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Topics - uwe

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436
The Outpost Cafe / Plugging Herr Halford ...
« on: July 15, 2009, 04:10:02 AM »
and his boys, shamelessly so, on their new outing:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ag8vCLrUo&feature=player_embedded

I like the way his ears have become even more pointed with age.  :mrgreen:

437
Today: Lexxi Foxx!!!  :rimshot: :rimshot: :rimshot:



Music teachers in Germany never looked like this!  :-\

438
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2tWsNqnfpk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egibson%2Ecom%2Fen%2Dus%2FLifestyle%2FNews%2Face%2Dfrehley%2D707%2F&feature=player_embedded


I didn't know that Ace has been playing bass with Judas Priest all these years either. Under the name of Ian Hill.


440
The Outpost Cafe / LA Hair Metal returns!
« on: June 25, 2009, 03:28:09 PM »
With Steel Panther:




441
The Outpost Cafe / Saw the Crüe yesterday ...
« on: June 24, 2009, 06:14:24 AM »
Cologne again, but this time Mötley Crüe, not The Eagles, you know how eclectic my musical tastes are!

Duff McKagan's Loaded opened and while their type of punkish power pop (chord-, rather than riff-oriented, tell me when did good riffs die out in rock music and rhythm guitar became a lead instrument for so many bands?  :-\ ) is not exactly my taste (hadn't heard any of it, not bad, just unoriginal, their take on The Stooges' I wanna be your dog was a highlight), Duff has a surprisingly tuneful, strong and clear voice. He's a simplistic rhythm guitarist (his weapon of choice in this solo project), but I liked it better when he strapped the Fender P down low at the end of the set (with the bass player playing rhythm guitar on a bow to the past: snatches of Paradise City), it just looks more natural to me. He's an amiable frontman thoroughly enjoying what he's doing, crowd response was friendly, no doubt people remember where he comes from.

Back to Nikki and his men. I have never seen them before and their studio albums (I only have the Conrabi one, the two CD Anthology and their latest) did not set me on fire in the eighties. Like with Ratt and a host of other L.A. metallists, I wondered what the buzz was about. My son has recently discovered eighties L.A. hair metal as God's gift to music and absolutely wanted to go, so on the eve of his 15th birthday we went.

But live they are a different proposition. I've rarely seen a fourpiece (with the singer only playing rhythm guitar on two or three songs) with as full and massive a sound. Mars' lead guitar can only be described as commanding. With his new-found scrarecrow meets Alice Cooper look, he plays both a dense riffing guitar and fires off solos, which are an interesting mix of blues roots, slide work, metal clichées of the worst kind, whammy bar acrobatics and plain white noise. Entertaining to watch and hear though his solo alone on stage could have been shorter without detriment to the evening's musical nutrition value. I now know that he has a fine-working echo gadget and that his guitar stays in tune even after the fiercest whammy yanking, thank you.

Nikki played his new signature model TBird throughout. On one song, where he played a couple of rock'n'roll lines, you could even hear a TB sound, otherwise he is one giant thud together with Tommy Lee's bass drum sound. I had expected Sixx to dominate the stage a bit more, but Mars swallowed up all my attention. Bassist or not, Nikki just doesn't play anything interesting ever! Lee, otoh, never fails to entertain, be it his flailing arms drumming, his silly, but likeable stage raps, his pleasant piano playing or his method acting in, errrm, adult home videos. (Mötley's backdrop film clips are interspersed with porn and fetish scenes, but always blurry and artsy enough to not have the prosecutor coming. Don't know whether Tommy contributed home scenes though.)

Vince. (Or should that be Wince?  :mrgreen:) He still sounds like Mickey Mouse o.d.'ed on helium/Geddy Lee kicked in the balls, but to his credit: his sqeals are as high (and largely in tune) as they used to be and he worked the audience hard. Better singers (formerly) are today in much worse shape than he is. And if the Crüe ever stop touring, he can always get a job doing credible voice-dubs for Speedy Gonzales in old WB cartoons. Practice that rrrrolling "r" on "Arriva, arriva!", Vince!   ;D

Good, honest concert.

Uwe

PS: Speaking of Crüe: I only found out today that Nigel Benjamin (the Mott singer who unenviably followed Hunter and whose work on "Drive On" and "Shouting and Pointing" is often - unjustly I think, the guy had both great range and an interesting Brit sneer - belittled like all of post-Hunter Mott's work) used to be with Nikki Sixx in London, the pre-outfit to Mötley Crüe?  :o :o :o I had no idea that he was washed up on the shores of the Pacific after Mott's punk revolution-induced demise. George, didn't you see London once in concert? With Nigel Benjamin? How was he? He states in a web bio that he was even slated to be the singer with Mötley, but declined the offer given his differences with Nikki.  

