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Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Andy Timmons - Ear X-tacy


Artist: Andy Timmons
Album: Ear X-tacy
Genre: Shred, Guitar Instrumental, Guitar Virtuoso
Year: 1995
Format: mp3 128 kbps
Tracklist:
1. There Are No Words (3:46)
2. Carpe Diem (4:00)
3. Turn Away (4:14)
4. Remember Stevie (5:19)
5. Cry For You (6:57)
6. Farmer Sez (1:47)
7. Electric Gypsy (4:35)
8. I Have No Idea (5:37)
9. This Time For Sure (1:53)
10. It's Getting Better (4:44)
11. Hiroshima (Pray For Peace) (6:17)
12. No More Goodbyes (5:21)
13. Bust A Soda (3:53)


Download #1

Diego Stocco's Bassoforte


I stole this video from the MuZicoSphere blog - sorry Sémi, it's just too good and I couldn't not show it here!

It makes me feel positive about mankind to know that this guy, Diego Stocco, can conceive, build and play this instrument, compose good music, record and shoot himself, edit and mix and offer his work on the Internet... Poor Lady Gaga who has to pretend she's a musician and release muzak for morons just to show her clothes!

bertram


: Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Jeff Kollman Band - Bleeding The Soul


Artist: Jeff Kollman Band
Album: Bleeding The Soul
Genre: Rock
Year: 2004
Format: mp3, 192 kbps
Tracklist:
1. Never Gonna Get It (3:24)
2. By Myself (4:34)
3. Stupid Little Girl (4:42)
4. Can't Let You Go (4:44)
5. Tearing (4:52)
6. Crowd Of None (5:31)
7. God Save Me (4:23)
8. You Lied (6:18)
9. Luv Song (5:57)
10. Whisper My Fate (4:30)

Download #2

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Jeff Kollman - Into The Unknown


Artist: Jeff Kollman
Album: Into The Unknown
Genre: Instrumental Guitar, Electric Fusion, Instrumental Rock
Year: 1995
Tracklist:
1. Feel The Changes (3:59)
2. Homage To Orf (1:55)
3. Battle Scars (3:56)
4. Into The Unknown (1:28)
5. Veallkut (2:23)
6. Dreamin' In Lydian (3:26)
7. Sole Searching (2:59)
8. Playa De Guitar (3:44)
9. Memories Of Jenkins (3:34)
10. A Thousand Faces (5:44)
11. The Test Continues (4:02)
12. Turnaround (3:19)
13. Lester's Shuffle (3:10)
14. Neo '80s Mumbo Jumbo (1:36)


Into The Unknown features fourteen awesome cuts of instrumental hard rock, shred and fusion axework that spotlights Jeff Kollman's talent like no other recorded work to date. Fist-pumpers such as "The Test Continues" and "Battle Scars" alternate with extended preludes such as "Homage To Orf" and the title track, as Kollman serves notice that he is a fiery player to be reckoned with. The CD also features touches of classical and jazz in spots. Kollman is a very versatile guitarist with a powerful sound and style and he manages to strike just the right balance between chops and songwriting. Into The Unknown also includes the heavyweight rhythm section of Kevin Chown on bass and brother Tommy Kollman on drums.

Download #1
Download #2

Breyer Hermanos 1910 11-string classical

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We've looked at many vintage guitars on this blog, but this one is positively antique. It is a 100-year old 11-string classical guitar by Breyer Hermanos, who - according to HarpGuitars.net - were a publisher of tango sheet music and also a music store in Buenos Aires. I wonder if they had their own luthier or if they simply applied their brand name to guitars from other manufacturers? I have no idea how this is tuned or how it should be played. Two of the five additional strings are over the fingerboard and so could be fretted but the other three are off the edge of the neck itself, so technically you could say that this was a harp guitar.

The additional strings seem to have been strung up to the machine heads in a rather bizarre order, as the photo below shows. Whether there is a good reason for this, I do not know. Note also that there are in fact 12 machine heads even though it is an 11-string instrument. The maker must have been striving for symmetry, despite the fact that the headstock already looks lop-sided against the neck with the three harp strings hanging off the edge.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Jeff Kollman - Schizoid



Artist: Jeff Kollman
Album: Schizoid
Year: 1990
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Tracklist
1. Over The Edge (3:11)
2. The Mystery (3:34)
3. What A Relief (3:46)
4. Birdweed's Treat (0:26)
5. Phases Of Emotion (4:43)
6. Schozoid (3:20)
7. Broken Bonz (4:29)
8. Remember The Alamo (2:29)
9. The Moment (0:53)
10. Detriot Monster Blues (3:57)
11. Supersonic Suzy (3:05)
12. The Darker Side Of Life (3:02)


Download #1
Download #2

Tenacious D "Brute Legend" guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

When you consider the facts, you might think this guitar doesn't have a lot going for it.

