Guitar Gear Forum

Telephant wrote:... he's still rippin' out covers of Steppin' Out (not that that I blame him ).

GuitarBilly wrote:JB also needs to team up with a strong songwriter. He writes the most forgettable stuff ever. I sometimes think he just writes songs as a vehicle for him to solo over.

to both. I would definitely do a Bluesbreaker only thing, and splatter pentatonic wankery all over it.


The song piece is one of my only complaints about Joe. The last record he did IMO didn't change that

It's why I can listen to Govt Mule for days straight - killer straight up songs.

pamukParty wrote:It's why I can listen to Govt Mule for days straight - killer straight up songs.

100% agreed.

For sure. Hughes was definitely involved in the songwriting and it certainly helped a lot. But still, while this was the strongest material Bonamassa had to date... in comparison to "Burn" or "Stormbringer" or even "Fused" it's below average for Hughes. Which seems to point out to Bonamassa being the weak link there

OMG, Govt Mule is at another level altogether. There is no comparison.

GuitarBilly wrote:

JiveTurkey wrote:

GuitarBilly wrote:JB also needs to team up with a strong songwriter. He writes the most forgettable stuff ever. I sometimes think he just writes songs as a vehicle for him to solo over.

Did you ever check out Black Country Communion? Pretty solid classic/hard rock, imo.

Yeah I have their records. They're good I can't say anything bad about it, but still not quite strong enough IMHO...
Keep in mind I was a Glen Hughes fan way before I even heard of Joe and coming from that perspective, well... Hughes + Blackmore or Hughes+Iommi or even Hughes solo are better than Hughes+Bonamassa..

So it's a highlight for Bonamassa fans, but not so much for Hughes fans.. they're good albums though.

I honestly never listened to much Hughes before BCC. Nor Bonamassa, for that matter.

Telephant wrote:Not to mention pretty sure Hughes was heavily involved with the writing of a lot of those songs... Hell, the songs he sings on may have been written just by him, but I never looked that much into it.

Most likely. The vocal melodies were really good I thought. Especially for an old cat like Hughes to belt it out like he did; so it would make sense if he did the lion's share of the songwriting. I would honestly love to hear Joe on something heavier. Obviously he's not going to go rip on some grindcore but even something commercially-gnarly like Mastodon would sound good with him imo. I am not really a blues guy so I am definitely not JB's target market by any strech.

GuitarBilly wrote:For sure. Hughes was definitely involved in the songwriting and it certainly helped a lot. But still, while this was the strongest material Bonamassa had to date... in comparison to "Burn" or "Stormbringer" or even "Fused" it's below average for Hughes. Which seems to point out to Bonamassa being the weak link there

Weirdly enough I am really like a bunch of the riffs/songs and playing but it's the lyrics that don't hit me with BCC. Course Joe's lyrics are a different shade of blue

But dude can rip mean pentuplet licks


Another Mule thing... they are the whole package. Great tones, great songs, and lyrics that do hit. I throw them up there as pretty much the gold standard in the last 15 years for bluesish classic rock.

JiveTurkey wrote:I honestly never listened to much Hughes before BCC.

Oh man... missing out on some good shit.... aside from the obvious Deep Purple albums ("Burn", "Stormbringer", "Come Taste..." and the live albums), he's done some killer stuff over the years.


With Iommi:

[video]http://youtu.be/mKf3liH2FT8[/video]

[video]http://youtu.be/tzRcmNkoYRo[/video]

Solo stuff (with Marc Bonilla on guitar) :

[video]http://youtu.be/ZL9RG87ASNI[/video]


This stuff is better than the BCC records IMHO.

Dude can play the hell out of a guitar, probably the best guitarist alive in terms of chops and technicality. That said, I don't own any of his albums, but have been to see him live a few times. Who cares if he's not writing the hippest pop tune of the year? I think songs that are vehicles for jamming are perfect for guys like him, but then again, I love masturbatory guitar solos by guys who can play them.

itchyfingers wrote:Dude can play the hell out of a guitar, probably the best guitarist alive in terms of chops and technicality. That said, I don't own any of his albums, but have been to see him live a few times. Who cares if he's not writing the hippest pop tune of the year? I think songs that are vehicles for jamming are perfect for guys like him, but then again, I love masturbatory guitar solos by guys who can play them.

No.

GuitarBilly wrote:

JiveTurkey wrote:I honestly never listened to much Hughes before BCC.

Oh man... missing out on some good shit.... aside from the obvious Deep Purple albums ("Burn", "Stormbringer", "Come Taste..." and the live albums), he's done some killer stuff over the years.

Solo stuff (with Marc Bonilla on guitar) :

[video]http://youtu.be/ZL9RG87ASNI[/video]


This stuff is better than the BCC records IMHO.

I really only actively listened to Perfect Strangers-era DP. I am old enough where I was around at that time but really latched on to the more metallic side of things (Maiden and Priest) as opposed to the wave of hard rock right before it.

I dig that solo track! He has such a great voice. Riffs are really meat and potatoes but the vocal carries it imo.

pabloramon wrote:

itchyfingers wrote:Dude can play the hell out of a guitar, probably the best guitarist alive in terms of chops and technicality. That said, I don't own any of his albums, but have been to see him live a few times. Who cares if he's not writing the hippest pop tune of the year? I think songs that are vehicles for jamming are perfect for guys like him, but then again, I love masturbatory guitar solos by guys who can play them.

No.

Your vote?

I don't know if he's THE best alive, but technically speaking, he's at the top somewhere.

Telephant wrote:I don't know if he's THE best alive, but technically speaking, he's at the top somewhere.

Yeah, and I probably should have couched it with "best blues" guitarist alive.

Heres where I am with Bonamassa. If I catch one of his songs just at the solo part, Im like "oooooh! WHAT/WHO THE FUCK IS THIS, ITS BADASS!" Then I catch the rest of the song and im like "fuuuuuuuuuck 8(".

Meh. Even for fusion the vid in the OP fails. Give me Robben Ford-era Yellowjackets, Mike Stern, etc. ANY DAY over JB for that. JB is a great player but he's just not an interesting arist IMO. The Black Keys and Jack White make great music even though they are definitely crappier guitar players. I would much rather listen to them over JB, his stuff is just boring. Great player yes, songwriter/artist? No.

Telephant wrote:I don't know if he's THE best alive, but technically speaking, he's at the top somewhere.

Yeah the guy is undeniably one of the top players around these days. So I may not be too cray about his music, but I'd go see him live for the guitar playing alone...

This quote makes me think he's probably a lot more down to earth than the sunglasses/suit persona his marketing team has presented him as. The facebook ads of "Greatest living guitar player" are way over the top, but I think he would be a cool dude to sit and have a beer with. And learn a lick or three.

I saw him playing at my local bar a while ago (posted a video of it here) and even though I didn't bother to go talk to him after the show (too many people around him, I can't stand crowds) I observed him interacting with the fans and the people at the bar and he seemed to be a pretty regular guy ... no attitude or anything.

Telephant wrote:This quote makes me think he's probably a lot more down to earth than the sunglasses/suit persona his marketing team has presented him as. The facebook ads of "Greatest living guitar player" are way over the top, but I think he would be a cool dude to sit and have a beer with. And learn a lick or three.

Yeah, them Facebook ads of his bother me

Telephant wrote:I don't know if he's THE best alive, but technically speaking, he's at the top somewhere.

If we're talking straight chops Guthrie Govan and Tosin Abasi definitely gotta rank up there too