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The Great Global Pandemic Playlist

What were you listening to when the world came to a screeching halt?

Here’s a song a day until we see each other again.

Iggy and I both wish life could be Swedish Magazines.

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What song has the greatest guest guitar soloist?

Jeff Beck is Terrific!

While Eddie Van Halen on Beat It and Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps are probably the two runaway classics there’s a whole bunch of contenders. Here are five others that deserve some consideration:

And Jeff Beck makes a 2nd appearance this time bringing some pure, delicious shading to Stevie Wonder’s Lookin’ For Another Pure Love. How can someone be so flashy and yet, bring such subtle nuance to 30 seconds of recording.

[edgarsmall]

What song has the greatest guest guitar soloist?

Jimi Hendrix is Terrific!

While Eddie Van Halen on Beat It and Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps are probably the two runaway classics there’s a whole bunch of contenders. Here are five others that deserve some consideration:

What sort of persuasion does it take to get both Hendrix and Clapton to play on your first solo album? Evidently, Steve Stills had it. #2 features vintage late Hendrix (he would be dead a short 3 months later); spitting out blinding fast riffs that cut deep and leave a mark.

[edgarsmall]

What song has the greatest guest guitar soloist?

Stevie Ray Vaughan is Terrific!

While Eddie Van Halen on Beat It and Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps are probably the two runaway classics there’s a whole bunch of contenders. Here are five others that deserve some consideration:

#3 is Stevie Ray Vaughan’s dynamic soloing on China Girl (and Let’s Dance). Throughout Bowie’s career, he obviously had a great ear for guitarists - from Mick Ronson, Adrian Belew and Reeves Gabrels, but bringing in SRV took it to another level.

[edgarsmall]

What song has the greatest guest guitar soloist?

John McLaughlin is Terrific!

While Eddie Van Halen on Beat It and Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps are probably the two runaway classics there’s a whole bunch of contenders. Here are five others that deserve some consideration:

#4 - In somewhat of an odd pairing, James Taylor included a song written by John McLaughlin on 1972′s One Man Dog and asked Mahavishnu to accompany him on guitar. This is acoustic McLaughlin; ripping off tightly wound blasts of incandescent fury that somehow transmit pure solitude.

[edgarsmall]

What song has the greatest guest guitar soloist? 

Jeff Beck is Terrific!

While Eddie Van Halen on Beat It and Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps are probably the two runaway classics there’s a whole bunch of contenders. Here are five others that deserve some consideration:

#5 is the remarkable Jeff Beck playing guts out counterpoint to Kate Bush as she moves through the heartache of lost love on You’re The One from The Red Shoes.

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Dylan is Terrific!

Sometimes it’s hard to see beyond the obvious; of course, we know the lyrics are visionary and the musicianship is ground breaking. But has anyone ever compared his vocal control to someone like Sinatra?

Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again is a prime example – a virtuoso of interpretation. Listen to the variations he draws out of “Oh Mama” – one time it’s surprise, another it’s heartache, another time he sweetly caresses desire and then comes back with a snarling anger. Listen to the way he plays with time and meter; hanging on “mind” or “time” and then followed by a tumble of connected images.  It’s subtle and magnificent.

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David Bowie is Terrific!

Fuck the back catalog, Blackstar is as powerful as anything that he’s done in the past. Musically, thematically, visually. Here is an artist at the top of his craft; challenging himself to create something original and meaningful.

Thank you for dragging us along on another exhilarating, if not confounding adventure.

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Jonny Greenwood is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Continuing his partnership with Paul Thomas Anderson (see The Master) with Inherent Vice, Greenwood weaves another dream-inducing soundtrack that perfectly fits Pynchon's bleary-eyed take on 70's LA. 

Meet Shasta Fay Hepworth a beauty who will tenderly rip your heart out.

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Johnny Guitar Watson is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Yeah, it's almost 40 years old but the original Gangster of Love still kills it on the Fender Strat. Thanks Steven Leslie Dale!

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Elbow is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Elbow's New York Morning has so much going on by itself that watching the charming story of Dennis and Lois unfold almost gets in the way. Love Guy Garvey's lyrics - "It's the modern Rome and folk are nice to Yoko."

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Nick Thorburn is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Whether you thought Adnan Syed guilty or innocent, I think we can all agree on two things; his attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, was really incompetent and annoying and Nick Thorburn's music was the key component that made Serial such an amazing experience.

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You're So Rude is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Faces, small or otherwise, were just so gritty and authentic. From 1971 and still sounding fresh, dig Ronnie Wood's pre Stones guitar work, Ian McLaglan's killer keyboards and Ronnie Lane's underappreciated vocals.

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Into the Woods is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods soundtrack with 4 instrumental arrangements, including the magnificent The Last Midnight, which contains more dark swirls and twists than you could ever hope for.

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Glen Campbell is Terrific!

A Shuffle7 celebrating some tracks that made 2014 interesting. First up is Not Going To Miss You, an incredible mix of musicianship and real life pathos that creates a stunning final song from Glen Campbell.

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Summer is Terrific and so is Sinatra!

Shuffle7's Songs of Summer closes with Summer Wind from Sinatra's 75th Birthday concert. Has one guy ever ruled the stage like that? Well, two years later, the live concert version has been pulled down so let’s just enjoy the remastered original. 

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Summer is Terrific!

Shuffle7 celebrates the songs of summer with XTC and Summer Cauldron. Beware of crickets.