It's inspired not only by Jack Black's comedy metal act Tenacious D, but also by a computer game called "Brute Legend". (And let's not dwell too long on the subject of computer games. G****r H**o and the like are very much a tabboo topic on this blog).

But you know what? I quite like it. It's obviously informed by the Flying V, but I like the shape, the carving, the colour of the timber. As a design - even for comedy purposes - it is quite aesthetically pleasing.

Apparently the Brutal Legend Promo 'Love Giver' Guitar - as it is named in the eBay listing - is from a strictly limited run of guitars that were given away as prizes by EA Games. Or something. (I need a teenager to translate, I think. I know nothing about computer games and care even less). I'm not sure who actually built this guitar or how many were made. If anyone can furnish us with this information, please use the comments below.

Of course, this isn't the first computer games-inspired guitar we've looked at. There was the ridiculously named and cartoon-like Fernandes Um Jammer Lammy, not to mention a Sonic The Hedgehog guitar (did anyone seriously think that character looked even remotely like a hedgehog?).

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Acrylic body telecaster

acrylic telecaster

I like series, so here comes another Telecaster, not a Fender though (what I like with the Telacaster, is that like the moka pot or the skate board, it's a constructivist mix of design and technology, so obvious now that it belongs to everybody...), but a made-in-China cheapo (this is not meant to be derogatory, you know my feeling about this...)

Can't tell about the quality of its making or its sound, but this acrylic body tele by Galveston is really good looking, that's a gift I would make to a beginner guitarist!


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

90 Minutes Belew Freezing

I received a very kind and generous offer to see Adrian Belew last week at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan. It was an opportunity to meet someone I had been doing business with via phone & email for over a year so I was looking forward to the evening on two levels.

I arrived a bit early and would-up baby-sitting the reserved table for about 30 minutes. This gave me a chance to do my usual survey of the surroundings. Joe’s pub is a really nice place to see live music; intimate, but not tiny and very hip atmosphere. I did notice that about every seven minutes, the 4/5/6 subway runs right below the venue and not only can you feel it, but little waves formulate in your drink. I couldn’t quite figure out if the sound of the subway was an “A” or “G”… but I think it was around there. (Yes, I actually try to figure out what notes things are… it’s a personality quirk. I’m not particularly good at it, but I struggle to not do it most of the time.)

It was about now that I really noticed how cold it was in the venue. As it was incredibly hot out all day, this was welcome and refreshing.

My friend showed up with his wife and we had a chance to meet in person and talk a bit before the show started. It went great and it was a real pleasure to finally put the face to the name. He and his wife are big fans of all things guitar, so the conversation took off like a Saturn V rocket.

Out of the blue, there was a surreal loop of music that seemed to come from everywhere. The refreshing cold was starting to feel less refreshing and I found myself counting my goose-bumps, but it was kind of an interesting background to the loop...kind of like visiting Santa's Shop at the North Pole, while peaking on acid. Finally, Adrian Belew walked out to a warm and generous applause. He immediately kicked into a riff and within seconds had sampled it, looped it, built some more complimentary riffs on top if it, and then was singing the melody.

At first I thought to myself: “Well, this is pretty much what I expected: loops, layers of loops, and then melodies on tops of the loops… I mean what else can one guitarist do for two hours….?” But as he moved into the second and third songs, Adrian wove a tapestry of rhythms and sounds that was quite interesting. After about five or six songs, he had a Q&A session. It was pretty cool to see die-hard fans so excited as they were able to ask him about things they were interested in. There were questions about his audition with Zappa’s band (his answer included a great story about a five year old Dweezil giving him the finger as he rode around on his tricycle), King Crimson, Bowie, Fripp… all good stuff and he was very gracious about answering a few zany questions.

The waitress asked me if I wanted another Coke. I said “Sure, but no ice this time please…. man is it cold in here…” She brought me my Coke, but could offer no remedy for the cold.

