5 NOTABLE NON-ROCK BAND BITS OF ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYING

James Bond Theme

British guitarist Vic Flick is the guy who provided the tension-filled twang that became the prototypical spy riff. Devised for the first Bond film ‘Dr. No’ in 1962, it fits in well with the Dick Dale-style picking of that era.

There’s some controversy regarding who wrote it. The tune is credited to Monty Norman, who was hired to do the full soundtrack. Norman was replaced by John Barry, who went on to become one of the great film composers. Norman has successfully sued anyone who questioned his authorship of the number, but there has been speculation that Barry touched it up somewhere along the line. (A couple of Barry’s other Bond melodies - ‘You Only Live Twice’ and ‘Diamonds are Forever’ - have been sampled in hits by Robbie Williams and Kanye West).

Rockford Files Theme Guitar Solo

A terrific television theme with a badass hard rock guitar breakdown in the middle. The guitar part has a very 1970’s Southern California feel to it, a bit like an Eagles sound, except with some real muscle. Mike Post composed the theme, but I don’t know who the guitarist is.

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The guitar takes over from the main theme about 16 bars into this tour de force movie piece. It adds a fitting toughness to the sound, and brings the melody to a climax.

Performed in 1966, presumably by some session player in the employ of composer Ennio Morricone, it features the reverb-soaked picking that characterized the surf guitar sound.

Spiderman Theme

Listen carefully and you can hear some groovy 16th note guitar doubling up the bass line. It really gives a superb tune some added zest. It sounds like the guitarist is palm-muting the strings a bit to help it mesh with the bass. A blend of taste and panache.

Exciter Boy Theme

Excellent Eastern-influenced pseudo-psychedelic wah-wah guitar refrain composed for short-lived British animated kids show. (Note that the voice of Exciter Boy nemisis Ivory Stinger was performed by Pallenbergs guitarist/vocalist Una Kahani).

5 Underrated Bass Players of Yore (and not so Yore).

Cliff Williams - AC/DC

I have often thought that Cliff Williams has one of the best jobs in the world. Stand to the left of the drum riser and hammer on a few notes per song while observing the onstage antics of your frontman and guitar player and delighting in the erstwhile female top-removal. Occasionally you walk up to the mic to shout “Hell’s Bells!” or some such thing, then head back to your post.

While Phil Rudd, Williams’ rhythm section partner, has come in for some accolades over the years for his unadorned grooves, Williams remains unappreciated. I love the sound of the 8th note bassline. I can’t hear it enough.

Adam Clayton - U2

Another 8th note man, Clayton varies things a bit more than Williams but still keeps it simple. Apparently a young Clayton bluffed his way into U2, having told the others he was a musician when in fact he had never played a note. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.

It’s notable that Clayton started as one of rock’s most unglamorous cliches--that of the kid shoved onto bass because he couldn’t play anything else--and has transformed himself into the coolest member of the band. An inspirational example for you kids out there.

Bill Wyman - Rolling Stones.

Wyman seems to have gotten into the Stones on the basis of being well-stocked in guitar amps, and thereafter was merely tolerated by his younger, hipper bandmates (the equally un-badass Charlie Watts has always seemed to command a level of respect that eluded Wyman).

In later Stones recordings he delivered a lot of prominent, high-on-the-fretboard basslines (‘Miss You,’ ‘Undercover’), but it’s the earlier stuff I like better. On songs like ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ or ‘Satisfaction,’ the bass often has a murky quality to it, adding something dark to the general feel of the song, but surging forward every now-and-then to provide some real dynamics. (Note that many of the more prominent Stones basslines of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, such as ‘Jumpin' Jack Flash,' Sympathy For the Devil’ and ‘Tumblin Dice,’ were supplied by Keith Richards or Mick Taylor).

Paul McCartney - The Beatles.

It’s hard to think of Paul McCartney as being under-rated, yet has he really ever gotten his due from an instrumental perspective? Right from the early Beatlemania days his playing provided a lot of pulse and backbone, and he was always capable of some ear-catching departures (‘Taxman’). Seen as the melodious pretty boy of the band, he plays with a lot more swagger than given credit for.

