| Six String Greats
Four favourite often-forgotten fallen fret masters.
The first wave of British blues rock guitarists,
Clapton, Green, Beck and Taylor all had one thing in common, they
each had an individual tone, regardless of their speed and dexterity,
a certain timbre that made them instantly recognisable. Add to that
list Paul Kossoff whose melodic, slow, flowing bluesy style and
economy of technique gave Free their signature sound, counter-pointing
the often blustery vocals of Paul Rodgers. The band were together
for four years on and off, producing six smouldering butch blues
rock albums, distinguished by his serpentine style. They had the
massive hit It’s Alright Now powered by his crunching chords,
at the band’s zenith in 1970 they played The Isle Of Wight
Festival, before Paul’s drug habit saw him becoming erratic
and unreliable, forcing him out of the band. He almost joined The
Stones and Jethro Tull but quickly released Back Street Crawler,
the first of his three solo albums, featuring his old band members
and his shimmering six string sound stretching out on more extended
pieces. But he was dogged by his addiction, went into rehab and
died at the age of 25 of a drug-induced heart attack in a plane
midway over the Atlantic Ocean. It was a cruel and sudden death
of an expressive guitarist who had barely begun to explore his potential.
Ex P-Funkers George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and
Bernie Worrell still record and tour the world, but sadly the guitarist
whose post-Hendrixian funk metal guitar graced three of the classic
Funkadelic albums, Eddie Hazel died of drug related causes in 1992.
I still recall the first time that I heard the title track of the
band’s second album Maggot Brain and being transfixed by the
stinging psychedelic infused guitar that extended wave after wave
of emotionally engaging climaxes over its epic 10 minute journey.
Sadly after that creative peak his presence became more intermittent
thanks to a drug problem that saw him sacked from the band after
three records and then to be re-hired for a brief and spectacular
return. Thankfully in 1977 Clinton bankrolled an Eddie Hazel solo
album featuring several P-Funk alumni, Games Dames And Guitar Things
that consisted of extended jams on covers like She’s So Heavy
and original material that showcased his prototypical funk-metal
lyrical style. He continued on with Clinton but made fewer and fewer
contributions before his death. J.Mascis had the courage to cover
Maggot Brain and hopefully draw attention to a virtually forgotten
virtuoso.
Before his death at the age of 25, Tommy Bolin
had recorded two blues/rock albums with a local band, played spectacularly
on Billy Cobham’s jazz-fusion debut album Spectrum, replaced
Joe Walsh in The James Gang for two albums, joined Deep Purple for
Come Taste The Band album and tour and recorded two solo albums
that demonstrated his remarkable stylistic mastery of funk, jazz,
blues and metal. Quite a track record for someone who also had a
death-wish attitude drug habit that led to his eventual OD after
opening for Jeff Beck in 1976.
Describing himself as a saxophonist who played guitar, Sonny Sharrock’s
radical distortion and feedback-drenched free jazz and pre-post-rock
skronk was as revolutionary as Hendrix. He made his recorded debut
next to saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders, matching him screech for screech
and blurt for blurt for a couple of albums before debuting under
his own name in 1969 with two albums with the equally as adventurous
vocals of his wife. Then he contributed his searing high energy
guitar to Miles Davis’ classic crossover album Tribute To
Jack Johnson, before languishing in obscurity for several years.
In 1986 he joined the intimidating free jazz band Last Exit, who
never rehearsed and just improvised live. No one before or since
played guitar with such visceral energy and invention than Shorrock
did on their recordings. He then recorded a series of exploratory
solo and band records before re-uniting with Sanders in 1991 for
the album Ask The Ages , one of the truly greatest guitar albums
ever. His palette of sounds, dazzling technique and emotional range
and flexibility of style was outstanding. He died of a heart attack
in 1994 at the age of 54. A true original.
back
to top
|