Back to the music, and there was plenty of it. He was using the Adrian Belew Signature Fly and it was impressive. At one point there seemed to be two tunings in use at the same time. I’m usually pretty good at deciphering this kinda stuff, but I must admit, I couldn’t quite figure out how he did it. My only guess is that he was able to route the output of each string individually and use pitch shifting to create a custom tuning scheme, while blending in standard tuning.

Now I am starting to shiver: “… man, it’s friggin’ cold in here!”

One of the last songs was a piece that was building very nicely; he had created some layered loops and was doing this east-Indian-flavored solo that was just awesome. Right at the climax point of his solo, there was a series of sub-sonic tones that was so low; it felt like it was coming from under the building. I It was as if three accompanists had hit their low “B” strings on their five-string-basses at the same time… I could not figure out how he could make a sound that low.

“..holy Crap!” I thought to myself “….that’s the subway!..”

It was such perfect timing…. a random accompaniment from a NYC subway train that was totally a part of the music (I still can’t figure out if it was a fourth or a fifth below what he was doing, but it was in tune with the song). It was the first time in the whole night that I completely forgot that I was freezing cold…. While being totally random, it was one of those moments when you really get what an artist is shooting for. I was smelling the spores, drinking the cool-aid and a renewed fan for sure.

Summary: I first saw Adrian Belew in college in 1983 in a park filled with about college 3,000 students. It was very (very) hot out that day. I remember well because he spent a lot of time tuning between songs and commented on it often, saying that the heat was a “bit of a problem”. It’s funny how 27 years later, in a freezing cold room, the temperature was no problem. Of course, a big reason for that is the very well made guitar that he was using this evening vs. the guitar he used back then. I don’t remember too much else about that first Adrian Belew show as I was, uh… well, in a very “Celebratory” state that day. It was a much different experience last week at Joe’s pub. I was more tuned in to every subtlety of what he was doing. What made it so much fun is that at times, I could not keep up; both rhythmically and harmonically, he was wondering into some pretty odd parts of town that in moments, were over my head, even when I quietly tried to tap the quarter note on my leg… a few times, I lost the beat.

A nice icing on the cake was that my friend and his wife knew Adrian quite well. I went back stage with them as they wanted to say hello. It was great to see what an incredibly nice, humble and down-to-earth guy he was. They made plans to meet up later and off we went to have some drinks. It had been a long day for me and had to get some sleep, so I was not able to join my friends as they meet up with Adrian. It would have been interesting to meet him personally and have the chance to talk shop. But as they headed off to join him, I had to say goodbye, and wandered out into the night, going over in my mind, the many moments in the show that I had really enjoyed.

Ironically, as I walked along 8th street towards Broadway and then 6th avenue, I had to laugh out loud: I was so happy to be back in the sweltering New York City heat!

Have a great week,

Kevin

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Fender Telecoustic Paisley

fender telecoustic paisley

2 Fender guitars in less than one week?! Things are not what they used to be...

Actually this Fender Telecoustic Paisley is there only on its aesthetics, the Telecoustic models - an electro-acoustic version of the Telecaster - have quite a bad reputation when it comes to sound and music ; but the paisley finish is superb, I my opinion better than the solid body version.

To be honest it would be perfect on a shirt - I've been looking for a paisley shirt for months now, Pink Floyd 1967 style, and you can't find this anymore in continental Europe - do you still have this in the UK?


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

What's with the weird frets?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This lute-like round-backed instrument is an interesting one (the seller suggests it may be called a "prim").

Obviously it has a few parts missing such as the bridge and tailpiece, and it isn't strung up, but it appears it would be a 4-string instrument.

What is rather intriguing is the bizarre arrangement of the frets. Does anyone out there know how this would be tuned and/or played?

Thanks to David Brown for bringing this instrument to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Friday, June 25, 2010

1964 Res-O-Glas Supro Airline

airline supro

After showing the Eastwood wooden reissue and the Res-O-Glas kits, I couldn't not show the original model - a 1964 Supro Airline. The logo on the headstock is not genuine though everything else is - someone strangely wanted to emphasize the authenticity of the guitar by modifying it! The pickups are not humbuckers but large singlecoils and of course, the body is made of glass-fiber.

