Since my last post on the insanely great Sister Rosetta Tharpe, I’ve come to learn a great deal about her thanks to a wonderful hour long documentary on her produced by the BBC. The documentary tracks her sensational life and career in complete loving detail. The main thing you take away from the film is that Rosetta was light years ahead of her time. Not only was she a ferocious electric blues guitar player, an anomaly if there ever was one for a female black singer, she was a lesbian in a time and place where such a reality was of the utmost secrecy. Like many women of her time, she had several marriages to men, most notably holding one in a huge ceremony held in a raucous Washington DC baseball stadium. These were basically sham marriages though, with her various male partners abusing or controlling her in some way, either out of cruelty, or robbing her money. Her real heart belonged to other women, and if her secret got out, it would have spelled doom for her career as a gospel singer. The documentary, which I’m presenting below, does a fantastic job of going into the details of Rosetta’s incredible life and her incredible music. I’ve also included one last full clip of Rosetta shredding guitar for the gospel stomper, “Up Above My Head.” All great stuff, all well worth your time.

Prince is one of my heroes, so you might be wondering why the Prince page on my website is fairly barren.  Well, the truth is, I’d probably have every Prince music video and performance I could get my hands on if I could, but Prince and his legal team make it damn near impossible to for anyone on the internet to post his music and videos.  Well, there is one performance that thankfully is available for the public to consume, and that is of Prince’s epic guitar heroics at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Prince was inducted in the same year George Harrison was honored as a solo artist, and so Dhani Harrison, George’s son, invited Prince on stage for the performance of the White Album classic, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”  I read somewhere that Prince had never even heard the song before, though that’s hard to believe as Prince peeled off one of the greatest and most showstopping flawless guitar solos of all time.  What is especially spectacular about the performance is that the man who played the original solo on the record, Eric Clapton, was a bit of a guitar legend too, so Prince had a lot to live up to.  The thing is, sometimes people forget that Prince is Prince.  The man is rightfully one of the greatest musical geniuses of the pop era, and one of the more criminally underrated ones too.  Rumor has it that Prince played such an insanely great solo in response to the snub he felt after being left off of Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 100 guitar players ever list.  Prince proves that he belongs somewhere on that list, perhaps in the top ten, so watch this clip if you’ve never seen it, and take in the “purple’s one’s” majesty of rock.  Oh, and lastly, at the end of the song, Prince hurls his guitar into the sky towards the audience, and it never lands…a new mystery for our time.

The incredible and sweaty bluesman you see in the beginning is Freddie King.  Don’t be confused, this is a Clapton video, but its culled from a never released Martin Scorsese PBS documentary on Clapton’s heroes called, “Nothing But the Blues.”  Well, it was shown, but never released on DVD, one of the mysteries of modern media.  Anyway, this is Clapton at perhaps his most fiery and demonically possessed.  His bends at the 5 minute mark practically bend the whole world, and its the highlight of an absolute rip roaring moment in Clapton’s later career.  The nice thing about Eric Clapton was that the older he got, the more confident he became playing blues, a notion he explains at the end of the video.  To paraphrase George Harrison, when Eric is in the moment, he is so in tune with the music and himself, that he just shines in such a way that’s impossible to deny.  It’s no wonder people compare this guy to God.  Check it out.

So one day, on a crummy radio in the 1940s, Chet Atkins was listening to Merle Travis play guitar.  He thought for sure that what Merle was doing was picking with his thumb and two fingers, because if he was just using his thumb and index finger, it would have been impossible.  It turned out Merle was just using his thumb and index finger, so what Chet accidentally did was invent his own style of guitar playing known as the “Atkins Style.”  Chet was a massively influential and beautiful guitar player who did everything from jazz, folk, country, rock, blues, and even classical.   I have two gorgeous clips of Chet.  One is from 1954, in color no less, of a TV performance he did of “Mr. Sandman,” the song that defines 50s dreaminess.  The other is probably 25 years later or so of him doing Simon and Garfunkel’s immortal “Mrs. Robinson,” all as a stunning guitar solo.  To appreciate Chet, is to appreciate the artistry of the true guitar virtuoso.  His timing, feel, and fluidity are second to none, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the work of a master.

I thought it appropriate to segue from one guitar god to another, this time to Les Paul.  For those who don’t know, old Les was one of the pioneers of electric guitar rock, inventing his own solid body guitar in 1940, arguably the first ever.  He tried selling the design to Gibson, but they rejected it continuously until Leo Fender made waves with his telecaster and stratocaster solid bodies that hit the market in the late 40s.  Les, mainly a brilliant jazz and country player himself, more so then a master inventor, lent his name to a series of electric guitars at the Gibson company, increasing his fame and mythic status in the rock world.  His guitars, especially his 1958 and 1959 standard models, of which only 1700 exist, are the most collectable guitars in the world.  You’d have to shell out about $750,000 for the right to claim ownership.  Everyone from Keith Richards to Jeff Beck to Paul McCartney to Slash all have strapped one on in the name of extravagant rock and roll perfection.  Like I mentioned, Les was himself an insanely amazing guitar player, a feat made more impressive after a ghastly car accident forced doctors to permanently set his right arm at an angle that would allow him to play guitar somewhat comfortably.  In the 50s, he was married to country singer Mary Ford, a voice younger readers might recognize from traveling the wastelands of Fallout 3, the awesome post-apocalyptic video game.  The marriage between Les and Mary didn’t last, but luckily the incredible clips from their TV show produced by Listerine Mouth Wash have.  The spots featured Mary singing and Les picking, and by picking I mean playing his guitar like the world was about to end, and the only way to save it is for Les it beat the devil in a guitar contest.  It’s that good.  As for Les and Mary’s marriage?  Perhaps one of them wasn’t using Listerine, as the bonus video below warns you.  Remember, the key to any marriage, is a fresh smelling breath…

You’d suspect on a site like mine, there would be no shortage of Jimi Hendrix material to peruse through, but alas, this is the first one I’ve got.  It’s not for lack of love for the man, as in fact, I possess great quantities of the emotion for the guy.  I sit firmly in the camp of considering him the greatest rock and roll guitarist ever, a controversial position I know, (wink) and one that requires a bit of elucidation.  When Chuck Berry laid down his signature riff for Johnny B. Goode, he showed the world how electric guitar was all that was really needed for rock and roll.  No offense to Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard’s patented piano lead attack, but the sound and image of the electric guitar would define the genre of music, truly giving the style its rock more than anything else.  Jimi proved this thesis by taking the electric guitar to its logical end point through his experimental rocking.  It’s not like Jimi was technically the best guitar player ever, he was simply the most innovative, and the most in tune with its possibilities.  His insights transformed him into something the world had never seen before, a sort of improvisational Mozart, creating manic symphonies on the spot, all with just one instrument.  Now, with all that said about Jimi changing the world of music with his electric guitar, I present to you quiet acoustic Jimi on 12 string acoustic…Hah!  Don’t worry, electric monster Jimi is coming tomorrow, but no proper introduction of the man would be complete without a thorough discussion on his pioneering efforts in the field of electricity.  This performance of his original, “Hear My Train A Comin,'” is an awesome stunning and intimate look at the man just playing his guitar in a white room, singing the blues.  It’s among the best moments in music history, and luckily its here for all of us to enjoy, so please do.

It’s a star studded part 97 on my youtube countdown, and the stakes are getting higher, and the stars are getting hotter as we close in on 100!  This time I have the undeniably fantastic performance of Carl Perkins and his super friends from the 1985 concert Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session.  Get this.  It’s iconic 50s guitar master Carl Perkins leading Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, psychedelic Cream guitarist Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne, Dave Edmunds, and a SLEW of other slick stars of rock and rockabilly through a medley of joyous numbers.  Carl calls it his rock school, and boy, he is the greatest headmaster ever.  The greatest thing about this jam is that everybody, especially George Harrison, is just beaming with enthusiasm and excitement as they rock and bash their way through “It’s Alright Mama,” “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” “Night Train to Memphis,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin Going On.”  It’s just about the greatest fun in rockabilly ever caught on film, and you’ll want to replay it over and over.  So don’t let me stop you now.  Go cat go!

Part 64 of my youtube countdown introduces Cream, or “the late great Cream” as John Lennon once said in 1968.  That’s right, Cream was a streaking comet of psychedelic blues perfection, blasting through the pop music charts from 1966 to 1968 selling 35 million albums in just two years!  Cream was considered the world’s first rock super-group with its members (Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker) having been in groups like The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, Blues Incorporated, and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers.  “The Tales of Brave Ulysses,” presented below in gorgeous stereophonic crisp color, was from their 1967 masterpiece album Disraeli Gears.  It’s a psychedelic blues fest written by Eric Clapton and Martin Sharp, (an artist who designed the cover to the album above), and it features Ginger’s manic drumming, Jack’s awesome vocal, and of course, Eric’s pounding guitar.  The song is a timeless masterpiece of rock and roll.  I remember when I first heard it when I was 17, driving home from school, and just blasting it on my radio.  I was floored, so I dug out my dad’s old Cream records, got comfy, and ended up having a beautiful afternoon.  So, check em out, the true cream of the crop, CREAM!

In part 41 of my youtube countdown, we take a look at some prodigies. One is an old prodigy by the name of Jeff Beck, the guitar virtuoso of the guitar virtuoso factory known as the Yardbirds (Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page.) The other is the opposite of old, a sexy 24 year old bass whiz by the name of Tal Wilkenfeld. Here, the two team up for a killer jazzy jam with the highlight being a 4 handed bass solo which looks as weird as it is cool. While its an amazing feet that I’m sure was staged, it still looks like Jeff just can’t keep his hands to himself, and that Tal was doing just fine without him. Anyway, its still awesome, and yes we’re all jealous of Tal’s already legendary life on the road.  Enjoy.

Part 21 of my youtube countdown continues with a special Two for Tuesday!  A few weeks ago we saw Chuck Berry rip up “Roll Over Beethoven” on a French TV show in 1958.  It was one of the most iconic moments of all time, and guess what, we’re going back to that very same show for more Berry goodness.  The first vid is Johnny B. Goode, performed with a modified intro solo and sung in a higher key.  Its rollicking.  Next is Maybellene, Chuck’s first hit.  In this performance, Chuck is giving you all his amazing dance moves, PLUS his absolutely killer guitar play.  To me it just looks like he turns his guitar into a piece of rubber, bending it to his demonic rock desires.  It’s just something about the mad look in Chuck’s eyes that makes me feel like that Devil is involved somewhere in making this little moment of awesomeness…Well, anyway, enjoy folks!