Orianthi - Highly Strung [feat. Steve Vai] [Believe/2009]
First appearing at the 51st Grammy awards as Carrie Underwood's guitarist it was there she garnered the attention of Michael Jackson who asked her to be the guitarist for the This Is It tour, which never came to fruition due to his death... She has jammed with Carlos Santana and is currently the lead guitarist for Alice Cooper... In 2010 she won "Breakthrough Guitarist Of The Year" by Guitar International Magazine...
Rainbow - Difficult To Cure [Difficult To Cure/1981]
Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" [9th Symphony, 4th Movement] re-arranged by Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover and Don Airey for the 1981 Rainbow album of the same name... A concert staple for the band and done on their live album "Finyl Vinyl" with a symphony orchestra at The Budokan...
The Allman Brothers - Jessica [Brothers & Sisters/1973]
Written by Dickie Betts and is named for his daughter... And it was a classic before they started using it as the theme to the tv show "Top Gear"...
Journey - With A Tear [Time3 Box Set/1992]
Previously unreleased, but appearing on disc 3 of the box set... it fits right into the "Frontiers"/"Raised On Radio" vibe... and probably one you've not heard...
Gary Hoey - Linus & Lucy [Music From The Motion Picture "Endless Summer II"/1994 and Wake Up Call/2003]
Dare you not to smile when you hear Gary Hoey's take on the Vince Guaraldi classic...
Brian May & Friends - Blues Breaker [Starfleet Project/1983]
Yes - Cinema [90125/1983]
Brian May & Friends - Blues Breaker [Starfleet Project/1983]
Dedicated to Eric Clapton... this 13 minute blues jam is performed by guitarists Brian May of Queen and Eddie Van Halen, bassist Phil Chen [Jeff Beck Group], keyboardist Fred Mandel [Alice Cooper/Elton John] and REO Speedwagon drummer Alan Gratzer... The "Starfleet Project" EP had 3 songs and this took up side 2... And if you listen carefully you will hear Eddie Van Halen torture his top string until it breaks and then finish on the other 5...
Yes - Cinema [90125/1983]
Named for the original band that wrote it [Cinema was guitarist Trevor Rabin, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White and keyboard player Tony Kaye... who wrote it before Jon Anderson joined and they renamed themselves Yes...] this track originated as a 20 minute piece called "Time"... This song won "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" at the 1985 Grammy Awards...the only one the band won in their long and distinguished career...
Joe Satriani - Summer Song [The Extremist/1992 & If I Could Fly/Is There Love In Space/2004]
Once again polled some friends and "Summer Song" was at the top of most lists... actually any Joe Satriani is potential material for the top 20... Check out "A Door Into Summer" of his latest "Unstoppable Momentum"...
I put this here for two reasons...one to illustrate that you can have a song with a lead "vocal" even if that vocal is a guitar... that...and every time Coldplay's "Vida La Vida" plays Joe gets paid... he sued for copyright infringement and won...give it a listen...you can't miss the blatant plagiarism...
Steve Vai - The Attitude Song [Flex-Able/1984]
Steve Vai was a student of Satriani's...and a transcriber for Frank Zappa... and while "For The Love Of God" is awesome... "The Attitude
Song" is right up there too...
Pink Floyd - One Of These Days [Meddle/1971]
Song" is right up there too...
Pink Floyd - One Of These Days [Meddle/1971]
Instrumental with the exception of one line spoken by drummer Nick Mason [recorded at double speed using a falsetto voice then played at regular speed...] that states "One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces"... and also recorded with two basses [one by Roger Waters and one by David Gilmour...]...
Steve Morse Band - Tumeni Notes [High Tension Wires/1989]
Steve Morse is considered one of the best overall guitarists in the world...from his work with The Dregs, Kansas, Deep Purple, Flying Colors and his solo and Steve Morse Band, he is able to play rock, metal, jazz, country and any other style he chooses... on this rocker he gets help from T. Lavitz [keys], Andy West [bass], Alan Sloan [violin] and Rod Morgenstein [drums]...
Vinnie Moore - Invader [Vicious Rumors -Soldiers Of The Night/1985] and Message In A Dream [Time Odyssey/1988]
Note... the actual video for "Invader" for some reason wouldn't come up so... Invader starts at 4:50 here...
Vinnie Moore is currently the guitarist for UFO and was part of the Shrapnel Records stable back in the 80's where all respectable shredders were corralled... He is an amazing guitarist that isn't that well known outside of the hard rock community... He played on Vicious Rumors 1985 album "Soldiers Of The Night" and began his solo work with "Mind's Eye" in 1986...
Genesis - Los Endos [A Trick Of The Tail/1976]
Essentially an instrumental recap of the songs on "A Trick Of The Tail", "Los Endos" closes the first album without original singer Peter Gabriel... Before Phil Collins took over they considered becoming an instrumental group... and yet over their career there were only a handful of actual instrumentals...
Deep Purple - "A" 200 [Burn/1974]
The closing track from 1974's "Burn"...the first record with the MKIII lineup including David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes... Great interplay between the late Jon Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore...
The Mob - Spaghetti Western [The Mob/2005]
Europe - Aphasia [Wings Of Tomorrow/1984]
Metallica - The Call Of Ktulu [RIde The Lightning/1984]
The Mob - Spaghetti Western [The Mob/2005]
The Mob put out one record in '05 and consisted of Winger/Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach, King's X bassist Dug Pinnick on vocals [Kip Winger played bass on the record...], Eagles/Whitesnake keyboardist Timothy Drury, and Night Ranger drummer Kelly Keagy... The song is a great showcase for Reb Beach...who never did an instrumental with Winger...