If you think of it, having only the volume knob under the strings makes sense, that's the only one you want to reach quickly while playing, without risking to mistake it with the other ones, that require more careful use...

bertram


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Jeff Kollman - Guitar Screams Live


Artist: Jeff Kollman
Album: Guitar Screams Live
Year: 2006
Genre: Guitar Instrumental, Progressive Fusion
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Tracklist:
1. Creepy Spider (6:45)
2. Epapo Punk (9:17)
3. Shedding Skin (5:55)
4. 3 A.M. (9:42)
5. Clap Hands (5:05)
6. Jerusalem (5:56)
7. Creepy Spider Part II (7:15)
8. Out O' Tune Bruez (0:54)
9. Fool For Your Stockings (9:35)
10. Jam For Jason (8:08)
11. By Myself (4:51)
12. Slowburn (6:19)

Guitarist Jeff Kollman writes about the 2006 live recording, Guitar Screams Live in the liner notes, "This collection of songs is a display of the various records that I have been involved with over the last 10 years. The journey started in November of '95, leaving my hometown of Toledo, Ohio. As fate would have it, I met up with drummer Shane Gaalaas and bassist Barry Sparks to form Cosmosquad. Shane has been drumming and collaborating with me ever since on all of the various records to follow. 10 years Bro! The songs from this intimate recording of two nights in 2006 at the Baked Potato represent the last decade for me from the bands Mogg/Way, Sign Of 4, Cosmosquad, solo material, and my group JKB. I hope you enjoy it." Guitar Screams Live also features bassists Kevin Chown, Christopher Maloney and Paul Shihadeh, as well as keyboardists Ed Roth and Lao Tizer.

Download #2

Jeff Kollman - Shedding Skin



Artist: Jeff Kollman
Album: Shedding Skin
Year: 1999
Genre: Guitar Instrumental, Heavy Fusion, Hard Rock
Format: mp3, 192 kbps
Tracklist:
1. My Guitar Gently Screams (2:58)
2. Shedding Skin (4:58)
3. Fat, Mean, and Nasty (4:51)
4. Blues For Pop (4:00)
5. Journey Through Life (4:52)
6. The Subconscience (0:58)
7. Sheer Drama (4:35)
8. The X Factor (5:36)
9. Intimate Portrait (1:05)
10. The Color For Love (4:10)
11. My Soul Deep Inside (4:29)
12. Redeye Romp (3:38)
13. Where Is One? (3:57)

Download #2

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Cosmosquad - Acid Test


Artist: Cosmosquad
Genre: Progressive Fusion, Guitar Instrumental, Hard Rock
Year: 2007
Album: Acid Test
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Tracklist:
1. Grossalicious (7:04)
2. Numena (7:03)
3. The Spy Who Ate Her (5:53)
4. Lubitorium (6:52)
5. Bedbucket (5:55)
6. Goathead (5:06)
7. Hindenberg (5:37)
8. The Long Walk Goodbye (4:52)
9. Swink (3:58)

Los Angeles based metallic fusioneers Cosmosquad present Acid Test, a co-production with drummer Shane Gaalaas (Diesel Machine, Glenn Hughes) and guitarist Jeff Kollman (UFO, Mogg/Way, $ign Of 4, Crumb Bros.) recorded at Crumb West Studios in Simi Valley, CA between February and April, 2007. Acid Test marks the group's first studio effort since 2001's highly acclaimed "Squadrophenia". "I'm really stoked to have this new record coming out - it's been way too long!" enthuses Gaalaas. "It seems that everything came together very naturally and it was a lot of fun to collaborate with Jeff again. I think we take the listener on quite the journey throughout Acid Test - epic songs with lots of movement, heaviness, some greasiness, and an amazing ballad from Kollman that really sets him apart from other guitar players. The playing is certainly elevated a notch but we still retain the classic 'Squad vibe - the stuff that made us famous, ha ha!"

Download #2

Fender John 5 Telecaster Deluxe HHH

Fender J5

GLW said so a few days ago and I confirm it, it's bizarre but there are less special guitars this last weeks to be found on the Internet, maybe we exhausted the kind of instruments we like to present here, but since I'm sure it's just provisory, let's say it's summer break!

Then we have room for less special but still special guitars, like the Fender John 5 Telecaster Deluxe - it's been released long enough not to give me the bad feeling to advertise for a hype model! Strangely I little by little get to appreciate Telecasters, and without falling into a cult fantasizing that the first solid body guitar by Leo Fender was definitely perfect, I like its simplicity and iconic status, a good starting point to be playful - as much in music making as in guitar building. I actually prefer the Deluxe model, not for its humbucker sound - a sound is a sound -, but for the strat headstock that is much better than the tele one.

