I've loved this guy for years - his playing on Japanese hair metal legends Loudness's albums is absolutely peerless, some of the best you'll find on any 80s rock albums. I knew he used to use Marshalls and some kind of rack gear too IIRC, but hadn't been paying that much attention, and then all of a sudden up he pops on Friedman's website playing a Brown Eye!
It sounds fantastic for his playing - absolutely nails every last nuance of the sound I recognise from those old albums. The fatness is there but the top end sizzle is present and correct too - really brings out his squealy pinch harmonic-laden single-note playing.
Glad to see he's still rocking and sounding better than ever. He's basically Japan's equivalent of EVH - big big name over there as far as I'm aware, but quite under the radar in the west and deserves to be better known, because he's a monster of a player.
- "I'm going to write a very stiff letter. A VERY stiff letter. On cardboard."
Comments
They temporarily changed their name to Vow Wow in the mid '80s and Neil Murray from Whitesnake was in the band for a while. The album I remember there was (don't laugh) Beat Of Metal Motion.
Phew! That was a close one.
Anyway, one of the Loudness albums was the most played , people got very excited about it ( can’t remember which one unfortunately). Later on I bought a couple myself.
So, for a trip down memory lane I shall watch that YouTube clip
Vow Wow I saw at a record signing in Tower Records in London. I hadn't gone in for them but they were there. What I remember is Neil Murray being approximately three times as tall as the rest of the band.
Akira Takasaki, my first Japanese guitarist love, followed by hide from X Japan
Paul Gilbert and Akria did a bunch of stuff together that's pretty cool