Alejandro de Malaspina - Huxley

Huxley is one of the more interesting ‘could’ve been’ bands to emerge with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Their first bassist, John Altamont, left shortly before recording commenced on the band’s debut album because of repeated clashes with some of the group’s more intractable personalities.

Initially the band’s driver, De Malaspina (credited on the album as ‘Aljoz’) was recruited hastily. An alleged illegal resident of Great Britain at the time, he had apparently never played an instrument before. This may account for why the bottom end is at times brought to almost inaudible levels in the mix.

And yet it’s presence is makes itself known in a solid, reliable way, asserting itself occasionally in what is something of a metal version of the Bill Wyman style I mentioned earlier.

Forty years ago today (or yesterday, in Britain), The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper.

"With Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band finished, the group left Abbey Road at dawn bearing an acetate and drove to Mama Cass Elliott's flat off the King's Road where, at six in the morning, they threw open the windows, put speakers on the ledge, and played the album full blast over the rooftops of Chelsea. According to Derek Taylor (The Beatle's publicity man) 'all the windows around us opened and people leaned out, wondering. It was obvious who it was on the record. Nobody complained. A lovely spring morning. People were smiling and giving the thumbs up.'"

Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head.

Lame.

"There was a brief moment when it looked like Brock might smash his guitar on the stage (but instead, he put it on the ground after tossing it around from its strap)."

Either smash the thing or don't take it off at all. You can't go halfway with these things. Can you imagine Townshend in 1966 making ready to smash the guitar, then carefully putting it on the floor? Or how about the front cover of 'London Calling,' Paul Simonon placing his guitar 'on the ground.' What an iconic image that would've been.

"I got to introduce Sally Struthers to Geddy Lee!"

"In front of packs of shrieking cougars, the band took to the stage..."

How come there are never any shrieking cougars at the Supper Show?

"Climbing up the ivory stairs
Never gonna get anywhere
Slipping on the first step, can't get a good grip
Climbing up the ivory stairs."

But I don't mind staying on the first step, because I can list the great Angel City among my myspace friends.

Maybe I do want to face the day after all...

"The beautiful guitar riffs are worth listening to."

"...cute, catchy guitar riffs..."

"...nice guitar work..."

From a review of 21TR’s Never Wanted to be Anyone in the University of Western Ontario Gazette. Electric guitar by, er, yours truly. Among the best commendations I've ever received from any academic institution. (And I'm not forgetting the nice accoustic work of Super Robertson, though he remains tormented by string buzz audible only to himself).

A belated slainte mhath in honour of Robert Burns. He was known as a poet but was an avid songwriter as well.

And I have to mention Mick Taylor's birthday as well, back on the 17th of January.

And finally, it had to happen some time.

I'm a fan of pulp novels.

Not that I read a lot of them; I just like the covers.

I embarked on a little project a few years ago, wherein I would write a trilogy of songs named after pulp novels.

"Love Addict" and "Hotrod Sinner" appear on the second stoke album, and I've just finished "Reefer Girl". I hope to debut it sometime soon.

I don't necessarily think the lyrical content of these songs is pulpish; like most of my stuff they generally have some personal angle. But the notion of dressing lyrics in the ambience of something so retro and rock 'n' roll appeals to me.

I'd like to write a pulpish novel someday. My only fear is that it would be too lurid.

Having crawled like a spider into a jar, the question is how to get out? On one hand it appears hopeless; the spider can't scale the glass. The spider is reliant on someone letting it out, or on the jar getting knocked over. So the next question becomes: where is the jar?

Is it where someone will see it? Who will see it? A pet, a child? Is it outside, where the wind can blow it over? The spider doesn't know the answer. It has no perspective. But this is where I have an advantage over the spider. In a sense, though trapped in the jar, I can move it where I like. I need to place it where it will be knocked over.

"The world turns within us,
While we transform it,
Fancy words, but true."

George Bowering.

And the thing is, whoever knocks it over will possibly be either very reckless or will possess questionable intentions. They won't necessarily be someone wanting merely to give you your freedom.

But they're your ally nonetheless, at least until you're out.