Guitar World: 100 best solos

nice to see three days making the list. how i love that song

 

I may have scrolled too fast, but am I really not seeing any Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley?

 

I saw ONE Chuck Berry.

 

Oh yeah, that is a great, great solo. Especially the way it wraps up -- crazy sound.

Hits on the list:

David Gilmour's solos on "Time" and "Money." A guitarist friend of mine once explained to me the concept of the juice note, the wailing tone that makes everybody in the crowd do the G.E. Smith guitar face. Those songs have about four or five juice notes apiece.

Eddie Hazel on Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain." The whole "Maggot Brain" album is so incredible, it's too bad Hazel has never been recognized as one of rock's great guitar players. "Maggot Brain" doesn't have a solo -- it IS a solo, for 10-and-a-half minutes.

Larry Carlton on Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne." Ordinarly he's a lame-ass smooth jazz snoozer, but his solo burns and really fits the feel of the song. It's my favorite Steely Dan solo. No, maybe it's the one on "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."

Mick Ronson on David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream." Very trippy.

Neil Young on "Cinnamon Girl." Only Neil could pull off the one-note guitar solo.

Misses:

Alex Lifeson, "Working Man." That's his best work? I'd put "La Villa Strangiato," "Analog Kid" and "Red Barchetta," at least, above that solo. Maybe it's in there because it's engagingly sloppy. Oh, I'd put "Jacob's Ladder" above it, too. (Jack Black sang that solo in "High Fidelity.")

Nothing by Richard Thompson? I'd rank "Man in Need" highest. It's the best fit between solo and song I've ever heard.

I'd add Greg Horn on Dow Jones and the Industrials' "It Ain't Good Enough," but it's a hard track to find. Think Reeves Gabrels, with piss, vinegar and soul.

And did my eyes deceive me, or was Ernie Isley's solo on "That Lady" not on the list?

One more -- worst guitar solo of all-time has to be "Animal," the Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Vinnie wanks away the whole song. The end is him speed-riffing, while the rest of the band checks out. Literally -- they just stop playing, and Vinnie is unaware and continues shredding away, fading out. I'm imagining everyone leaving in disgust (there goes Vinnie again), the engineer staying for a little extra time, then turning down the volume and walking out, figuring Vinnie was too involved with himself to notice.

 

I'm listening to it now, and I don't think of that song as having a guitar solo. I guess it depends upon your definition. I love the song; I just never considered that a real solo. Amazing guitar work, yes. Solo? Not in the traditional sense.

Listening again, I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise ...

 

Another long-time fave:

Micke Bloomfield's slide wail on the Paul Butterfield Blues band version of "Shake Your Money Maker".

 

Oh, Yeah!

Great post, Mr. Cook. What about the solo on " Bodhisattva"?

 

I'm not going to quibble with a subjective list, except to say that it's curious that in this time the selections are limited to one medium, studio recordings for the most part but album/CD releases certainly, ignoring the plethora of video/DVD releases of concert footage. For instance, while I found some of the Clapton selections curious given his extensive body of work, it would be hard to omit the footage of his solos on "Old Love" from the Hyde Park concert:

And the only Dire Straits tune is "Sultans of Swing"? I actually heard an interview recently in which Knopfler was asked why he didn't go for an extended solo on the original recording. At any rate, his studio solos on "Tunnel of Love" were far more moving, but there are recordings of live performances available in which he really shows what he can do.

 

I love Stranglehold's solo. In my books it could have been ranked higher, but I'm happy it's in the first half.

 

"Tear-Stained Letter," "Wall of Death," "She Twists the Knife Again," and of course, "Sloth," from Fairport Convention -- 9 minutes of lightning-bolt guitar/violin duelling solos.

The Beatles' best guitar solos: "Taxman," played by Paul McCartney; "Let It Be" (alternate versions with the solos played by Lennon and Harrison) and "Helter Skelter" (all three in chaotic order).

Springsteen isn't renowned as an axeman, but "Adam Raised A Cain," "Badlands", "The Rising" and "Worlds Apart" stand up pretty well.

The list also completely omitted anything by U2. "Bullet The Blue Sky" for starters.

 

I wrote a paper on Steely Dan for a high school music appreciation class and I found two different magazine articles where Jimmy Page said his favorite solos of all time were on "MY Old School" and "Reelin' in the Years" by Denny Dias (sp?) when he worked with Steely Dan. Those remain two of my all-time favorites.
How about the torrid solos by the Smithereens' Jim Babjak on Girl Like You and Blood and Roses?

 

Teen Spirit has a solo, but like most of Kurt's guitar work, it's mediocre at best. I'm not sure why people think it's so vital to make him out to be a great guitarist. He wasn't. He wrote amazing songs, but he was a mediocre musician.