And here come the J5 model, with its big chrome Deluxe pickguard and 3 humbuckers, a vintage strat trem, and minimal controls with just 2 knobs and one switch. I'm sure that this guitar can do much more that what it's been conceived for - not a fan of solo John 5, but liked his work in Marylin Manson in its glam - and most creative - phase. I'd be curious to see a J5 in 10 years, after being played intensively by so neo-grunge kid!

bertram


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Res-O-Glas Guitar Kits

res-o-glas

A few days ago I posted about Eastwood's famous reissue of VALCO's Airline - an undeniable upgrade with its chambered mahogany body -, and in the comments we debated about the good and bad of the original Res-O-Glas body - cheap and acoustically disputable, but absolutely avant-garde when it was first released in the 60s.

Surfing on the new focus on the Airline line brought by the White Stripes and Eastwood, a company now reissues Res-O-Glas Airline bodies for guitar kits. I like their policy, since they deliberately promote Frankenstein guitars assembled around their bodies with bits of vintage and new gear (some people even get Eastwoods for the neck and gears and just change the body!), sometimes in the original spirit, often in completely bizarre configuration like one I saw with a Flying V neck that actually fits quite well!

They just start to release different models so you don't have to keep to the most famous one to built your guitar, and they also provide a few elements of gears, the most interesting being an art-deco stoptail that will be probably on my next project!

res-o-glas2

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Cosmosquad - Live At The Baked Potato



Artist: Cosmosquad
Album: Live At The Baked Potato
Year: 2001
Genre: Progressive Fusion, Guitar Instrumental
Tracklist:

01. Sheer Drama 
02. Fat, Mean & Nasty
03. El Perro Vaila
04. I.N.S. Conspiracy
05. Road To Tanzania/Tribal Trance
06. Chinese Eyes
07. My Guitar Gently Screams
08. Creepy Spider Pt. II
09. Jam For Jason
10. In Loving Memory
11. Journey Through Life
12. Creepy Spider
13. Funk N’ Eh!
14. Red Eye Romp

Live At The Baked Potato features the Cosmosquad trio in a club setting on one February evening in 2001, delivering dynamic material from their CDs "Cosmosquad", "Squadrophenia" and guitarist Jeff Kollman's solo CD "Shedding Skin". An all-instrumental set awaits fans of the galactic band, with funky outbursts giving way to dark, hypnotic grooves, spastic madness meeting ethereal beauty, and African tribal flavors intersecting with melodic flurries. If you are unfamiliar with the guitar work of Jeff Kollman, this live set is a great introduction - over 78 minutes of superb musicianship - and you'll definitely be juiced enough to get the other 9 or 10 titles in Kollman's ever expanding discography.


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Greg Lake's Zemaitis doubleneck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Greg Lake used to feel a bit shortchanged next to his colleagues in Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Carl Palmer had a huge battery of drums and Keith Emerson was surrounded on all sides by keyboards. Meanwhile Greg Lake is standing there with just a guitar. Not only did he try to re-dress the balance of things by marking his territory on stage with a large antique Persian rug, but he also got himself this simply enormous doublenecked guitar/bass.

Apparently it was one of only two doublenecks built by the now legendary Tony Zemaitis. Unfortuantely it was also extremely heavy, and so Lake was unable to play it onstage for more than a couple of songs. Deciding it was too impractical, he eventually gave it away. Considering the value of original Zemaitis guitars (as opposed to the recent Japanese tributes - and they are costly enough!), he must be kicking himself now.

I wonder where it is now?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Cosmosquad - Squadrophenia



Artist: Cosmosquad 
Album: Squadrophenia
Year: 2002
Genre: Progressive Fusion, Instrumental
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Tracklist:

1. Creepy Spider
2. Jam For Jason
3. Road To Tanzania / Tribal Trance
4. Winter In Innisfail
5. In Loving Memory
6. Creepy Spider Part Ii
7. Sea Broth
8. Godzilla's Revenge
9. Cauldron Of Evil
10. Chinese Eyes
11. Funk N' Eh ( Bonus Track)
12. Tribal Trance ( Reprise)



Another brilliant all-instrumental release from the monster trio known as Cosmosquad is entitled Squadrophenia. Retaining the multi-dimensional approach the band developed on their debut album, Cosmosquad have successfully managed to explore new musical territory and expand their sonic parameters on Squadrophenia. Displays of upbeat, funky outbursts give way to dark, hypnotic grooves, spastic madness meets ethereal beauty, and African tribal flavors intersect with melodic flurries to complete a perfectly balanced mosaic of shadow and light. Cosmosquad are that rare three-pronged constellation of stellar musicianship, unique songwriting and forward thinking attitude that allows for great musical things to happen. Squadrophenia is bound to establish the Jeff Kollman / Barry Sparks / Shane Gaalaas alliance as one of the frontrunners of the New Millennium hard fusion movement for years to come. 


