Well, after a rather hard and stressful week, I have just spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon reading a book and listening to Rainbow live in 1976. I feel a lot better.
As I never tire of saying, Dio- what a set of pipes on that lad. And as for Blackmore, at that stage he had reached that very rare level of probably being able to 'say' exactly what he wanted to on the guitar, when he wanted and how he wanted. A precious gift (see also Django, Beck, McLaughlin, Stevie Ray, Richard Thompson, Hendrix, and a few others).
That is all. Enjoy your Sunday.
Comments
The slightly silly lyrics which I might have found too embarrassing to admit to listening to in my twenties are now rather amusing and take me back to when I first heard them as a teenager .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've got the Live in Germany 1977 album too, but the 76 stuff is that little but more raw and aggressive.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
I saw hms smash one up at a Rainbow gig with Dio in the Capitol Cinema in Cardiff in 1977.
You could see run behind his stack to hide and and take off his proper guitar and sling on a smash-able piece of shit without a truss rod and then break the neck over a monitor.... then after the macho fun he went behind his stack and put his real guitar back on.
"My heart is leaving here", I think.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I've heard it mentioned more than once his stage volume using 200+ watt Marshall Majors at the time was colossal.
Definitely a player who created his own world on the instrument using some very basic ingredients?
Scalloped neck '70s (post CBS? you're kdding ?!) bullet truss rod Fender strat with bridge and neck pickups used only, into a tape machine being used to overload the preamp of his Marshalls that he'd wanted voiced to match his Vox AC30s...
He wanted the purity of the note to come out without the distortion?
That's before you come to his mastery of the instrument. Jaw dropping - and yet so very very melodic.
He has this thing of flicking back and forth on the pickup selector and constant fiddling with volume and tone knobs...
I think he's hugely underrated - I wonder if in part due to Malmsteen who took some of his basic ingredients and went on to do his thing with them (and that's not a diss on Malmsteen who is similarly incredible).
Cozy Epic, Dio is just Dio... Blackmore... still the only guitarist to lift the hairs on the back of my neck. And yes the Marshall Majors were brutal. There is a guy on youtube who does a fantastic cover of the Blackmore Made In Japan Tone on Majors. As close as you can get I reckon... check it out
1972 200W Marshall Major with "Ritchie Blackmore" Mods Sound Sample - YouTube
He has a ton of other Blackmore covers and really nails it... can play a bit obviously
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I love the videos of Blackmore around that period too- all the hand signals to the rhythm section to indicate when to come in, when to play out, when to come to the bridge etc. Total control.
@CaseOfAce There used to be rumours that he had the guts of AC30s put into Marshall heads. -Or maybe they were Marshall voiced as Voxes- either way the tone is phenomenal. The version of Man on the Silver Mountain on my live album is like the recorded version, and I think that's a Vox on the studio album.
By the way, the album I was listening to was Rainbow- Live in Germany, 1976 from 1990 on the Connoisseur Collection label.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein