#PAUL MCCARTNEY BASS PRO#
From present day indie rockers to anyone who played in an amateur or pro band in the past half century, to the most dedicated followers of any permutation of rock’s limitless sub-genres - Mo Foster’s extensively researched and entertaining tome is essential reading. Foster has authored the definitive book on a subject that would have otherwise been lost for present and future generations of rockers: British Rock Guitar: The First 50 Years – The Musicians and Their Stories, which is available via Northumbria Press. If American impresario Sid Bernstein had not made that historic phone call to Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, we would have had to suffer through 50th Anniversary celebrations of Pat Boone, The Kingsmen, Bobby Rydell and Bobby Vinton!Įnter UK bassist Mo Foster - renowned amongst musos for his brilliant work in the recording studio and on stage with hundreds of artists including Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Phil Collins, Gil Evans and the London Symphony Orchestra - and likely several uncredited sampled tracks by hip-hop artists. Even Jimi Hendrix had to migrate to London to be noticed. And for the record (pun intended), the Fab Four’s guitar-wielding peers, namely the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, The Who, Kinks and Animals, made a lasting sonic imprint that the Yanks couldn’t touch. Ferry, Bowie and Bolan in preparation for a high-school gig to the scores of alienated youth who found salvation in the sounds of Robert Smith’s Fender Jazzmaster - some of us owe our lives, for better or worse, to British rock guitar.ĭespite Mo’s above referenced proclamation, along with the general consensus that Americans officially invented rock ‘n’ roll by pillaging bits and pieces of country and blues whist cranking up the volume - and that Elvis was somehow referred to as “King” even in the presence of Chuck Berry - it was the Brits by way of The Beatles who transformed rock ‘n’ roll from adolescent novelty music to an art form that refuses to become irrelevant no matter how hard some celebrated personalities and television networks try. In addition, a post-war trade embargo which lasted until 1960 meant we couldn’t buy anything American - how could we play this music seriously without Gibsons or Fenders?” - Mo Fosterįrom the Baby Boomers who experienced the British Invasion firsthand and started a band, to the seventies teens who rummaged through mom’s closet to approximate the appearance of Messrs. To learn the guitar we had to listen to solos by James Burton, Cliff Gallup, Chet Atkins or Buddy Holly - either on 78 RPM records, or radio stations such as Luxembourg or Voice of America. In the late 1950s there were no UK role models for the electric guitar, except for a middle-aged player named Bert Weedon, who wrote a book at the time called Play In a Day. By Tom Semioli / Huffington Post / May 2014
0 kommentar(er)
