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[Pierre Von Mondragon]

....is something I think we have all heard, but I thought of it again recently, when listening to 'Drums and Wires' by XTC, not that any of the songs on that are substandard, but one of the slightly less titanically brilliant songs on it, 'Reel by Reel' has a jaw-droppingly awesome wee solo on it, which made me think that Dave Gregory perhaps thought that tune needed it most.

But there are 2 tracks which I think exemplify this syndrome are;
In second place, 'Paradise City', the weakest song on 'Appettite...' by a mile, boring boring, Slash obviously knows this so adds end section (I'm making this up of course) and that furious lead over it, and whenever I hear that tune my immediate reaction is 'hope they leave the solo on' coz it makes it.

First of all though, the tune that made me think this in the first place, the only blot on 'Electric Ladyland' the Noel Redding twee-fest that is 'Little Miss Strange'. All the worst 60's psych rock cliches combined with some of the poorest lyrics ever, topped off with Noel's nasal squwack, dismal in a word. Now Jimi knows this, but probably wants to secure Reddings pension fund for the future (not that it stopped the miserable cunt being bitter about not getting enough songwriting), and so to try and save the song and album Rips out a masterclass or three in lead guitar, switching tones mid phrase, adjusting the feel of his playing, basically trying to give the listener a reason to persist with this pish and not turn it off. Does it work? well I never skip it so it must

What other dodgy tracks have been rescued by a spot of virtuosity (not just guitar if you want), and did it succeed or fail, you tell me.

[paul-shand]

Invincible by muse, not a fan of muse or bellamys vocal style, but the solo is sheer awesome. makes me look forward to it

and freebird, i either got to listen to the whole 9min version or isnt worth it, cant be bothered with the little snippit of the solo that djs play

[scottyboy]

most of the stuff i've heard by dream theater and metallica.

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

Bellamy's comments on Yngwie in the new, *ahem nme, are hysterical.

[stuartmaxwell]

matt sweeny on the zwan album

[Jimmy Lucifer]

Originally Posted by scottyboy

most of the stuff i've heard by dream theater and metallica.

I don't rate the majority of Metallica's solos at all (even though they were one of my favourite bands when I was a nipper). I'd much rather listen to Hetfield's "Nothing Else Matters" solo over and over again than most of Kirk's widdling. Apart from "The Unforgiven". Now THAT'S a solo!

[emergency72]

While not substandard songs, I've always thought Mike Thorne's keyboard/piano contributions to Wire's songs (particularly Outdoor Miner and Another The Letter) really add another dimension to their music and make the songs come alive.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Pierre Von Mondragon

First of all though, the tune that made me think this in the first place, the only blot on 'Electric Ladyland' the Noel Redding twee-fest that is 'Little Miss Strange'. All the worst 60's psych rock cliches combined with some of the poorest lyrics ever, topped off with Noel's nasal squwack, dismal in a word. Now Jimi knows this, but probably wants to secure Reddings pension fund for the future (not that it stopped the miserable cunt being bitter about not getting enough songwriting), and so to try and save the song and album Rips out a masterclass or three in lead guitar, switching tones mid phrase, adjusting the feel of his playing, basically trying to give the listener a reason to persist with this pish and not turn it off. Does it work? well I never skip it so it must

I hear what you are saying about the twee-ness and cliched nature of Little Miss Strange, but have to admit i can't remember the solo but remember the verse and chorus very well, so Redding (or Crofty as i call him, purely coz this guy at my school called Paul Crofts looked like him) must have been doing something right, twee? yes, cliched? yes, daft lyrics? damn right, I still like it though, maybe I'm just simple minded.

Can't think of many other examples right now, sure there must be plenty others, but I think more often good solos and strong other elements flock together. Was something similar on one of the programmes on BBC 4's Pop documentary season last night though. That egg-head Charles Hazelwood pointing out that often the strongest parts of songs can be the work of arrangers and session musicians, and almost nothing to do with the main artist & credited writers - eg the sax solo in "Gerry Rafferty's" Baker Street (probably the most recognisable part of "Gerry Rafferty's work").

[RF Scott]

Originally Posted by stuartmaxwell

matt sweeny on the zwan album

Don't forget Pajo.