Download #1
Download #2

Cosmosquad - Cosmosquad



Artist: Cosmosquad
Album: Cosmosquad
Genre: Progressive, Progressive Fusion
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Year: 1997
Tracklist:
01. El Perro Vaila
02. Three A.M.
03. The Scene
04. I.N.S. Conspiracy
05. Epapo Funk
06. Missing You
07. Stretch Hog
08. Pugs in Central Park
09. Slow Burn
10. Galactic Voyage


Download #1
Download #2

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Gibson Nighthawk in black

Gibson Nighthawk

I already posted about the Gibson Nighthawk last year but I just found this model in black finish - I always need to see a guitar in black to really appreciate its line and there again it's perfect - and I couldn't not show it.
This is probably my favorite Gibson solid body (after the Flying V), and maybe their last valid creation... I love the very different pickups - this makes sense, why should the sound be homogeneous if your seek versatility?


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

John Petrucci - Suspended Animation

Artist: John Petrucci
Album: Suspended Animation
Genre: Guitar Instrumental, Guitar Virtuoso, Shred
Size: ~84 Mb
Tracklist:
1. Jaws of Life
2. Glasgow Kiss
3. Tunnel Vision
4. Wishful Thinking
5. Damage Control
6. Curve
7. Lost Without You
8. Animate-Inanimate

Ibanez Iceman ICB08 Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Ibanez Iceman ICB08 Bass is a particularly eyecatching example of a now legendary Japanese design.

Wouldn't it be fun if the control knobs were shaped like chess pieces? No, I shouldn't say that, someone will go and do it.

One thing that this blog has been doing for a while now is looking at the weird, the wonderful and the just plain outrageous guitars and basses listed on eBay.

Recently, however, I've been finding very little to get excited over. I don't know if this is just a temporary blip or if indeed I am getting jaded after years of doing this. As ever, if you see any interesting guitars on eBay or elsewhere (if it's a Strat, Tele or Les Paul, it'll need to be pretty special!) please let us know. Bear in mind that we may have featured them before (use the keywords at the bottom of the page to search what we have already featured). Please note also I'm not too keen on taking photos from guitar forums or personal websites. eBay is, I feel, a different matter as it's in the public domain and we are helping to promote the auctions.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Monday, June 21, 2010

John Petrucci - An Evening With

Artist: John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess
Album: An Evening With
Genre: Guitar Instrumental
Size: 108.02 Mb
Year: 2004
Tracklist:
1. Furia Taurina
2. Truth
3. Fife And Drum
4. State of Grace
5. Hang 11
6. From Within
7. The Rena Song
8. In the Moment
9. Black Ice
10. Bite Of The Mosquito (Studio Version)


Download #1
Download #2

Liquid Trio Experiment - Spontaneous Combustion

Artist: Liquid Trio Experiment  (Liquid Tension Experiment)
Album:  Spontaneous Combustion
Genre: Progressive
Year: 2007
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Size: ~142 MB
Tracklist:
1. Chris & Kevin's Bogus Journey
2. Hot Rod
3. RPP
4. Hawiian Funk
5. Cappuccino
6. Jazz Odyssey
7. Fire Dance
8. The Rubberband Man
9. Holes
10. Tony's Nightmare
11. Boom Boom
12. Return of the Rubberband Man
13. Disneyland Symphony

In October 1998, Liquid Tension Experiment reunited at Millbrook Studios in upstate New York to record their 2nd album. A few days into the sessions, John Petrucci's pregnant wife went into premature labor leaving Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin stranded in an already set-up and booked recording studio. So like any creative and productive musicians would do, they decided to stay and JAM...and JAM they did!

Over the course of two days, they played for hours on end. The Trio consciously did not "compose" or "write" anything. They simply went wherever the music took them.

Several of these jams ended up being used on LTE2. The rest of this music has remained unreleased until now.

For some bizarre and still unexplained reason, the master tapes of these jams were misplaced during the mixing process. But, luckily, Portnoy records almost everything he ever does and as a result his live 2-track stereo DAT mixes are the only remaining traces of this historic jam.

So what you have here is as live and raw as it gets. No overdubs, no editing, no mixing. Just 3 guys, their instruments and their spontaneous imaginations feeding off of each other.

