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Friday, July 01, 2005

They call it Arbitrary Friday

Today’s arbitary-but-fun judgment has to do with brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.  And my examples are all drawn from the 1970s, not because I’m 43 years old (that has nothing to do with anything) but because the 1970s were the great decade of brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.  After all, it’s not like you’re going to hear brilliant guitar solos on songs that suck from bands like Sonic Youth or Archers of Loaf, right?  No, for brilliant guitar solos on songs that suck, we have to go to. . . .

3.  Steely Dan, “Kings.” Solo, Elliot Randall.

Everybody loves Randall’s work on “Reelin’ in the Years,” and with good reason: the song flies off the radio/ turntable/ CD just as stunningly today as it did 33 years ago.  (One of these days I’ll post something about the oldies/ classics that are still in circulation on oldies/ classics radio, and the oldies/ classics we’re apparently pretending we never listened to.) But Steely Dan’s B-material can get pretty thin, and “Kings” is definitely B-material.  And yet the solo is even more amazing than anything else on the album, with the possible exception of Denny Dias’s electric sitar solo on “Do It Again,” and that’s saying something.  A generation later, some have still not forgiven Becker and Fagen for creating a whole new venue for bloodless virtuosity, and some have even blamed their late-70s work for helping to create the genre of smooth jazz.  But we should give them credit where credit is due, for turning loose some remarkable musicians and giving us brilliant guitar solos in songs that suck.

2.  Eddie Money, “Two Tickets to Paradise.” Solo, Jimmy Lyon.

What can I say about “Two Tickets to Paradise” that hasn’t already been said by Homer Simpson’s rendition of the song in “Homer Loves Flanders”?  Not much, except that someone really ought to inform Wikipedia that the musician in question is guitarist Jimmy Lyon, not jazz saxophonist Jimmy Lyons.  (Janet gets this all the time, believe you me.) Great phrasing throughout, and unlike Martin Barre’s otherwise-similar solo in Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” (a song that just missed the final cut for this list), each part of Lyon’s solo builds on what’s come before, and the piece as a whole winds up being surprisingly crafty for a cock-rock song.  The only problem is that the solo ends, and then we’re back to Eddie Money.  But that leads me to. . . .

1.  The Carpenters, “Goodbye to Love.” Solo, Tony Peluso.

Richard Carpenter himself calls this solo “one of the best in recording history,” and we’re not going to argue with that.  All we’re going to add is that the song really sucks.  In fact, the disparity between the song and the solo is so severe that Janet once said, “hearing this solo is like opening the wrong door—oops!  sorry!  looking for someone else!  don’t mind me!” What’s really unsettling is that after the first fuzzy burst of Peluso’s guitar (after the line in the second chorus, “I’ll go on as best I can"), the song returns you to Carpenterland, with the lush layered vocals and the extra dollops of heavy syrup.  What lies in the future is a mystery to us all. . . . But then, unlike “Two Tickets,” there’s a special surprise bonus:  the song rides out to no fewer than four verses worth of wailin’, kick-ass, jawdropping work from Peluso.  Amazing in every way.  But don’t take my word for it—take Steve Rubio’s word for it.  He was blogging about the Peluso Phenomenon back before I even had a blog.  “The most truly uplifting thing that ever appeared on a Carpenters record,” says Steve.  “It suggests that anything is possible.” A welcome thought in dark times, Steve.  And thank you, Mr. Peluso, for suggesting that anything is possible, even—or especially—in “Goodbye to Love.”

Have a great Fourth, all.

Posted by Michael on 07/01 at 06:09 AM
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