My favourite music
"Music is the best" - Frank Zappa
As soon as I heard The Shadows, I knew that the guitar was the instrument for me and I started playing when I was 11, taking a few lessons when I was 13. After that, I became self-taught and played on and off in many bands for the next 34 years.
Along the way, I listened to a wide variety of music which sometimes influenced and inspired me.
Here are some of the people who I can recommend, not simply as guitarists, but also as great musicians who still give me a lot of pleasure today. I'm very interested in trading tapes of all these people, but I only have a good collection of Zappa concert tapes to trade. However, I have a few interesting items by the others, so e-mail me to get full details if you like.
As soon as I heard Jimi in 1966 playing "Hey Joe" I was hooked! I only got to see him once. It was in Spalding, U.K. in 1967. He was sharing the bill with Cream, Pink Floyd, The Move and Zoot Money. What a line-up! The gig took place in the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall and inside the building, which resembled a huge cattleshed, we all crammed in like hippy sardines. What with dust from the bulbs and various types of smoke, you could have cut the air with a knife. Still, great gig! Jimi smashed up a Strat - a red one if I recall correctly. Cream came on next and Clapton, in an attempt not to be upstaged, proceeded to kick in the speaker cloth of one of his Marshall cabs. I read somewhere that the promoters cleared off with the ticket money, leaving the bands unpaid.
I have all Jimi's official releases and a bit of bootleg stuff. My favourite album is "Electric Ladyland". My favourite track would have to be any live version of "Redhouse".
Frank Zappa
I first heard Zappa in 1967. A friend of mine bought "We're Only In It For the Money" and I just creased up when I heard some of the funny stuff on it. Later, I discovered that Frank was a musical genius, as well as a very funny man, and I now have all his legitimate releases and a lot of concert tapes.
I've seen him twice. Once on the '84 tour at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, and once in '88 at Wembly Arena on the "Broadway The Hard Way" Tour. Why not click here to share some of the memories I have of these concerts? I have tapes of both shows and they're amongst my most precious musical possessions.
It's futile to say which of Zappa's albums I like best, as there are so many for all sorts of moods that my choice changes from day to day - the same goes for my favourite Zappa track. However, if pressed, I'd have to say that "One Size Fits All" is the one album I'd hate never to hear again.
Danny Gatton
OK, he's not very well known, but he surely could play. Danny could play in almost any style with great skill and with much humour. His influences included Rockabilly, Les Paul, jazz, country and just about everything else.
I have most of his official releases and a few concert tapes which I'm offering for trade. You'll find details on my Danny Gatton trading list .
The Byrds
I've been a fan since day 1. Sony are currently remastering the back catalogue and have 3 out of the 11 original albums left to release. I have to admit to a preference for the earlier versions of the band. Songs like "Mr Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High" still sound as fresh to me as they did all those years ago. And they say that nostalgia isn't what it used to be!
I've never seen the band, but I caught their lead singer, Roger McGuinn at a local music venue near where I live last year, as part of his solo tour. He was good, but I missed hearing the Rickenbacker 12 string for which he is justly famous. Speaking of which……if you click
here, you can go to a part of my page that is all about a certain very famous and very controversial guitar - McGuinn's Rickenbacker 12 string which went missing for years, but has now turned up.