Going Solo

The other day for reasons I still don't quite understand, possibly related to the wanderings of an aged mind, I found myself, whilst shaving, reflecting upon guitar solos and their place in my life. Truth to tell, they don't occupy any particularly startling spot as I've never greatly cared for them, despite emerging from a generation of musos to whom the (great) guitar solo was seen as something of significance. (Something similar might be said of the drum solo, but those I care not to think of at all, ever, and never did, though dutifully joining in with the mindless applause when one was completed, all those years ago.)

Anyway in my ruminations upon the guitar solo as a sort of sub-genre of rock music it occurred to me that I could genuinely identify five that seemed to me to be quite wonderful - in fact, five that nail me to the wall each time I hear them - and worth chewing the mental cud over. As someone who likes lists the fact I'd picked out a round five seemed of some small, very small, significance, and I felt obliged, sort of, to make note of them. So here are the guitarists in question - in no particular order of merit, as they say: John McLaughlin, Robert Fripp, Jeff Beck, Richard Thompson, and Bill Frisell.

There are no prizes for guessing the particular solos I have in mind - because you wouldn't stand a chance. But assuming I can find the energy from somewhere I might just enlighten the general public in the next few days, or so. In the meantime I've just bunged on the one by Johnnie Mac, so this is no time to do anything other than listen and luxuriate.