A Playlist Featuring Six Great Classic Rock Guitarists….
So a couple of weeks ago I created a quick playlist of some of my favorite Classic Rocks songs. Then I never listened to it until yesterday when it became the soundtrack of my morning drive to babysit Oliver. Basically, I wanted to listen to some music that would put me in a good mood for what I knew would be a long day of continuous motion!!
I created the playlist by just thinking quickly about some of my favorite bands. The first band that popped into my head was Jefferson Airplane. A while back I came across an album that was released in 2010. Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10/16/66 – Early & Late Shows – Grace’s Debut. I selected two of my Airplane favorite songs from the album “It’s No Secret” and “3/5 of a Mile in Ten Seconds”. One thing that was obvious, when I listened to the tracks, was that the band, at that point in time, was still a work in progress. The foundation was there but things just had to be tweaked a little.
The next tracks came from Ten Years After – I had selected three tracks but the first one “I Woke Up This Morning” didn’t download onto the iPhone. The two others downloaded fine. They were “Good Morning Little School Girl” and “Woodchopper’s Ball” I thought that I had selected “Woodchopper’s Ball” from the Undead album, but I actually had selected the version that was on the band’s self-titled debut album. It’s slightly different but still great!! As I listened to the track, I thought, man Leo Lyons is one underrated bass player!
The next two tracks came from Cream. They were “Crossroads” and “White Room” both from the remastered Wheels of Fire album. Neither of these tracks need any introduction they have both been classic rock staples for years!!
Next up were two tracks from another Classic Rock icon Jimi Hendrix. I picked two tracks from Electric Ladyland “Voodoo Child (Slight Return) ” and “Crosstown Traffic” Again both have been heard on classic rock stations everywhere ,thousands of times through the years!
The next two tracks were from a band that may not be as familiar to as many people The Electric Flag. The tracks are “Texas” and “Killing Floor”. The Electric Flag” featured guitarist Mike Bloomfield and drummer Buddy Miles and it was an attempt to create a blues rock band complete with horns!! And for me they did rock!!
I concluded the set with “Dear Mister Fantasy” from Traffic. The version that I listened to was from The Last Great Traffic Jam an album of recordings from the band’s 1994 reunion tour.
Ok so as I listened to my playlist I realized that what tied most of the songs together was the presence of a great guitarist – Jorma Kaukonen with Jefferson Airplane, Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, Eric Clapton and Cream, Hendrix and Michael Bloomfield with Electric Flag and the guitarist on the Traffic track was Jerry Garcia!! Yup that’s what I love rock music with a great lead guitar!! I probably should have thrown Carlos Santana into the mix!!!
The complete playlist is on the sidebar…….here is The Electric Flag with Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor”
