casapete

Also by Emmylou, this gem - beautiful guitar solo from one of the stellar players on this album, (possibly Amos Garrett.)

Hadn't heard this in ages - love the way they swap the melody line around, and the sublime guitar solo as well. Got me thinking of country stuff - this is one of my favourites from Emmylou.

Erm...the CK one did early on in the thread. Having not heard her version before, I’d hate to have to write out a chord chart for that one....🤣

Great version IMO too. Came off the 1981 album ‘Dedication’ produced by Steve Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen. (OTT backing courtesy of The E Street Band) 😉

This just kills me every time -

Is ash a common wood for necks? Must admit I’ve no recollection of playing a guitar or bass with one, although maybe it’s used on more boutique instruments than I’m used to?!!

Just sold a bass to Tim, and was great from beginning to end. Top feller, a pleasure to deal with and would heartily recommend to anyone. People like him are what makes BC the fab place it is. Cheers.

Me too! With you on the Springsteen album though, wonderful stuff from someone who IMO never releases a duff album. Did you see the Apple documentary on the making of it?

I’ll definitely be watching the Aretha stuff. Worth noting that she was also Whitney’s ‘adopted aunt’ and rated her very highly from an early age.

Whilst I don’t like the overdone vocals of Ms Carey / Dion etc, I think the majority of Whitney’s stuff ( certainly the first couple of albums anyway) didn’t suffer from this malaise. She was definitely in a league of her own and IMHO was one of the great female vocalists, who died way too soon.

We have 43 gigs in for 2021 at the moment, ( and 3 in for 2022!) but as they are due to start in March I have no doubt that a number of them won’t happen. Many are rescheduled from 2020 and have already been moved at least once. I’m currently thinking things starting up again from say June onwards would still be a result, assuming the theatres / venues can last till then of course.

The main thing that would prevent me from returning to vinyl is the cost. With albums anywhere from a shade under £20 each to £30 +, it's enough to make me stick with the CD format for now. As mentioned above, apparently a growing number of people are buying the vinyl issues from bands they like as a sort of collectors item, and probably won't ever be playing them. Must admit that whilst I've always had okay hi-fi set ups, I've never gone down the audiophile route and spent eye watering amounts on gold plated mains leads and speaker cables spun by unicorns etc. For me the music has always been the important bit, and how you get to hear it less so. From my experience in record retail in the 70's, most people who bought expensive Japanese pressings and quadrophonic recordings (remember those?) tended to like music which suited that level of investment in the first place - ambient trippy stuff or the more obscure classical / avant garde material. We dreaded selling to these folk as they invariably came back to query the quality or even recording of their (expensive) purchases. All I needed then (and come to think of it now really..) for playing my music collection is something that sounds good to my ears and will last a long time. I've used NAD stuff for ages now, and only needed two CD players in nearly 30 years so quite happy with it. Also got my NAD3020 amp my dear old Mum bought me in the 80's too, and it still sounds great.

Another nail in that coffin being the disappearance of disc drives on laptops and PC’s too I would imagine. No doubt this would be passed off as a drop in demand for discs generally in computing, but still a handy option to have, in my little world anyway. Our kids ( in their 30’s) now don’t have any hard copies of music in their houses, so I can’t lend them anything or do them a mix of stuff, just send them links to check out on YT / Spotify etc. It’s just a generational thing I guess, with some people liking the ‘retro’ aspect of vinyl to complement this maybe. Could be that it’s more real to them after they’ve got used to listening to stuff via bloody Alexa / Bluetooth / wireless home systems etc? I didn’t take to CD’s very readily, sticking with my vinyl until it was hard to get stuff new anymore. Nowadays I buy a lot of my CDs for next to nothing, usually via Music Magpie on eBay. If I pay more than £2 for one then it had better be good! Can’t see me changing anytime soon either, although I do worry whether affordable CD players will disappear. When I bought my last one, I went to collect it from Curry’s near Leeds ( hate the shop but it was on a great deal so I caved in). They wouldn’t reserve it for me over the phone, so I had to just go and hope it was still there, being the last one they had and on display in the shop. The young lady on the counter asked me to go and get it from the shelf on the shop floor as she didn’t know what a CD player was / looked like! I knew then I was doomed......

Speakon connectors were a great breakthrough for bands, if only to stop the guitarist using his instrument leads to connect his cabs. After reading this I was unaware of some of the compatibility issues between 2 and 4 pole versions, so everyday’s a school day etc. There is something very satisfying about connecting your bass cab with speakons, that click when you know it’s locked in is reassuring. Not had one problem with using them ever, unlike jacks which can so easily fail. Strange to think that prior to their invention in 1987 we all used jacks - my SVT rig included! Also using Bose PA cabs which IIRC had XLR connections which seemed a step up from jacks at the time.

I’ve had Fender strings from RST for a while now. Was playing in Newark one day and went in the shop which is on the main pedestrianised shopping street. Prices really competitive, so have carried on buying from them via mail order.

LW was one of the best exponents of getting a great sound out of what was essentially a ‘student’ guitar, the Les Paul Junior. With just one P90 pickup, the tones he managed to conjure up were amazing. RIP.

I remember pre tuner days well! Still got my first one too, a Korg GT6 bought by an ex girlfriend for me as a Christmas present c1979. Still works fine, and can be used in-line too. Big dial and meter, groovy!

Nah, think the tuners are quite commonplace, even with some respected pro users so most people are over it now. 😆

I’ve used a Snark clip on tuner for years with no problems, and without one comment ever from band or audience member. As mentioned above I have it fitted so that it’s hidden behind the headstock of my Fender. My reasons for using it are these - 1. Unlike a pedal tuner, I don’t need two leads to use it onstage with my band. 2. Unlike a pedal tuner, it doesn’t potentially degrade my signal to my amp. 3. Unlike a pedal tuner, I can tune anywhere onstage, (or even off) with no need to use a lead. 4. It was £10 and I’m a skinflint. 😄

That came across to me too - something that is often missing in bands in more recent times. I think the ‘fun’ element of The Beatles was a large part of their appeal, certainly in their earlier years, and it’s great to see in the clip that even with all the strains within the band they still look like they’re enjoying each other’s company and want to be there.

Enjoyed both the songs posted above. Gary Brooker has always been a great singer IMO, and I’ve seen him a few times over the years. Firstly with Procul Harum in the mid 70’s, then with Eric Clapton and after that with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings. Superb keyboard player too, as well as having a good onstage presence and sense of humour. Thanks for posting.

Fabulous stuff. Thanks for posting.

IIRC the bass on the EJ original was played by David Paton (ex 70’s band Pilot).

These days with IEM’s it’s easy to receive a pitch note during the count in or whatever. A singer I worked with many years ago was the most unmusical person I’ve ever known - he couldn’t keep time/ count bars etc and often sang a tad sharp too. One day for a laugh the band started a song in a slightly different key though and he knew straight away - probably learned it by rote so much that his starting note was ingrained in his head. Someone I worked for many years could sing any note he was asked for - I did test him out and he was astonishingly accurate too. Am guessing he has perfect pitch?