So finally - almost 10 years later - here is Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess and Tony Levin flying by the seat of their collective, musical pants.

Better late than never! 

Airline 3P DLX by Eastwood

eastwood airline

OK, it's easy and most of our readers already know Eastwood's reissue of this Airline rejuvenated by Jack White (before he became an idol and switched to custom Gretschs), but I like this guitar a lot.
It's somehow the perfect anti-Fender/Gibson guitar, and Eastwood's replacement of the original Airline 'res-O-glas' body by a chambered mahogany one upgrades the cool but cheap vintage guitar to a modern quality one. And it still has the many Italian style knobs and switches above the strings we enjoy so much, plus the very special shape (who would dare to design this nowadays?), the german carve, and the strong presence of 3 pickups in line with a Bigsby trem.

Some say that Eastwood pickups are not the greatest (the demos I heard convinced me though) but there are many replacement pickups out there - and it would make sense that one wants to personalize this kind of guitar since it's not mainly noticeable for the specificity of its sound!


Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Liquid Tension Experiment 2

Artist: Liquid Tension Experiment
Album: 2
Genre: Progressive
Year: 1999
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Tracklist:
1. Acid Rain
2. Biaxident
3. 914
4. Another Dimension
5. When the Water Breaks
6. Chewbacca
7. Liquid Dreams
8. Hourglass

Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Dirt, the Muck, the Filth

Several years ago, I was doing a short residency in Las Vegas. I learned very quickly that if you don’t gamble, there aint’ much to do in that city. So, I spent a lot of time clicking around the dial in my hotel room. Boring.

One night after the show, the lead vocalist persuaded me to go out and see a band that he had met earlier that day on the strip. Off we went. I can’t remember which casino it was; they are all so unique and exploding with character. At some point we entered a lounge where five or six guys and two girls were up on stage ripping through a medley of pop funk hits for some dancing gamblers. So I ordered a drink, grabbed a bowl full of pretzels (or peanuts) and proceeded to settle in for the remainder of their set.

The guy I was with was super charismatic, so within minutes he was dancing with most of the good looking women in the room. I of course was busy analyzing the sound system, what kind of pedal board the guitarist was using (Roland GT5), the vibe between the band members (bassist and backup singer were definitely sleeping together and mad at each other), guessing the chords / key signatures of each song, and so forth. This is my sad idea of fun.

As I was dissecting the environment, I was starting to get this really weird taste in my mouth; kind of like when you chew aspirin. I knew I was not going to get sick, but something was not right. I began fiddling with my drink more and more, subconsciously squirming in my seat. This continued for some time and I finally realized that it was actually the sound that was throwing me off. Everything looked ok, but something just felt out of place.

And then it hit me. These guys were going 100% direct.

Ugghhhh… I did a quick re-review and realized that my initial analysis was very sloppy. No amps, and the drummer was using an electronic kit. The more I listened, the more everything I saw made perfect sense. I felt like I was in a space station. The volume was so perfectly perfect…. It was neither loud nor soft, it was just kind of “there,” not really emanating form any one spot.

During the break, I chatted up the guitarist and found out that when they arrived in town, they had to sign a contract stating that if they deviated from a specific decibel level in the slightest, they’d be fired and forfeit their pay. He was bummed about it, but their residency was for three months, so they were thrilled to have the work.

Fast forward about three years and I find myself on stage in a tiny little club in central Europe. I was doing a three month residency, 5 sets of Funk / Rock Blues each night, 6 nights a week. What a haul. But most nights, the place was packed; everyone dancing their brains out, the air was smoky as hell, and the walls just dripping in sweat. I wound up playing there a bunch of times, usually doing a one-month stay and it was always a lot of fun. The nightly cleaning crew always ignored the stage, so at the end of each one-month run, we’d spend a portion of our last night drunkenly clearing our gear out for the next band that was due to arrive in the morning.

It was always funny to see the crap that had built up over the last 28 nights; broken glass, lost passports, false teeth, hypodermic needles, all kinds of wonderful stuff. For me, that pile of crap that we swept into a bucket at 5AM was always an indication of how the residency had gone; the more weird crap we found, the better the gig usually had been. Each time I experienced this ritual, I always came to the same conclusion:

“The dirt, the muck, the filth… I love it”

This does not have so much to do with the actual dirt that had accumulated over the weeks, but the stuff that goes along with a live gig. Even when I have played some pretty nice places, there is always some conceptual sweating and philosophical smoke. The combustion in the sound, the drinks that fall over, etc… but most importantly, there is the sound of guitars (or keyboards) through an amplifier and drums. Anything less and… and I start to get that “chewing aspirin” taste in my mouth again.

