You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?
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A good friend of mine was dating Iggy around that time. Bowie would sometimes pick her up at the airport wherever they were. And another acquaintance, Adrain Belew, played with Bowie, although I'm not quite sure of that timeframe.
@Mik said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
A good friend of mine was dating Iggy around that time. Bowie would sometimes pick her up at the airport wherever they were. And another acquaintance, Adrain Belew, played with Bowie, although I'm not quite sure of that timeframe.
That must have been, uh, interesting.
He's not just crazy, but crazy smart, too. I don't think that comes off in his stage shenanigans, but I'd bet his IQ is up there.My cousin got me into SRV. According to him, he's the greatest guitar player of all time, hands down. I'm going to go ahead and agree. Clapton called him "an open channel." I think that's pretty accurate.
But in addition to that, he was also just a solid guy. When the Thunderbirds were opening for Double Trouble, at a time when SRV was crazy-famous, he brought his bassist over and had him sit near the stage to listen to his brother Jimmie play. "See? Hear that?" he said, "He's still my big brother."
Watching him play with Johnny Copeland is really a trip. The two compliment each other so well, but Stevie looks like he's more happy to play with Copeland than anything else:
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He got fired by Bowie for disappearing without telling anybody to attend Muddy Waters funeral.
Well, that and all the cocaine.
He’s also the guitarist on Let’s Dance and was quite irritated when the video made it look as though Bowie was playing
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He got fired by Bowie for disappearing without telling anybody to attend Muddy Waters funeral.
Well, that and all the cocaine.
He’s also the guitarist on Let’s Dance and was quite irritated when the video made it look as though Bowie was playing
@Doctor-Phibes said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
Well, that and all the cocaine.
That would make sense, Bowie being so straight-edge and all.
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By then he was. During the 70s, the Berlin era, he was still pretty druggy. So was Jimmy. Enough cocaine turns everybody into animals.
@Mik said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
By then he was. During the 70s, the Berlin era, he was still pretty druggy. So was Jimmy. Enough cocaine turns everybody into animals.
SRV got clean, too.
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My understanding is that SRV was in a death spiral in the early 80's before he got himself straightened out. Probably not the easiest guy to work with at that time, particularly for somebody who wanted to put on a big choreographed theatrical show like Bowie.
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My understanding is that SRV was in a death spiral in the early 80's before he got himself straightened out. Probably not the easiest guy to work with at that time, particularly for somebody who wanted to put on a big choreographed theatrical show like Bowie.
@Doctor-Phibes said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
Probably not the easiest guy to work with at that time,
Maybe not but not so bad that Layton and Shannon didn't continue to play with him during that time.
My understanding was that Bowie was very much about Bowie and had a tendency to see others in terms of his own usefulness.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
Probably not the easiest guy to work with at that time,
Maybe not but not so bad that Layton and Shannon didn't continue to play with him during that time.
My understanding was that Bowie was very much about Bowie and had a tendency to see others in terms of his own usefulness.
@Aqua-Letifer said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
@Doctor-Phibes said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
Probably not the easiest guy to work with at that time,
Maybe not but not so bad that Layton and Shannon didn't continue to play with him during that time.
Of course - not to downplay their ability, but without SRV they'd never have been playing those big gigs - for Bowie, the problems would completely outweigh the benefits. Also, he's hardly want to get upstaged by his guitarist or support act.
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The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV. He had a great guitarist in Earl Slick, a player who, next to the late Mick Ronson, knew exactly what Bowie was looking for musically in a lead player. A musician’s musician.
@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV.
Nah, definitely not. And to me it's a very strange pairing.
Please love yourself.
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For some odd reason the thread title made me think of Layla and Duane Allman.
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@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV.
Nah, definitely not. And to me it's a very strange pairing.
@Aqua-Letifer said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV.
Nah, definitely not. And to me it's a very strange pairing.
When I first learned that SRV had teamed up with Bowie on a couple of those tracks I thought it odd as well. If it had been the likes of Robert Fripp or even, Luther Grosvenor, it would not have been odd. On the other hand Bowie was reinventing himself to appeal more to American audiences at the time, so maybe the SRV sound in the background was what he wanted. It obviously worked as the Let’s Dance album put Bowie back at centre stage in the music world.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV.
Nah, definitely not. And to me it's a very strange pairing.
When I first learned that SRV had teamed up with Bowie on a couple of those tracks I thought it odd as well. If it had been the likes of Robert Fripp or even, Luther Grosvenor, it would not have been odd. On the other hand Bowie was reinventing himself to appeal more to American audiences at the time, so maybe the SRV sound in the background was what he wanted. It obviously worked as the Let’s Dance album put Bowie back at centre stage in the music world.
@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
@Aqua-Letifer said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
@Renauda said in You know the song. But did you know the guitarist?:
The fact is that Bowie didn’t need SRV.
Nah, definitely not. And to me it's a very strange pairing.
When I first learned that SRV had teamed up with Bowie on a couple of those tracks I that it odd as well. If it had been the likes of Robert Fripp or even, Luther Grosvenor, it would not have been odd. On the other hand Bowie was reinventing himself to appeal more to American audiences at the time, so maybe the SRV sound in the background was what he wanted. It obviously worked as the Let’s Dance album put Bowie back at centre stage in the music world.
That's a good point. Maybe it did work for what he was trying to do at the time in terms of career. But if that's the case, why take a chance on a coked-out nobody? Texas Flood wasn't even out yet I don't think.
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Don’t know, but Bowie felt SRV had something. I remember reading an interview with Jimmie Vaughn years ago in which the interviewer asks why he had not met with same success as his younger brother. Jimmie simply responded by saying while he was primarily just a hot blues guitarist, Stevie was first and foremost a musician and an artist. Bowie probably saw that in him as well.
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Don’t know, but Bowie felt SRV had something. I remember reading an interview with Jimmie Vaughn years ago in which the interviewer asks why he had not met with same success as his younger brother. Jimmie simply responded by saying while he was primarily just a hot blues guitarist, Stevie was first and foremost a musician and an artist. Bowie probably saw that in him as well.
