Essential Solos

My musical taste, despite appearing varied on the surface, is mainly made up of stuff that is full of solos and instrumental breaks. Sorry - it's just the way I am. if this bores you then you could always go and watch X Factor. Here I have listed the best solos ever..... if you dissagree, that's fine....... This section is for anyone who has ever picked up an air guitar.....

Solo Number One - Incubus by Marillion (Fugazi 1983). Soloist - Steven Rothery, Lead Guitar

I have always carried a torch for Marillion. At the same time that music was becoming more and more commercial (this was the age of Stock, Aitken & Waterman), they just got on with their own thing and stuck the Vees up to the rest of the popular music establishment. This solo comes at the climax of one of their best, a long meandering album track with at least three main themes. The guitar solo has to be one of the best ever in the annals of progressive rock - long and loud in the mix, coming after a nice quiet grand piano section.

Solo Number Two - The Rythm Method by Neil Peart of Rush (A Show of Hands 1988). Soloist - Neil Peart, Drums

The Neil Peart solo has been a part of the Rush show right since the early days - back then it was rather awkwardly tagged on to the end of Working Man right at the end of the show. I have chosen to include this one as it it still contains many of the classic Neil elements that were to be found in the early solos - the cowbells for a start. This one was the first solo to encompass the extra stuff - the Simmons Mallet (he had earlier experimented with this on a track called pieces of eight that turned up on a floppy 7" on the cover of Modern Drummer - now a real collectors item). Most remarkable about this solo is that fact that the road crew timed him over many nights and found him to be never plus or minus more than a few seconds from night to night. Now, that is precision. That is the reason I have chosen this solo over the newer ones (O'Barista and Der Trommeler) - as well as how feeble it made me feel when I was 18.

Solo Number Three - Cinema Show by Genesis (Seconds Out 1976). Soloist - Anthony Banks, Keyboards

Where would Genesis be without Tony Banks? Many Genesis tracks contain a keyboard break of some description. Out of a cast of many I have gone for the live version of Cinema Show. This is very long solo, made more fun to listen to as the drums are played by Phil Collins and Bill Bruford during the solo. Tony uses many different sounds during this solo - particulary using an ARP Soloist - perfect for his needs - and a Mellotron was part of the set up too. This is concentrated prog, for grown ups only.

Solo Number Four - Influences by Mark King (Influences 1987). Soloist - Mark King, Bass

Now a bass solo is a tough one to pull off - they nearly always sound pretty bad. When I used to play with Rob Stratford & Goffy, Strat used to play this little bass riff that involved harmonics and light strumming. I was only years later when JP O'Neil introduced me to the Mark King solo album that I realised what Strat had been playing all of those years before! This is great album, and it is only through listening to this that you realise that Mark was not even stretching himself with Level 42 (good musicians though they are). On his solo album he does a Mike Oldfield and plays all but the horn section himself. If you can find this CD then you really should buy it - an overlooked classic.

Solo Number Five - Dance with The Devil (released only as a single in 1973). Soloist - Cozy Powell, Drums

This is the single that made the late Cozy Powell a household name back in the 1970's - and it is still being played on adverts years later. Cozy was already the man in form when the likes of Rainbow asked him to do the honours, but it is for this single that most will remember him. You could argue that this is not a solo as such - most of the track has bass and guitars trying to keep up with him - it is a track designed to bring the drummer to the front - though when it was played on Top of the Pops it invaribly had Pam's People strutting their stuff to it (usually not wearing a great deal) rather than have Cozy and his mates in the Studio!

Solo Number Six - Limelight by Rush (Moving Pictures 1981). Soloist - Alex Lifeson, Guitar

This is the best of the many Rush guitar solos - not just for the performance of Alex, but also that the this is more than just a middle eight, the whole mood of the track changes. The solo starts off slow with one note held whilst Jeddy and Neil start off again, before Alex tas to climb up and down the bar using the tremelo arm. Neil joins him by basically roller coasting up and down the toms until the whole thing starts to descend into chaos. Just before it does, sanity returns and the main theme restarts - only this time neil has speeded up his beat whilst the guys keep it as before. Not done a very good job of describing it have I? Just listen to it.

Solo Number Seven - It's a Hard Life by Queen (The Works 1984). Soloist - Brian May, Guitar

Brian has done some good solos over the years - most people think of Bohemian Rhapsody (particularly the Wayne's World moment). I have chosen this one because it is a very traditional Queen track - which is strange as it is surrounded on this album by stuff that was quite up to date - Radio Ga Ga and Machines. The solo could have belonged on any of the tracks from Queen II or A Night at the Opera and is an example of the perfect guitar solo - OTT and loud.

Solo Number Eight - Time by Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon 1973). Soloist - Dave Gilmour, Guitar

I have raved about this track elsewhere on the site - nothing wrong with that - the song is good enough to be raved about twice. The solo on this song (as it is from just about every DG solo) runs over most of the track, forming part of the chorus (to my ears anyway). Legend has it that when they were recording this album (in Abbey Road), Dave would fire off superb solo after superb solo and Roger Waters would shout ironically shout over the intercom, "I suppose that will do, Dave".

Solo Number Nine - Eruption by Van Halen (Van Halen I 1977). Soloist - Edward Van Halen, Guitar

It stands to reason that the Eddie solo I have chosen would be just that - a solo piece rather than a solo within a track. His playing became the star attraction of the band right from day one. Popular Rock legend has it that he used to turn his back during solos so nobody would be able to copy his insane style! This track is just a collection of runs up and down the fretboard and various trademarks. I remember Strat playing this on the cassette player at an early band practice (in much the same way that Jimmy Rabbit makes the Commitments watch the old concert video of James Brown) and Goffy saying, "I can't even mime to that!".

Solo Number Ten - No Quarter by Led Zeppelin (Song Remains the Same 1973). Soloist - Jimmy Page, Guitar

I bought this old live album on cassette just so I could hear the live "can anyone remember laughter" version of Stairway. On the same side was this gem - No Quarter. Eventually I wore the cassette out I listened to it so many times. No Quarter was an average album track once upon a time, then  the lads went on a world tour and played it so often that they got bored - so they turned it into a twelve minute improv piece (they also turned Dazed & Confused into a 26 minute epic but that is another story). The guitar solo forms the bulk of this track and is perfection.

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