Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Oh Dear....It's True....Size May Not Make A Difference...

The edge of reason...
 
Although much modern day wit passes The Hat by – I'm more with Oscar Wilde and Peters Cook and Ustinov than with late night stand-up innuendo on Dave TV – original humour will always appeal. The comedian Bill Bailey is not only a funny and interesting man but he happens to have a prodigious musical talent as well. He has many videos and has toured the country a good few times and there is one part of his repertoire that has always had popular appeal. Bill has this unnerving knack of imitating famous musicians and producing their signature sounds, usually on the guitar, in an hysterically accurate way. He can also switch his Roland from Georgie Fame to Dr Who via Jaques Loussier in a nano-second and still keep us falling about. Do go and look on Youtube for his hilarious portrayal of U2's The Edge having a sudden technical crisis and you will get my point.

Bill's spoof guitar pieces have one thing in common – the Effects Pedal or board – that many musicians now have on stage as a matter of course. The Hat has nothing against the notion of changing your sound for an appropriate effect – indeed, what would life be like without Pink Floyd and Dave Gilmour's Fabulous Flanger or Luscious Loop and the idea of Them Wicked Vultures playing without their Moog Moogerfooger Analog Delay, FatBoost, Space Echo  and Low Pass Envelope Filter seems absolutely unthinkable (for goodness sake, keep up, keep up – or go and ask a passing lead guitarist!)....

However, the thought did occur to The Hat the other day that maybe this has got to the point that the 'Mine's Bigger Than Yours' syndrone could be taking over. It now seems to be quite normal for every young band setting out to have a glittering array of expensive kit lined up underneath their twitching trainers. Also – and I wouldn't say that they are essential reading - there are now numerous internet websites taken up with the minutiae of famous pedal boards, simply so that us mortals can copy their interesting sounds....or (please) not. After all, let us remember that the seminal moment in Spinal Tap where it is revealed that their amplifier goes up to '11', is now writ large in our musicological history – to the point that nobody laughs any more - and special effects are now as ubiquitous as CSI television repeats. It comes as no surprise that Bill Bailey produces a six-neck guitar at one point in his act.

The Hat was provoked down this rockety and contentious road recently by two major guitarists. Although, Robert Cray is careful with his choice of amps, switches in and out on his guitars and has someone tuning them after every number, he has always been intent on getting a clean uncluttered line between guitar and amp and few can recall ever seeing any pedals in action. The Hat would concede that this may not be to everyone's taste so let me offer another 'Go Listen' suggestion. The guitarist Robben Ford, who should be on your 'Must Have' list and who has played over a very long and distinguished career with everybody from Miles Davis and George Harrison to Kiss, is another talent who has only very slowly taken to the pedal effects board, although he now seems to have a full house. However, looking at and listening to some of his videos, particularly the earlier stuff, it is quite evident that pedal effects are not a major part of his axe armoury. Like many others, amplifiers are a very carefully considered choice but, in the end, the line from his guitar strings to those amps speaks eloquently for itself. It is obvious that this lack of Effect does not seem to have Affected his appeal.

So here's an idea. When you are next listening to some blues in your local bar instead of sizing up their chops take a sneaky peak at their footwork and see if their beautiful bits and pieces are the real thing or just cosmetic enhancements. Oh, and just in case guitarists think I am being unfairly picky and I die under an avalanche of shiny Fuzz Boxes (some of my best friends have really impressive whammy bars, by the way) – did you know that many decades ago, Alice Cooper's drummer had an Absolutely Enormously Massive nineteen piece drum kit......??
 
Pip Pip!
The Blues Man in The Hat