. Their first two albums are killer.

Speaking of paying tribute, Frehley "pays tribute" to Jimmy Page's Heartbreaker solo in his solo on Shock Me from Alive II. I was into Kiss before I got into Zeppelin. I always thought that was a great original solo from Ace. Then I heard Heartbreaker and said "Oh, that's where Ace got that from."

[serial]

I'm also a fan of the "White Music" LP from a little later. I got into them bigtime when that one came out, although I'd dug the other stuff that was on the radio ("Ice", "She's a Dancer", "Surf City" were all in fairly regular rotation on the local stations growing up believe it or not).

My kids love some of that stuff, which is cool since they're only 7 and 4.

[RichF]

I thought White Music was the second album. I've got a single CD that has the Crack The Sky and White Music albums on it and I always assumed Crack The Sky was the first album and White Music the second. Shows you what I know.

Hold On, Surf City and pretty much the whole Crack The Sky album are my faves. Hot Razors In My Heart is an awesome tune.

[DNight]

Brooks, I am so with you on the Vandenburg tune, Burning Heart. This has been my number one favorite guitar solo since I first heard it years ago. It still gives me shivers

[Arcolyte]

Mark Knopfler - Telegraph road (live)

Vivian Cambell - Holy Diver

Jimmy Page - Whole Lotta Love

Angus Young - Shook me all night

Blackmore - Man on the Silver Mountain

Man that is crazy. Out of all the players of all the solos the first thing that popped into my mind was Holy Diver. Have no idea why for sure but I just started to think of it and for a brief time was lost in that. Then I am reading through and there it is. Small world. Good call.

Goozman

[El_Natoro]

Aside from the general wanking that can occur, name some guitar solos that really get to you.

For me, the Brian May's effort on "Killer Queen" STILL makes me stop and listen. The solo in Tesla's "Love Song" is another. "I remember you" by Skid Row is another.

Not fancy or fast, just TASTEFUL.

I know what you mean about "Killer Queen," Greg. When the solo comes up on that one, I have to crank it every time. It still gives me chills every time I hear it.

I also like the solo to Queens "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy." So many different tones in one solo, very cool call-and-answer style to it going from left to right speaker. I especially love the 1930ish hat-over-the-horn-tone (needle-eet, bawah-er-wah, needle-eet, bawah-er-wah).

Oh, and let's not forget Jimmy Page in "What is and What Never Should Be."

[shankyboy]

Well, my favorite all-time solo is Ronnie Earl's version of San-Ho-Zay on "Guitar Virtuoso Live" That guy is the king of tasty solos.

I do have a couple of other interesting ones to add. If you have ever checked out Ritchie Kotzen's "Motherheads Family Reunion" he does a remake of "I'll be there". That solo has always blown me away.

Another interesting on is from that pop song of the 70's, "You're still the one". I was not a musician as a child (didn't start playing until I was 28) so I never realized what I was missing when I listened to the radio back then, but I was sitting in a restaurant a while back and that song came on and I was shocked to discover that there was this totally awesome solo in the middle of what I always dismissed as a mindless pop tune.

[Jones]

I may get crap for this but...

Brad Gillis on "Sister Christian" still floors me after all these years.

[cmatthes]

Totally agreed that "Hot Razors" was the first solo that just grabbed me. Still does. The roll-in solo from "Suspicion" also gets me all nutty. CTS still does the reunion shows here locally, usually in June and November, although they do put together a couple other dates in between other projects and for benefits.

I've always gravitated more towards tone than flash in a solo. Some of my favorites are almost "anti-solos" - "The Same Thing" by the Grays - not much there, but you can't escape the tension/emotion that one pulls out.

I'm currently digging the "Calling Sydney" and "Last Train Outta Here" solos by the Shazam (tough to find 2 solos like that on the same disk). Again, it's tone more than anything else, but they also FIT THE SONG PERFECTLY. "LTOH" also has a really killer Pagey-sounding phrase that I really like.

Sonny Landreth's slide work on Marshall Crenshaw's cover of Richard Thompson's "Valerie" is worth the download or even the budget CD. The "No Matter What" solo (Badfinger). J. Mascis' solo in "Out There" (Dinosaur Jr.'s "Where You Been"). Mitch Easter on Let's Active's "Waters Part". Page on "Fool in the Rain". Elliot Easton and George Harrison also had a ton of things that get to me solo-wise too, and I've always been a sucker for cool electric 12-string work and really dig well-done twin guitar stuff (I am talking Lizzy/Leppard, not Eagles!!)

Hell, I could go on and on, but these are all solos and players who play the stuff that sticks in my head. Not meedley-fests, but recorded moments that burn a permanent groove in my brain.