Guitarist June 2020

Blanco White is the guise of guitarist, singer and songwriter Josh Edwards, a Brit whose heart belongs in southern Spain and the Andean mountains. In the former, Josh fell for flamenco. In the latter, he learnt charango. Both are pivotal to Blanco White’s otherworldly tunes.

Bruce Springsteen once said he intended to make an album with words like Bob Dylan that sounded like Phil Spector where he sang like Roy Orbison, a nifty summary of many, but not all, of his artistic ambitions and a key to his appeal.

Vocalist Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist Pete Way, and drummer Andy Parker formed the British space metal outfit UFO in 1969. Originally known as Hocus Pocus, the group, which took the name UFO in honor of a London club, debuted in 1971 with UFO 1. Both the album and its follow-up, the same year's Flying, found great success in Japan, France, and Germany, but was barely noticed in the band's native country; as a result, their third effort, 1972's Live, was released only in Japan. In 1974, Bolton left the group; after brief trial runs with ex-Pink Fairies guitarist Larry Wallis and future Whitesnake member Bernie Marsden, former Scorpion Michael Schenker stepped in as a permanent replacement in time to record 1974's Phenomenon, which sported a harder-edged guitar sound. After 1975's Force It and 1976's No Heavy Petting brought UFO increased visibility with American audiences, keyboardist Paul Raymond joined for 1977's Lights Out.

An iconoclast with a large, loyal audience and a long, very successful career, Neil Young has explored a impressive range of styles – from acoustic introspection and wistful country rock to blistering hard rock, electronic experimentation, blues, rockabilly, and heartfelt polemics – while sounding entirely like Neil Young at all times, with his engagingly craggy voice, his flinty sincerity, and unique gifts as a songwriter. Young's creative restlessness is a comfortable match for his prolific nature, and he's not averse to dropping his current fascinations for something else on the drop of a dime, which frustrates some fans but also helps keep his music fresh and full of ideas. Even when he's in relatively familiar musical territory (his electric music with Crazy Horse, his rootsy semi-acoustic work, the intimacy of his solo performances, his thematic albums focusing on life experiences and his take on the world around him), there's a spark of unpredictability that fuels his muse and keeps him in the present day despite a career spanning over seven decades.

Iconic guitarist Frank Zappa’s 1971 touring lineups are showcased on The Mothers 1971, a Super Deluxe box set chock full of previously unreleased tracks. The huge collection features each of the four shows Frank Zappa and The Mothers played to help close down New York City’s Fillmore East on June 5-6, 1971 as well as the group’s full concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London from December 10, 1971 that ended in tragedy and an unreleased hybrid concert documenting performances from Scranton (June 1, 1971) and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (June 3, 1971).

Motörhead were an English rock band formed in June 1975 by bassist, singer, and songwriter Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister (who was the sole constant member), guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. The band are often considered a precursor to the new wave of British heavy metal, which re-energised heavy metal in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Though several guitarists and drummers have played in Motörhead, most of their best-selling albums and singles feature the work of Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor on drums and "Fast" Eddie Clarke on guitars.

When the British Blues Boom exploded in the late 60s it brought to fame such now legendary names as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and John Mayall. But there were many other fine musicians creating great music and establishing their own careers in bands and on record. One of the most important performers was Dave Kelly, a young, multi-talented London-born slide guitarist, singer, composer and bandleader. Dave first came to fame with the John Dummer Blues Band and went on play with Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness in the highly successful Blues Band, while leading a parallel life with his own outfit the Dave Kelly Band.

Debussy’s “Iberism” was made to glide, in the fashion of a synecdoche, towards a clear and declared “Guitarism”. However, the Frenchman’s explicit citations of and allusions to the guitar would suffice to support such theses. If Segovia’s most cherished vision saw the guitar as a “miniature orchestra”, Debussy overturned it. In some cases, he treated the orchestra itself as a “great guitar”. In Matin d’un jour de fête, from Ibéria, he makes his request of imitation explicit, through the indication of “quasi chitarra” asking the violinists to hold the instrument under their arms. The same premise applies to the articulation and interpretation of the piano prelude La sérénade interrompue.