442
The Outpost Cafe / Saw The Eagles yesterday in Cologne ....
« on: June 18, 2009, 05:19:30 AM »
... and while they are probably justly regarded as the inventors of "corporate rock" it was an excellent gig.

I had expected somewhat soulless perfection and what I got was excellence with some real grit. Charmingly, someone even played the wrong chord for a couple of seconds early in the set and unsettled the others before he noticed his mistake, so it wasn't all from tape! The harmony vocals are still unearthly perfect, but judging from their individual lead vocals Frey, Henley, Schmitt and Walsh (all attired for the occasion in black suits, black ties and white shirts)



are all great singers and of course they have been doing it for decades. I didn't for even one moment have the feeling they might be using tapes.

Never having seen the Eagles before, I did not know how much Frey plays the master of the ceremonies and jokes ("a song from way back, when the Dead Sea was only just sick ..."), nor that Henley still plays as much drums live as he did yesterday (I had envisaged him playing more guitar). Tracks sung by Schmitt and Walsh are featured prominently, I'd say that if Frey and Henley sing each about 30% of the set, the remaining 40% is shared equally between Schmitt and Walsh. And somehow it all gels, Henley's overly earnest "I want to change the world for the better, but it is all going downhill, I'm a real depressive multi-millionaire", Frey's smooth crooning which is sometimes on the verge of a Las Vegas act (I love his voice and material though, I even listen to his solo albums), Schmitt's pitch-perfect singing (Frey: "He sings up high and plays down low.") located somewhere between ethereal and downright whimpy (guy could easily get a job with the Bee Gees) and Walsh's untutored rawness plus associated clowning (audience webcam on baseball hat, quips like "for those of you young enough, I apologize how your parents played this song to death ...").

Tickets were - the Eagles really invented expensive ticket pricing - expensive, but they did play for more than 2 1/2 hours (intermission taken into account).

They have three keyboarders, an additional guitarist (Stu Smith who probably plays more solos than Walsh as he does all the Don Felder work plus is Henley's sparring partner in writing, also co-produced the last album), another drummer/percussionist, a violinist plus a four man horn section (some of the horn arrangements reaching Blood, Sweat & Tears type intricacy, especially on the James Gang/Walsh solo chestnuts). I probably missed a couple of other sidemen. Sound was crystal-clear (four acoustic guitars or four electric guitars strumming on stage, yet you can pick out at least three of them at any given time), but with enough volume balls to not let you forget you were at a rock concert (and the last quarter of the concert was decidedly rockish, with duelling guitars and drums).

Instrumentally, Walsh is a great gutsy player (though Stu Smith probably has superior technique), his reputation as a slide player is deserved. I've always liked Henley's drumming/groove and was able to witness for the first time yesterday how good a rhythm guitarist Frey is (with lots of clever embellishments), he took just one lead solo during the concert and you could tell that there are other things he's more comfortable with. Schmitt is competent as a bass player (even a little solo at the end of Henley's masterpiece "Long Road out of Eden"), but I will forever prefer Randy Meisner's more upfront playing (Meisner's Take it to the Limit was sung by Frey well, but no one, not even Henley or Schmitt, dared to do those really ultra-high parts Meisner did on the studio version of the last chorus).

Pleasantly, they did not wallow only in the glory of their classics (no Long Run, Tequila Sunrise or Already Gone though), but also played five or six tracks from their recent album.

And finally it was a concert for guitar and bass enthusiasts as all of them would switch guitars (mostly Gibsons and PRS) from song to song (Schmitt playing mostly 5 and 4 string Jazz Basses) with Frey even playing a new Gibson Moderne on one song and Walsh doing some great slide work on a Ron Wood-type mirrored Duesenberg.

Uwe

444
Gibson Basses / Vintage Fever
« on: June 03, 2009, 12:44:57 PM »
Plugging the new (nicely done) white Gibson custom shop Epi Wilshire

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/presenting-wilshire-601/Default.aspx



Gibson have included a graph



documenting alleged value development of the Wilshire. Graphs like that are questionable by nature, but if it is only halfway right, then madness on the vintage market must have set in on a grand scale sometime in the nineties. Something to do with the drinking water I guess.

446
Gibson Basses / Martin Turner
« on: May 05, 2009, 12:48:29 PM »
As I write I have Martin Turner three feet before me on stage, white Tbird and all, at a tiny club near Frankfurt, playing all of Argus with Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash! Upfront in the mix with an Ashdown/Hartke bi-amping rig with 15 and 2x12 cabs, emulating a docile Ric sound and spoiling me with his melodic runs ... Am I lucky or what? These days he looks a bit like a mix between Martin Sheen and John Kerry, graciously aged and his voice fine ...

447
Gibson Basses / An acquired taste ...
« on: May 05, 2009, 07:58:26 AM »
"The result is a unique multi-dimensional look that reveals the beauty of the instrument’s finish while emphasizing historic Gibson style."

