My point exactly, no one knows who he is. If I started a thread with the title "Do you know who Al Di Meola is?" 75% would answer either no or carrots.
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Most underrated guitarist.
- Thread starter A. D. Fairhurst
- Start date
My point exactly, no one knows who he is. If I started a thread with the title "Do you know who Al Di Meola is?" 75% would answer either no or carrots.
Danny Gatton. Guitar player use to call him the best guitar player you never heard of.
My pick hasn't been mentioned on any of the 3 pages so far, so he's either rated very highly and not considered underrated or he's well out of mind and beneath the collective lowly listed here....
<Bill Bruford drum roll, please.....>
Robert Fripp
Too many people only see Fripp as weird or quirky, that guy who plays nasty angular inconsistent dark music and less-than-nice scales and tonalities, tunes his guitar funny, makes wall of sound, ofttimes plodding unpleasant ambient improvisational music, etc. etc.
I'd argue that if one thinks this way of him, one doesn't know the scope of Fripp: innovative, experimental, certainly edgy sometimes, and certainly over his history, at least in earlier decades, less likely to be predictable and repeat himself. But in my fan-dom of KC, I came to recognize his overall musicianship, well beyond his guitar craft. His merging of styles, his deft movement from spikey guitar with those infinite sustained lead line notes (see: LIZARD, at the end of Battle of Glass Tears) - as well as his moments of NOT playing guitar, but as composer, arranger (see: Islands, Prelude: Song of the Gulls, or even his treatment of Gustav Holst's Mars on In The Wake of Poseidon - called The Devil's Triangle, mostly on Mellotron).
But he also has such beautifully delicate clean Les Paul work, for example, on his solo album Exposure, behind singer Terre Roche on the song Mary, or behind Daryl Hall on North Star. From jazz chordals (Happy Family) to banjo slap echo sounding octave power chords (Sailor's Tale) to near Flight-of-the-Bumble-Bee psuedo silent movie music with Nicky Hopkins on Suite No. 1 (Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp), not to mention the ground breaking Discipline, The League of Crafty Guitars, Fripp & Eno, guest spots with Peter Gabriel, Van Der Graaf Generator, David Bowie, David Sylvian.... on and on.
Electric, clean and bell-like to unidentifiably processed, acoustic steel and nylon, Mellotron, synthesizers, even funny voices ("I know a man and his name is George" and "The Saga of Rodney Toady")
And goodness, the stellar players that he's worked with on bass from Lake to Wetton to Levin, plus.
The man least likely to ever be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it seems.
I confess that I haven't embraced everything that Fripp touches, but some of that is, it seems, more by association with some of his band line up choices. But that notwithstanding, he's one broad and deep fellow to my ears. Not *just* a guitarist.
> psssst, hey Bob, do I get my 5 quid now? <
<Bill Bruford drum roll, please.....>
Robert Fripp
Too many people only see Fripp as weird or quirky, that guy who plays nasty angular inconsistent dark music and less-than-nice scales and tonalities, tunes his guitar funny, makes wall of sound, ofttimes plodding unpleasant ambient improvisational music, etc. etc.
I'd argue that if one thinks this way of him, one doesn't know the scope of Fripp: innovative, experimental, certainly edgy sometimes, and certainly over his history, at least in earlier decades, less likely to be predictable and repeat himself. But in my fan-dom of KC, I came to recognize his overall musicianship, well beyond his guitar craft. His merging of styles, his deft movement from spikey guitar with those infinite sustained lead line notes (see: LIZARD, at the end of Battle of Glass Tears) - as well as his moments of NOT playing guitar, but as composer, arranger (see: Islands, Prelude: Song of the Gulls, or even his treatment of Gustav Holst's Mars on In The Wake of Poseidon - called The Devil's Triangle, mostly on Mellotron).
But he also has such beautifully delicate clean Les Paul work, for example, on his solo album Exposure, behind singer Terre Roche on the song Mary, or behind Daryl Hall on North Star. From jazz chordals (Happy Family) to banjo slap echo sounding octave power chords (Sailor's Tale) to near Flight-of-the-Bumble-Bee psuedo silent movie music with Nicky Hopkins on Suite No. 1 (Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp), not to mention the ground breaking Discipline, The League of Crafty Guitars, Fripp & Eno, guest spots with Peter Gabriel, Van Der Graaf Generator, David Bowie, David Sylvian.... on and on.
Electric, clean and bell-like to unidentifiably processed, acoustic steel and nylon, Mellotron, synthesizers, even funny voices ("I know a man and his name is George" and "The Saga of Rodney Toady")
And goodness, the stellar players that he's worked with on bass from Lake to Wetton to Levin, plus.
The man least likely to ever be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, it seems.
I confess that I haven't embraced everything that Fripp touches, but some of that is, it seems, more by association with some of his band line up choices. But that notwithstanding, he's one broad and deep fellow to my ears. Not *just* a guitarist.
> psssst, hey Bob, do I get my 5 quid now? <
Pete Townsend of the Who. He is a brilliant composer and performer who invented the windmill technique that is often copied but never duplicated. The Who were playing punk long before anyone coined the term. My Generation is a perfect example, loaded with attitude.
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Brad Whitford of Aerosmith......IMHO never got/gets the credit he deserves for being a great guitarist
I discovered Linc not too long ago, and I agree, he seems to have endless ideas that all are cool AND sound nice, not just chops or "angular" attempts at sounding new. Another guy I just discovered is Ralph Towner, his album from the late 70's called Batik has become a favourite. I love that era of Abercrombie too...such nice lines and vibe.
Seems like a lot of the "player's players" from a few years back are getting lost on the current generation since their techniques have been absorbed and expanded upon - Roy Buchanan, Gatton, even Steve Morse, McLaughlin, and Steve Howe. I grew up listening to these dudes on cassette, love the fire and the chops and bold music.
I also really love Grant Green's funky soul jazz era from the late 60's, and his album Matador. Not sure if he's considered underrated, lesser known, or whatever. Check that stuff out, great grooves! Lots of them have been sampled for rap and breakbeat stuff.
Add Dickey Betts, Peter Frampton, Nancy Wilson, and George Thorogood. Where I live, these were all highly acclaimed in their day.
You are one of the few who have discovered Linc....His son is trying to keep his music alive...his songs have like 75 hits in years of being up on YOU tube......He was unreal!! The old vinyl is impossibly rare!
I wouldn't consider Jeff Beck underrated. He gets all kind of notice/attention. He's one of my favorites though.
Elliot Easton though, absolutely.
