Favourite Guitarists

Kossoff was brilliant in staying within the song- nothing flashy but tasty as hell. The first Free album is my favorite-- it was produced by Guy Stevens (who later went on to produce the Clash for whatever that is worth) for Chris Blackwell at Island. It is not a very produced sounding record- they just let it rip. Which is what blues (even British electric blues) should be. I think Mr. Blackwell took over production of their second album because he wanted a more polished product. (Blackwell had great ears and an affinity for interesting music).

An early UK copy -- doesn’t have to be a first which fetches some money-- of Tons of Sobs-- gives you that band at its unvarnished best in my estimation.

Apparently, Ronnie Van Zant, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s singer, was hugely influenced by Free when he heard them back in the day with Stevie Winwood. Love Kossoff. And Rory G.

With apologies for not reading all the previous posts, I’d submit Eddie Hazel, who played with the early Funkadelics. Listen to the track Maggot Brain and he deserves the mantle of successor to Jimi as much as anybody.

There’s a somewhat obscure guitarist named Ollie Halsall who was a vibraphonist and had that touchtone harmonic thing going on the guitar- he could play these ripping lead lines with harmonic overtones. You can find his work on the two Patto albums released on Vertigo Swirl.

I always loved Leslie West for his tone- his Theme for an Imaginary Western with Mountain is very moving and powerful, with props to Jack Bruce as the songwriter.