 :rolleyes:





http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/matchbox-twenty-bassist-427/

"Brian Yale was 13 when he had his first bass lesson — on a one-pickup Gibson SG-shaped EB-0. Late last year the bassist for mega-pop heroes Matchbox Twenty had a happy reunion.

“When the band stays in L.A., we’re two blocks from the Gibson Showroom,” he says. “I was always walking by, and one day I decided to stop in and I saw all these beautiful guitars, and I started purchasing a bunch of them.”

He started with a Custom Shop SG Standard Reissue VOS (Vintage Original Spec) and went from there. “I have an extensive instrument collection,” the one-time high-school band trumpeter explains, “because I believe that anything that inspires you to get excited about picking it up and playing music is worthwhile.”

Although Yale’s known for using high-tech basses during Matchbox Twenty’s 14-year career, on hits like “Bent,” “If You’re Gone,” “Unwell” and “How Far We’ve Come,” it didn’t take long for the historic lure of the classic Gibson look and sound to hit home for him.

“I bought the reissue SG Standard Bass,” Yale said. “It brought things full circle for me.” Not only to the shape of the first bass he held, but to the sounds of the classic rock he grew up on as a kid listening to radio in Connecticut during the ’80s. “The Beatles, the Doors, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Yes … that was what I was hearing before I was playing in bands, and what got me interested in playing rock and roll,” Yale says.

One of his favorite bass sounds belongs to Jefferson Airplane’s Jack Casady. “I’ve aimed for that big, flat-wound, heavy thudding sound on bass for a lot of my career, but,” Yale relates, “I’ve never owned a semi-hollow body.”

That changed when he added Epiphone’s Jack Casady signature model to his arsenal. The instrument’s special JCB-1 low-impedance pickups zero right in on that warm, natural tone.

But Yale’s current pride and joy is his Gibson USA sunburst Thunderbird IV, which he’s given some extra love.

“I’ve made some modifications to that bass to really make it mine,” he relates, “and it plays great and look beautiful.

“When I got it in December, I took off the pickguard to get a look at the kind of cavity that was underneath. I was surprised how pretty the lower horn that it covers looked in the sunburst. I wanted to bring more of that out. Plus, I wanted to replace the white pick guard, because they can be too distracting. A white pickguard brings your eyes right to it. All of my instruments have black pickguards.”

Except, now, for that T-bird. Yale contacted Gibson to request a clutch of vintage style pickguards, in black with a gold Thunderbird logo etched into their surface. He and a friend cut out the logo using a contour similar to the shape of the full-sized pickguard, and then set the golden bird beneath a clear acrylic pickguard replacement for the instrument’s original white guard. The result is a unique multi-dimensional look that reveals the beauty of the instrument’s finish while emphasizing historic Gibson style.

Yale also replaced the tuning pegs on his Thunderbird and his SG model with Hipshot Ultralights, which required filling in the SG peg holes a bit. “That reduced the weight of the headstocks, which improved the overall balance of the basses for me,” he says. Both instruments also got GB-7 Bass Xtenders, so they can be put in dropped D tuning with the flip of a switch.

“I’ve used dropped D on every album we’ve recorded,” Yale says. “I will play five-string, but I’m a devoted four-string bass player, so that’s how I lower my bottom string. D is a popular key for our singer, so I’ve recorded many, many songs in dropped D.”

Yale has yet to take his Thunderbird, SG and Jack Casady Epiphone basses into the studio, but he’s putting them through their paces while Matchbox Twenty is on hiatus.

“My plan is to go old-school with these instruments on our next recordings,” he says.

As part of that effort, he’s also worked on his plectrum style. “I’ve never played with a pick on any of our albums, and I’m using a pick with the Thunderbird especially,” Yale says. “It’s giving me a tone I’ve never used. That sound is what enamored me recently about Kings of Leon. Jared Followill uses a pick with his Thunderbird bass.”

Yale’s discovered that while using a pick he can sing harmonies, which he’d never been able to do while finger-picking his bass. “I don’t know why, but it’s much easier,” he allows, “so now I can sing harmony when the band plays live.”

So what’s next on his Gibson wish list?

“I’ve got a Gibson A-9 mandolin coming in the mail,” he says excitedly. “I’ve been playing mandolin for the last six months. On the last album mandolin was featured more prominently, and it’s on a few singles. When I work on new instruments — I’ve also been playing lap steel and acoustic guitar lately — I learn parts from our songs so I can perform them with the band. So my goal is to learn those mandolin parts well enough to play them live.”


448
The Outpost Cafe / Pet Love gone too far!!!
« on: April 30, 2009, 11:11:21 AM »
A pic from Mexico City ...


449
The Outpost Cafe / Grandmaster Flight Attendant
« on: April 30, 2009, 10:15:42 AM »


Terry, don't spoil it about how you don't like rap!

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