Summary: I can’t fault those guys for taking that gig in the antiseptic Vegas lounge; everyone needs work, especially musicians. And in fairness, the gig I was doing that week was nothing too amazing at all, so I never meant to judge them... Not every gig is gonna be so great, sometimes you just gotta pay the bills. But I’m kinda glad that there are not too many places like Las Vegas. I think live music should not be hermetically sealed; there has to be some rough edges. I do understand that in certain situations, the manager of a club / lounge has to do whatever they need to do in order to keep the customers spending money.

I’ve had some pretty weird gigs in my life, but in most cases, there are at least a few sonic imperfections, which I think is just part of the formula. It’s the human element. I think this is why a faded pair of jeans that you have owned for 5 years cannot be replicated by “The GAP”, and why “Reliced” guitars are, well… uh, let’s just say they are not my cup of tea. Bumps and scratches are part of life, even in the sound we send out from the stage. Those frayed edges give the moments of brilliance / success / harmony relevance. Of course we all strive and hope for as much good stuff as possible in our performance, but as we aim for 100%, we know that if we hit 80%, we’ve probably had a pretty good night. The other 20% of the sound / performance / solo / stage banter, etc… that sometimes falls flat, falls on the floor, or gets peanut butter stuck in it, well… that’s just part of the deal.

I never really thought about all this even once, until that one time in the Vegas lounge when it was not there. Then I missed it, really bad.

Have a great week,

Kevin

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Fender Redondo vintage acoustic from 1966

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Over the past 20 odd years various guitar manufacturers have come up with the idea of an acoustic with a slimmer electric style neck so as to appeal to the electric player. This idea, although presented as an amazing breakthrough each time it is brought up, is nothing new as this Fender Redondo acoustic from 1966 illustrates quite nicely. In true Fender-fashion, it even has a bolt-on neck. (The first bolt-on neck acoustic that I personally was aware of was the Eko Ranger). The 6-tuners-in-a-line headstock, although looking quite conspicuous on an acoustic, is more gently rounded than the more usual Strat style and is quite a pleasing shape.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Soviet-era Armenian electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:
The almost circular body give this electric mandolin the resemblance of a table tennis bat. Its pickups are a dead giveaway, and betray it as being a product of the former Soviet Union. From the location of the controls you might think it was a left-handed instrument, but it is strung right-handed and other examples I have seen have the same layout. Indeed, the output jack is on the right-hand side in keeping with a right-handed instrument.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Liquid Tension Experiment 1

Artist: Liquid Tension Experiment
Personnel: John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, Tony Levin
Album: 1
Genre: Progressive
Year: (1998-original, 2008-remastered)
Format: mp3 320 kbps
Size: ~170 Mb
Tracklist:

1. Paradigm Shift (8:55)
2. Osmosis (3:26)
3. Kindred Spirits (6:29)
4. the Stretch (2:00)
5. Freedom Of Speech (9:19)
6. Chris And Kevin's Excellent Adventure (2:21)
7. State Of Grace (5:01)
8. Universal Mind (7:53)
9. Three Minute Warning (8:20)
10. Three Minute Warning (4:02)
11. Three Minute Warning (5:18)
12. Three Minute Warning (4:20)
13. Three Minute Warning (6:31)


Over-wrought, self-indulgent, bombastic--hurl every clichéd prog-rock epithet you can think of--this group will suck 'em in and spit 'em right back in a deafening flurry of notes plucked, struck, hammered, and slapped. Without question, these guys (Dream Theater's drummer and guitarist Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci respectively, keyboardist Jordan Rudess, and bassist Tony Levin) are masters. And they make no apologies for having recorded an album of intensely virtuosic instrumental hard rock. Armed with chops, taste, and panache, LTE groove seamlessly from the lightning-fingered metalfest "Paradigm Shift" to the comical drum & bass duet "Chris and Kevin's Excellent Adventure"; from the full-throttle jamming on "Universal Mind" to the house-crushing mayhem of "Three Minute Warning." Throughout, the staggering speed and technique of both Portnoy and Petrucci consistently grab center stage. It's a riveting work from start to finish and a scorching testament to the power of musical inspiration and collaboration. --Michael Mikesell


Download #1
Download #2