Europe - Aphasia [Wings Of Tomorrow/1984]
Before "The Final Countdown" and the puffy hair...Europe were [and are] a solid hard rock band...this is from the album before, titled "Wings Of Tomorrow" and features guitarist John Norum...
Metallica - The Call Of Ktulu [RIde The Lightning/1984]
When I polled my friends one of the first responses was from my sister-in-law Sarah...who put this near the top of her list... this is the last Metallica song to give writing credit to Dave Mustaine, and is titled after the H.P. Lovecraft story "The Call Of The Cthulhu"...
Def Leppard - Switch 625 [High 'n' Dry/1981] & Disintegrate [Euphoria/1999]
Steve Clark's "Switch 625" begins with the fade out of "Bringing On The Heartbreak"... and builds nicely into it's own track with Clark's guitar playing taking center... and the title means...nothing...according to Def Leppard's FAQ... "While designing the sleeve for "High 'n' Dry", the songs weren't finished yet. So, instead of putting existing song titles on it, fake ones were written down, including their time. One of those songs was called "Switch" lasting 6 minutes and 25 seconds. The band liked the way it looked on the sleeve: "Switch (6:25)". Since they didn't have a title for an instrumental song that Steve wrote, they used this title for it, including the numbers."...
After "Slang" failed to capture the market like it's previous releases...Def Leppard went back to the boards and came out with what could have been a legitimate follow up to "Adrenalize"... and on this record is this Phil Collen penned rocker...
Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Hoedown [Trilogy/1972]
Written by Aaron Copland, this instrumental is a showcase for keyboard player Keith Emerson [and it's played even faster on the live record "Welcome Back My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends... Ladies And Gentlemen: Emerson, Lake & Palmer"]...
Heaven & Earth -Dreams Of Desire [Heaven & Earth/1999]
Heaven & Earth is led by guitarist Stuart Smith, a contemporary of Ritchie Blackmore...so it's no surprise he took a classical piece [this time it's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring" by J.S. Bach] and arrange it for guitar... great performance by Smith, Howard Leese [strings], Richie Onori [drums], Marvin Sperling [bass] and Pat Regan [keys]...
Edward & Alex Van Halen - Respect The Wind [Twister Soundtrack/1996]
Triumph - Midsummer's Daydream [acoustic guitar - Rik Emmett] [Thunder Seven/1984]
Edward & Alex Van Halen - Respect The Wind [Twister Soundtrack/1996]
Written and performed by the brothers Van Halen, this track appears over the closing credits in the 1996 film "Twister"...It was nominated for the Best Rock Instrumental Grammy in 1997, but lost to "SRV Shuffle"...
Triumph - Midsummer's Daydream [acoustic guitar - Rik Emmett] [Thunder Seven/1984]
Finishing off our instrumental journey is the beautiful acoustic guitar solo from Rik Emmett of Triumph... He always did an acoustic number on [most] of the albums, and this is him at his best...
Thank You for indulging me...
New Releases... Coming Soon...To A Medium Near You!!...
Lindsey Stirling - Shatter Me
The sophomore follow-up for the violinist/performance artist... Great first record so anticipation is high for this one... [Lindseystomp Music] [Out 4/29]
Rush - ReDISCovered LP Box
Rush re-issues the vinyl version of their '74 debut on Moon Records with a box set of goodies including the album pressed on 200g, audiophile grade vinyl, from the original 1974 analog series masters, cut to copper plates using the Direct Metal Mastering [DMM] process at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. Also includes the original Moon Records jacket art, complete with the original MN-100-A/B Matrix etching, and will include a 16'x22' reproducction of the frist Rush promo poster, three 5'x7' lithographs of Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey, a 12'x12' Rush family tree poster and a digital download card for a free digital copy of this newly remastered release... [Mercury Records] [Out 4/29]
Red - Release The Panic Recalibrated
Red remix album with 6 tracks taken from "Release The Panic" and one new song "Run And Escape"... [Provident Records] [Out 4/29]
Edguy - Space Police - Defenders Of The Crown
Loved their last record "Age Of The Joker" so really looking forward to see what Tobias Sammet has up his sleeve for this German power metal band... [Nuclear Blast America] [Out 4/29]
Toto - 35th Anniversary Live In Poland
With a set packed with the hits Toto celebrate 35 years with a concert at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland... [Eagle Rock Entertainment] [Out 4/29]
The Winery Dogs - Dog Treats
The Winery Dogs reissue their outstanding 2013 debut with some bonus material... it's a 2 disc special addition where the second disc is live from their Japanese tour, a cd of demos from 2012 called "The Winery Pups", and a dvd of videos and band interviews. Also included are Mike Portnoy's in-studio diary from the making of the record, a custom Winery Dogs dog tag and chain, a custom Winery Dogs wine bottle topper and a custom embroidered Paw print logo patch... [Loud & Proud Records] [Out 4/29]
And Now...For This Week's Gratuitious 80's Hair-Metal Video...
Faster Pussycat - Poison Ivy
Summer weather hits here early in Florida...soooo... with life and work and kids this is going to be more sporadic over the next couple of months... Hope you enjoyed... See You Soon...
Thanks For Coming Along For The Ride...
J.
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