The SUBSIM Music Thread

[Mr Quatro]

[Jimbuna]

[Rockstar]

[Eisenwurst]

A question for vienna....The B52s completely changed their style and "direction" with Ricky Wilson's death. Him and Kate were the backbone of the group. He used unconventional tuning. mixing the strings, and even leaving some out.

I'm no guitarist, but I think he's great.

What's "the word on the street?" How good was he ???

[Jimbuna]

[u crank]

Steely Dan - I Got The News

[Jimbuna]

[Commander Wallace]

Great guitar instrumental, Rockstar.

From Trans Siberian Orchestra and originally a Savatage song with lead guitarist Al Pitrelli who played with both Savatage and and Trans Siberian Orchestra along with vocalist, Jon Oliva.


This is Believe with the incredible Jon Oliva on vocals.

[Texas Red]

This is a tribute to the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald which was a Great Lakes Freighter that sank in a gale on November 10, 1975.
She was 15 miles out of the safety of Whitefish Bay. Such a sad song. All 29 crew members lost their lives.

I went to Whitefish Point and saw the naval museum there. I'm a big nerd on the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Point is, she never should've been out there.

[Jimbuna]

[vienna]

Originally Posted by Eisenwurst

...

A question for vienna....The B52s completely changed their style and "direction" with Ricky Wilson's death. Him and Kate were the backbone of the group. He used unconventional tuning. mixing the strings, and even leaving some out.

I'm no guitarist, but I think he's great.

What's "the word on the street?" How good was he ???

Ricky Wilson was very good, but even he didn't know why; I recall an article in one of the guitar magazines at the time The B52s broke big and Ricky was first noticed; he was asked about his playing style and tunings and he honestly could not explain how he got his sound; he apparently had a habit of randomly tuning his guitar to suit whatever he wanted to play, so he didn't really keep track of his tunings in a formal manner; remember, he learned to play guitar from a TV series on folk guitar when he was a kid, so he had no formal education nor knowledge of standard notations and probably didn't have much use for 'tab' notation. His lack of ability to 'explain' his playing style is not that unusual; a lot of self-taught musicians developed what more formally trained musicians would consider 'off-beat' or even 'wrong' playing styles because their playing abilities and approach to music evolved in a more organic, rather than studied, framework: it sounded good, it was playable to their needs, and, as Wes Montgomery said when asked how he developed his octave playing style, nobody told them "it was wrong"...

Ricky Wilson is respected for his playing abilities, but he isn't as revered as some other players because the mechanics of his playing were so out of the norm; this is something not that unusual; for example, Stevie Ray Vaughn's guitars were setup in a manner other players found to be unplayable; Nile Rodgers of Chic, and a well known record producer and no slouch as a guitarist in his own right, described how, while working with SRV in the studio, he picked up Stevie's guitar and tried to play it and found it unmanageable (conversely, SRV tried one of Nile's guitars and promptly broke a couple of the strings due to his playing style, for which SRV apologized profusely, but Nile actually felt a bit honored SRV had tried his guitar at all); for some guitarists, it is a blend of guitar, technique and technology that sets apart their sound; U2's The Edge uses guitars set up in particular ways, uses open and alternate tunings, and, obviously uses a lot of gear to get his unique sound; there is story of how Ted Nugent got a taste of The Edge's approach when he tried to use one of The Edge's guitars; Nugent and U2 were on the same bill for a musical event and Nugent went up to U2's stage setup after the band had completed a soundcheck and had left the statge; he picked up The Edge's guitar, fired up the amps, and started to try to play, only to produce a horrendous sound; the guitar was tuned in way unfamiliar to Nugent and was set up in a way he couldn't master; he tried but couldn't get it to work; he looked up to see The Edge's guitar tech looking at him with a broad smile on his face; the tech said "Don't feel bad, mate; I've worked with him for years and I still don't really know how he does what he does"...

So, Ricky Wilson played guitars that were unplayable, in tunings even he couldn't explain or describe, and he used techniques other guitarists couldn't follow; sounds about right for an original. And, yes, the B52s did change style and direction after Ricky passed away, but they had no choice: nobody else could play the way Ricky did; if you listen to live B52s recordings after Ricky, they sound off because the feel, tone and style Ricky had are missing. For a reference point, imagine what U2 would sound like if The Edge left the group and another, less gifted, guitarist took his place...

Ricky Wilson jammed with several bands in his very brief career, but he only recorded one track with artists other than the B52s; I thought he had played with Richard Hell, and I thought it was with Hell's band The Voidoids; it turns out Ricky actually played with Tom Verlaine, who had just left the band Television, of which Hell was a member, so I had the right basic idea, but the wrong group/artist:








<O>

[Jimbuna]

[Eisenwurst]

Thanks vienna. I'm sure Ricky's smiling as he reads that on "the other side".

I really feel for his sister and fellow bandmate Cindy, who adored her talented brother, and was devastated by his untimely death and afterwards had ( in her own words ) "many bad years".

[Texas Red]

Sadly, I find that most singers go out in such untimely and terrible matters.
We have lost many good, wait no, amazing singers to terrible matters.
Like Freddie Mercury.
My favorite song of his is this:

My grandpa and mom play the guitar. My grandpa plays "The Ballad of Blue" That is what he calls it, I'm not sure if he made it himself, but it is a really sad song about a dog's life. Always makes me cry.

[Jimbuna]