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PART 7 THE FAB SIXTIES A.K.A."THE GLORY YEARS" PART 4 (Blues!!!)
Just returned from Portland where I found the most strange, twisted, bizarre and bent piece of guitar luthiery I have EVER encountered... the "fabled" plastic Gibson acoustic fashioned out of an actual vegetable bin of a refrigerator!This square "Bo-Diddley" wanna be is worth a separate story in it's own right, and we're gonna do it! There is only one prototype ever made and I played this crazy, insane instrument built in Kalamazoo to satisfy some stupid request from Norlin's (They used to own Gibson and Moog in the 1970's) corporate headquarters in New York City. You're going to love this! It's BEYOND anyone's belief including my own.
While in Oregon, I was interviewed by Buck Munger's (see "Glory Years Part 3) "Two Louies" magazine columnist, Nancy Rae, for Portland Cable Access regarding my association with VG. In addition, I was met at the airport by video camera crews right in my face from the time I got to the baggage claim area until I left four days later...talk about media blitzkreig! My God, that was a helluva experience; these Oregon people really know how to rock...and HARD.
I met John Koonce of "Johnny & The Distractions" (THE band that started the Pacific North- west's "Garage Band Grunge" thing in 1980 for A & M Records). His new group, "The Gas Hogs", is my pick for superstar status as he is in a catagory of his own. He writes great original songs that pack a HUGE wallup. I was completely out of breath for an hour or so! Watch out for this cat...He's bad. Now, on to the real heart of the matter.
This month's episode will examine how the "Blues" had impacted the "Sixties" era with its wailing, seductive, sound and feel. I want to take a good look at several key players and their roles in how they all took the world by storm with their highly-charged, emotional solo flights. These players are Albert, B.B., and Freddie King, as well as a few other notables in the 60's era such as Michael Bloomfield.
I can remember when I had received my first Telecaster, I was completely over the moon about Albert King's record "Live Wire: Blues Power". That album was responsible for REALLY getting me to play my guitar every moment I could! The Beatles were cool, but Albert just nailed me to the wall with his bends. They were so dynamic and intensely powerful, that I was unable to think about anything but the first solo intro to "Blues Power".
Me and everyone else in the San Francisco Bay area would make the trek up to the Filmore West on the weekends to get our "inspiration" for the week ahead...Lord knows we didn't want to be in school. In fact, all we would do after school was jam in somebody's garage playing that song over and over again until the poor kid's mother couldn't stand the repetition or the heavy dose of volume or Valium that had hit her (whichever came first)!
The Rolling Stones had a very valid point with their commentary on "Mother's Little Helper", that's for damn sure! Albert's influence is still with me to this day (along with about a zillion other players). Let's discuss his particular techniques and his equipment now, as it was very unique to itself and Albert. When his "Blues Power" album came out in 1968, Albert was playing his all-too-familiar 1958 Gibson korina "Flying V" through an Acoustic model 262 amplifier with two Altec Lansing fifteen- inch speakers and a high-frequency horn built into the speaker cabinet.
A BIG part of his sound came from the fact that he played with his thumb instead of with a pick. Like Jimi Hendrix, Albert also was left-handed but he played his guitar strung right-handed or upside-down. The fact that his guitar has 3 tuning pegs on each side of the headstock accounts for the tension being the same on each side, where Jimi's six-in-line arrangement on his Stratocaster altered the string's tension for his situation, which was, of course played with right-hand stringing, but played left-handed.
This might be of interest to you, as Stephen White worked on Albert's guitar two weeks before he passed away in December of 1992: Albert did not play in standard tuning... he used an altered tuning which was from the high "E" string down: D, A, F, C, F, and C. Remember, this is upside-down! This is an open F6 tuning (with the fifth or "C" in the bass for second inversion) for those of you who have to know. Unfortunately, both Stephen and yours truly somehow misplaced Albert's gauge preferences at the time, but I do recall them as starting at a .009 and going down to a .052. I will report them when I find my notes.
Some of you may have noticed that Albert's tone changed a bit after the 1970's arrived. The main difference was that nasty change to the nickel-plated string that we discovered to be a lot more "twangy" with a tremendous loss to the bottom end of the tonal spectrum. You can even detect the difference playing with your thumb! In his final days, I saw Albert play his gigs with a Roland Jazz Chorus amp which utilized two twelve-inch speakers in an open-back enclosure. Yup, that's a far cry from his closed-back 2-15" cabinets with the horn.
Albert put so much thumb "meat" into his strings, that his Altec's high-end wouldn't take your head off like they would've if you attacked them with a pick. A much warmer sound resulted and it didn't reek too much of "Solid-State". A great example of this sound was witnessed on the album "I'll Play the Blues for You" released in 1972. Albert's album "Born under a Bad Sign" is also another fabulous record worth listening to. It came out around 1967 and has Booker T. Jones' band the "Bar-kays" featuring Steve Cropper on guitar, "Duck" Dunn on bass, and the aforementioned Mr. Jones on keyboards. Shades of the "Blues Brothers"!
Next on our agenda is B.B. King; especially his 1964-65 release of "Live at The Regal" album. This is the classic record for me as his tone was really good when compared to his other albums after this period. B.B. was playing a Gibson ES-335 for this outing (not the ES-355 that graces the re-vamped cover of the modern re-issue records and C.D.s). I really believe that his "Regal" tone came from a Fender Super Reverb of the same vintage. To my knowledge, B.B. favored the Gibson 740-XL set of strings that are gauged .009,.011,.014,.022,.030, and .038 during the 60's up until recently when Gibson came out with a B.B. King "Signature" set that is gauged .010,.013,.017,.032,.045, and .054. It seems as though B.B. is getting a bit more brave as his career goes on! I saw B.B. play in Reoun, France, during my trip to Europe at an outdoor festival. My observations are that his sound is MUCH more distorted than in the past. An important note about your own sound; pay real attention to microphone placement... IT IS CRUCIAL!! An eighth of an inch can make ALL the difference in the world, especially when you are playing outside where your sound spreads into oblivion. At this particular venue, B.B. was an innocent victim of improper mike placement: The mikes were right on the dome (or center) of the speaker of his amp (a Lab Series L-5 combo built by Moog Music in the late 1970's). This made the amp sound thin and tinny, but that famous "B.B. vibrato" made me forgive the poor sound technicians as they didn't have a clue to what they were doin'. When it comes to proper mike placement, I find that if you put the microphone at an angle on the edge or "spider" of the speaker, you get much better tonal reproduction. By the way, we will converse more about B.B. King in the future, because he has some really boss records from the 1950's that are worth disecting; we'll get to that after we're finished with the "Sixties"...we have a long way to go yet.
Just to break things up a bit, let's study the "American Eric Clapton" alias Michael Bloomfield. Michael was (instrumental?) in the mid-sixties "Blues Revival" scene when he came into prominence with Paul Butterfield. His group's debut album, "The Paul Butterfield Blues Band" was initially released in 1965. From the album's photos (and the sound), Bloomfield used a blonde Telecaster with a rosewood fingerboard through Black-face Twin Reverbs. When the second record entitled "East-West" was released, his sound got a lot bigger.
There is a funny parallel to this saga; across the Atlantic in the same year (1966), Eric Clapton started playing a vintage sunburst Les Paul around the same time-frame. Bloomfield was using a Les Paul through Twins, while Clapton was using his through the Marshall combos, but it was Bloomfield who almost single-handedly popularized the use of the Les Paul sunburst (and Les Pauls in general) in this country. Just listen to the second chorus of his solo from "The Work Song" and you'll get religion!
Live, he would use two Twins cranked to the max. Later on, he was a member of the "Electric Flag" whose album " A Long Time Comin'" was full of Bloomfield's genius. Very shortly thereafter, Mike recorded a record with Stephen Stills and Al Kooper called "Super Session". Stills was using a three-pickup black Les Paul Custom a la Keith Richards on this record.
What do Albert King and Stephen Stills have in common? They both play without a pick! Bloomfield was continuing his assault on the 'Burst at the time, with what sounds like his old set-up of Fender Twins. We can't forget the fact that Bloomfield used a P-90 Gold-top Les Paul prior to his change to the Sunburst, either. These four records will give you plenty to drool over as they are just as fresh today as when they came out back then. Michael used a regular .010-.046 gauge string during this period, but changed to a slightly heavier set which I recall being somewhere around .011 to a .048 on the bass side.
This happened not too long before his tragic drug-related death in San Francisco. Boy, this was yet another devastating loss for the musical (as well as the Blues) community. I still miss him in a big way. Okay, the tour can't be complete without the guy who influenced more of the British Blues players: Mr. Freddie King. This third gentleman of the "King Family" was really critical to the evolution of the blues as we know it today. Recently, there has been a re-issue C.D. pressed up in Canada called "Freddie King: Blues Guitar Hero" on the Ace label. It is mandatory for anyone who is interested in the Blues to listen to this gem!
It is LOADED with all of the songs that made Freddie famous; like "Sidetracked", "Hideaway", "The Stumble", "Have You ever Loved a Woman", this complete 24 song compilation is THE definitive collection in anyone's book. Freddie's tone, vibrato and savage attack along with his gutsy vocals are simply astonishing. His sound was produced using a ES-345 style guitar with a massive "Tweed" punch for amplification. This collection dates from 1961-1964 and as far as I'm concerned, it's the shit!
Freddie was "The Bible" for all of the notable English players like Eric Clapton and Peter Green. We might as well throw in Mick Taylor for good measure, too! Just as a matter of course, Freddie has also been known to use a P-90 version Gold-top Les Paul in addition to the Gibson ES-345 he was most often seen with. Have you ever noticed that a majority of the real black bluesmen seemed to prefer the P-90 style single-coil pickups instead of humbuckers? It's my guess that T-Bone Walker's mojo really had a lingering effect on 'em for quite a spell...
I know I just get the nastiest sound out of my 1956 Les Paul Junior. All of my guitarist friends lovingly refer to it as the "Grungemeister". No fuss, no muss, just pure simple "nail your back to the wall" cranial battery!! Next month, we shall continue our coverage of "Blues: American-Style" as there are a few more players and details to investigate. More facts and figures continue to emerge on a (seemingly) never-ending daily basis.
My thanks to Laurent and Dominique Olszer of Paris for their hospitality and endless supply of insane vintage instruments which just blew my mind. Just when I thought I saw everything...you get the picture? Manic depression sets in when you see what Laurent owns, God forbid! Also, extra special thanks to all the people of Prague including Alex and Monika Kralik, Jitka Burianova, and all of the employees of the Midu Hotel and Hotel Qent in Jiloviste who made my trip "home" so enjoyable. I promise you I'll be back in a flash. Last but not least, my favorite Countess; Marta Czernin von Chudenitz, who went beyond the call of duty (even if I had to watch and "water" your dog from time to time). My thanks to Buck Munger, Nancy Rae, and Buko along with the entire staff of "Two Louies" magazine for spreading the gospel of "Vintage Guitar" in such a nice, eloquent way. I was very proud to participate in the "Rancher Media Open" and I will be there for as long as it continues.
Copyright 1994 by Dean L. Farley
Reprinted from "Vintage Guitar" October 1994 issue.