Best David Bowie Guitarist

part 4 of the M.O.R. trilogy

What else did Stacey Haydon play on? I only know him from the Nassau Coliseum '76 show (where he's hilariously introduced by Bowie as, "a Canadian, but a guitarist nonetheless").

Page Hamilton??

xp

I don't know, but he's on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacyheydon

Says he recorded and toured with Bowie between 1975 and 1980, but no singles or albums mentioned.

Alomar in the Five Years saying he was kinda weirded out by the Happy Confident Bowie of the 80s is classic.

So is his guitar playing.

In the Five Years doc, that is.

I don't know, but he's on LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacyheydon

Says he recorded and toured with Bowie between 1975 and 1980, but no singles or albums mentioned.

― Darin, Monday, February 1, 2016 7:23 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Previous Ready Golf Centers, David Bowie Band

yeah...um...might wanna put Bowie first there.

If we did this for bass, would vote for George Murray.

Sund4r, this Saturday your man Prasanna will be doing a Bowie tribute.

Hell yeah, re: Murray

Alomar, Murray and Davis were a heckuva band.
Writing must've been fun, knowing you had that machine behind you.

Ha, you weren't joking, James Redd!

Perhaps I will attend and engage him in a discussion about that first "Starman" chord.

Pedantic, but Fripp was more than just a sci-fi specialist cameo with Gabriel. He toured with him and produced/played on his second record. With Bowie, it always seemed like he literally just sat down and ripped out a few solos over the course of a day and then left.

so, clearly it will be an Alomar/Ronson fight (with Fripp third on the podium).
and it seems Carlos will make it to the top !

Perhaps I will attend and engage him in a discussion about that first "Starman" chord.

isn't it Bb/A ?

Heydon's brief time with Bowie was amazing, at least from what can be heard from the Isolar bootlegs. The "Panic in detroit" version from that tour is probably my favorite. I'd totally go for him but he didn't contribute to any of the studio albums, though.

The sensible choice would be Alomar.

so, clearly it will be an Alomar/Ronson fight (with Fripp third on the podium).
and it seems Carlos will make it to the top !

_Perhaps I will attend and engage him in a discussion about that first "Starman" chord._

isn't it Bb/A ?
--AlXTC from Paris

I think that chord is when you make the F chord unbarred, then slide it up to to give it a B flat with the high E string ringing out. That's what I've been playing for years and it sounds right.

George Murray appears to have vanished from the face of the earth.

Almost a 3-way tie between Ronson, Alomar, and Fripp, but Alomar gets it for longevity and consistency, and for being vaguely rude about Brian Eno.

I suspect Eno would say the same thing actually.

Pedantic, but Fripp was more than just a sci-fi specialist cameo with Gabriel. He toured with him and produced/played on his second record. With Bowie, it always seemed like he literally just sat down and ripped out a few solos over the course of a day and then left.

OK so I'm the sole vote for Reeves?

If that is how Fripp worked on Bowie's records then that just makes it all the more impressive to me.

I couldn't believe the guitar playing on "Scary Monsters". At age 13 or whatever, it sounded like the most malevolent, demented thing ever

Absolutely the high water mark for Fripp's playing, and that's saying a LOT.

I was gonna say, his playing on Scary Monsters is as good as anything he's done in his entire career, Crim included.
One of these times I'm going to need to rank the top 10 Fripp performances...

Voted for Carlos but having second thoughts, was listening to Ronno this morning, need to listen to Scary Monsters properly.

What the...? Options are screwy on Zing, don't match when clicked through.

Fripp high water mark is Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire."

Greatest Fripp moments poll seeming like a pretty good idea all of a sudden

poll limit is 50, could be tough narrowing it down

Fripp high water mark is Eno's "St. Elmo's Fire." "Baby's on Fire"

Huh i thought that was manzanera all these years

Me too

OK so I'm the sole vote for Reeves?

Ha, iirc, that's not the first time that ilxors have mistaken Fripp for Manzanera on "Baby's on Fire"!

Huh i thought that was manzanera all these years

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, February 3, 2016 10:36 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Me too

― Glissendorfin' Machine (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, February 3, 2016 10:39 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same. I was sternly corrected right here on ILM.

It should be put in the FAQ.

some people even claim paul rudolph from the pink faires is the main soloist on BoF. fuckers have no discerning ears, who else but fripp could've played something that idiosyncratic in 1973?

Sure, when you put it that way.

_Perhaps I will attend and engage him in a discussion about that first "Starman" chord._

isn't it Bb/A ?

Sund4r, I asked the guitarist in question and while he acknowledged the possibility of other notes he hadn't listened on headphones yet so was just playing a straight Bb chord.

xpost Love Fripp, love Eno, don't love the Baby's On Fire solo/song. But St. Elmo's Fire is so pretty, and so mysterious, and the solo so magical.

I think I like Fripp's solo on "Golden Hours" best of all of his Eno solos.

Copied cheekily by Fripp pal Andy Summers on "Mother."

Sund4r, I asked the guitarist in question and while he acknowledged the possibility of other notes he hadn't listened on headphones yet so was just playing a straight Bb chord.

I wasn't part of that discussion tbh but maybe I'll take a listen some time. Cool that you got to talk to him, though. I'm listening to Tirtha right now.

I've seen it (and it sounds like) Bb(#11)/A = x03330. So I guess like a B with the open A string ringing?

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Haven't heard that album, Sund4r. Prasanna said he had never paid much attention to Bowie but when Blackstar came out he knew some of the cats who played on it - he had once had Jason Lindner come out to that music school he used to run in Chennai- so he finally tuned in. His wife was already a fan so she helped him go through the catalogue. He had some good players in the band I was unfamiliar with, particularly Swiss-Indian keyboard player Manu Koch, but also an electric bass player named Steve Jenkins.

OK so I'm the sole vote for Reeves?

― got a long list of ilxors (fgti), Wednesday, February 3, 2016 4:49 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nope

Hm. Assume that keyboard player is part Indian due to his name, but web only says Swiss. Anyway sorry for the derail, back to Fripp et al.

Saw the Five Years doc last night and Carlos walks it. Not just, it appears, a lovely human being but someone versatile enough to come on board for Young Americans and stick around until Scary Monsters, playing equally well alongside Earl Slick and Robert Fripp. The bit where he demonstrates how he wrote the guitar parts for Fame is a joy.

Fripp seemed like a very strange man. I've never seen him interviewed before. Like someone constantly enjoying a malevolent private joke.

Whoever said on the RIP thread that Fripp's speaking style had been greatly influenced by his sister is dead right (or perhaps it's mutual). Patricia Fripp is a professional speech coach and I'm sure some of those techniques (say something...stop...wait for it to sink in...don't elaborate...DO YOU SEE) are great for sales teams, pretty jarring for a docu talking head.

Yeah, Alomar is great in that doc. I also like the anecdote about how Bowie named the song following Lennon's groal.