What’s this “sound of freshly-strung electric guitars” business?
If you ever had a guitar, and you put new strings on it, you’d know that’s when a guitar sounds its best. Granted, they tend to de-tune somewhat as they stretch, but new strings have a certain ring and a sound quality they don’t keep for long, even after they’ve been played on just a few times.
Sorry, enough “zen guitar strings”. Why devote a page on a website to this band who had only limited commercial success? You’ve heard the song “Blowin’ Free”, even though you may not recognize the song from the name.
Here’s the scoop. What’s special about this band is that they were the innovators of the legendary twin-lead guitar sound. You could argue that Thin Lizzy or even the Allmans were doing it at the same time, but it’s generally accepted that WA was first.
Bands that came later with two guitarists unwilling to be second-banana to eachother owe them a great debt. No, this is not to say that their guitarists had ego problems– quite the opposite. With a twin-lead arrangement, if one player errs, everybody sounds bad. Talent and team-work are prerequisite.
Obviously, this was a brave departure from the three-chord rock prevalent at the time. And, unfortunately, the pop music-listening masses continued to patronize the pedestrian. Maybe it’s because they didn’t shoot cannons or fireworks, wear make-up, have The Big Hair, or date Cher. They were notorious only for their talent. (Now, come to think of it, they did use that Peter Frampton talk-box thingie a couple of times, but to much better artistic effect I would have to say… but, I digress…)
Now, fast-forward twenty-five-plus years, and… they’re still at it! And, though– except for guitarist Andy Powell– bandmembers change, or leave to pursue other projects, then come back for a while, then go off again– the original vision remains– creating, recording, touring, evolving. Their recent releases “Live at Geneva” and “Illuminations” are worth a listen.
Enjoy the link below.