I saw online recently someone’s list of the 20 greatest rock guitar solos. Some of them I could agree with but most of them were not what I would have chosen. I spent some time thinking about this and even consulted a few friends. Some of the picks are on most lists and some are a bit obscure. Here it is, the list of my favorite studio rock guitar solos (it goes to eleven!).
- “Stairway to Heaven”, Led Zeppelin. I know this song has been played to death over the years but when it comes on the radio I listen to it every time. It is a masterwork of songwriting and song structure. The way it builds as it unfolds over its seven minutes never loses its appeal. And it is capped off by one of the great solos in rock. Jimmy Page using his Fender Telecaster got this solo down in three takes. John Bonham is in lockstep on the drums as Page’s solo finally climaxes into its screaming finale.[1]Perfection.
- “Smoke on the Water”, Deep Purple. From their smash album “Machine Head” this is another classic rock warhorse. But they’re warhorses for a reason. I remember listening to this song on a transistor radio outside my house in the early seventies. It was on AM radio. There was actually rock and popular music on the AM band in those days. The AM version of the song cut the first half of Ritchie Blackmore’s solo . On the album we get the solo in its entirety. With Jon Lord pumping out the main riff on his B3 organ (connected to a Marshall stack and not the usual Lesley speaker) Blackmore unleashes one of the best known solos in rock.
- “Brothers in Arms”, Dire Straits. From the album of the same, name Mark Knofler creates one of the most restrained guitar solos you will ever hear. By this time he has started using a Gibson Les Paul to get this fat sound (as opposed to the cleaner sound he was known for on his Fender Stratocaster). Knofler’s slow guitar lines hover like the mist on those mountains in the song.
- “Key to the Highway”, Derek and the Dominoes. Let’s get two rock gods for the price of one song. Eric Clapton’s 1970 masterpiece Layla and Other Love Songs featured Duane Allman on many of the tracks. The most famous being the title cut but this one, a blues cover, really lets Clapton and Allman stretch out. The song fades in because, as rumor has it, the band started jamming and the engineer ran into the control room to get the tape rolling. Between the verses the two go back and forth between Allman’s slide and Clapton’s leads. At one point in the song you can hear Clapton yell out as Duane’s solo hits one of its many high points. Almost ten minutes of guitar playing bliss.
- “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-VI)”, Pink Floyd. When it comes to the best David Gilmore solos most people go with “Comfortably Numb” or “Money”. For my pick I turn to my favorite Floyd album “Wish You Were Here” and its opening 12 minute track. That signature four-note riff and the masterful pentatonic solo that follows, I never get tired of it.
- “Cortez The Killer”, Neil Young and Crazy Horse. There are many great Neil solos to choose from dating all the way to Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere (“Down by the River”, “Cowgirl in the Sand”). Certainly the case can be made for “Like A Hurricane”. But there’s a special place for this tune off of 1975’s “Zuma” which was Young’s return to that early Crazy Horse sound. The song opens with Neil’s guitar drifting lightly like those Spanish galleons on the water. His playing becomes more impassioned as the story of Cortez and Montezuma unfolds. It’s perfectly nuanced. No overplaying, just a mournful wandering up and down the fretboard.
- “Almost Cut My Hair”, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. One of the only songs on “Déjà Vu” that was cut live in the studio with the whole band. Another guitar hero two-fer with Neil Young and Stephen Stills dueling between the verses of this great David Crosby song. The final break before the last verse sounds like Stills’ guitar is crash landing. Crosby’s vocal is probably the best of his career, certainly in the studio. You can hear him whooping in the background as Stills and Young go at it. The other interesting thing about this song is that it is probably the only band track without any harmony vocals.
- “Out There”, Dinosaur Jr. From the 1992 album “Where You Been”. Guitarist J Mascis is the alt rock Slash. I could have picked any one of the songs from this record but this opening shred-fest sets the stage for what is to come. This is one of the great guitar albums.
- “November Rain”, Guns N’ Roses. Speaking of Slash there is this song from “Use Your Illusion I and II”. I actually liked this album more that “Appetite for Destruction” which I know is sacrilegious to hardcore GNR fans. Slash really gets more room on longer songs like “Civil War” and “Estranged”. His distinctive Les Paul tone is front and center on this track and his solo sections just soar.
- “Dear Mr. Fantasy”, Traffic. Steve Winwood is such a talented singer and keyboard player that his guitar playing is sometimes overlooked. This song is all you need to hear to believe that Winwood is one of the rock’s great guitar players. That break at the end of the up tempo section is incredible.
- “Rocky Mountain Way”, Joe Walsh. I remember the first time I heard this song on the radio. The slide guitar part in the intro cuts through the mix like a sharp knife. And then there is that incredible slide solo coming out of the talk box section at the end. Walsh is one of the top slide players of all time.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Music – “The New Abnormal”, The Strokes. This New York City band was all the rage in 2001 when they released their debut album “Is This It”. They’ve been on and off the radar since then. The new album continues with a sound to me like parts Velvet Underground and Television, two other seminal NYC bands from the seventies. Lead singer Julian Casablancas sports a too cool for school vibe that the critics fawn over. I don’t get the hype but I like the album. Rick Rubin produced it which gives the record some serious street cred.
Books – “The Glass Hotel”, Emily St. John Mandel. I became a fan with her last book “Station Eleven” which interesting enough is about a global flu pandemic which wipes out most of the world’s population. Mandel’s latest centers on a woman named Vincent who is working as a bartender in a remote luxury hotel in northern Vancouver with her brother Paul. It is there that she crosses paths with a Bernie Madoff-like character named Jon Alkaitis (who owns the hotel). Soon Vincent gets involved with him. The story is told from multiple perspectives of the characters who lives are ultimately impacted, and changed forever, by the Jon’s Ponzi scheme. It’s a familiar story but Mandel’s writing make it seem new again.
Streaming – “Modern Love” (Amazon Prime). This series is based on the New York Times column that runs in the Sunday Styles section. I was never a fan of the column. It seemed too dark. The show was great. Each episode features a different story with different actors. The cast is also terrific with Anne Hathaway (what an episode that was!), Tina Fey, Dev Patel, John Slattery and many others. The final episode has a clever twist. Highly recommended.
[1] I would argue that Bonham’s playing is an integral part of making this a classic solo. Those tom rolls are the best ever recorded.