Guitar Info

A friend of mine is a Lou Reed fan. I asked him if he'd like to come over and view this DVD with me, thinking that perhaps he could furnish me with a few tidbits of information which would assist me in writing this review. He wasn't too keen. "You won't like it," he told me. Apparently it wasn't my "kind of thing". He went on to say that it was Reed's most unaccessible album and that he couldn't understand why Lou Reed had resurrected and toured it.

So, as you can imagine, I approached this DVD with a certain amount of trepidation. And you know what? I reckon my friend was thinking of the wrong album. Surely he was referring to "Metal Machine Music" which was a double-album of guitar feedback loops (and didn't I hear somewhere that this has now been arranged as an orchestral piece?). Anyway, I really couldn't see what my friend's problem with "Berlin" was.

Sure, it's a bleak piece subject-wise, dealing as it does with the inevitable self-destruction of two drug addicts, Jim and Caroline. However, the music is classic Lou Reed and as a performance piece I found it highly engaging.

The visuals of the band on stage are punctuated with specially-shot film footage depicting the characters in the story. This works very effectively as it takes it away from being an ordinary concert video. The camera also gives us some very interesting angles. It seems at times like we're up there on stage with Lou Reed and his band, moving between them and behind them. What we don't get are irrelevant shots of the audience enjoying themselves. That may be all well and good on an AC/DC live video, but here it's really not needed and frankly the film is all the better for it.

Reed and his band - led by guitarist Steve Hunter (who also played back on the original 1973 album) - are joined on stage by a string section, a brass section and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and the sound is magnificient.

Reed hardly seems to touch his guitar on the first few songs, but as things progress he plays some incredible solos and duets with Hunter. I'd quite forgotten what a good guitarist he is.

I'm not going to do a song by song breakdown. Let's just say that it's a great performance from all concerned. Having the Brooklyn Youth Chorus along for the ride was a stroke of genius, especially in those somewhat disturbing moments in the narrative when the children's distress at losing their mother is conveyed.

I'd say this was an essential purchase for all Lou Reed fans and those of the Velvet Underground too (seeing as some Velvets songs had been re-worked as songs in "Berlin"). It also shows quite nicely what a music film can look like given a little imagination.

Visually and musically rich, but not one to view if you're feeling depressed.

Here's one for regular reader Andy! It's a mint condition Teisco May Queen guitar in a rare red finish and bearing the Apollo brand name. These always reminded me of the Vox Teardrop guitars, albeit with a slightly modified shape.

Cool guitar, and the auction finishes very soon!

Tomorrow night sees the first of a three-part series, The Story of the Guitar on BBC television (click link for full details).

As it says in the blurb:

Alan Yentob embarks on a three-part personal journey to discover how the guitar became the world's favourite musical instrument. Beginning with the rise of the acoustic guitar, the series takes him from an ancient Middle Eastern ancestor of the lute, to the iconic guitars draped round the necks of Bill Hailey and Elvis Presley and beyond.

Featuring interviews with Bert Weedon - the man who taught Britain to 'Play in a Day', Pete Townshend, Bill Bailey, flamenco player Paco Pena and classical guitarist John Williams.

Those of you in the UK, remember to set your video recorders!

I thought I'd seen some weird guitars on eBay, but this one has got to be one of the strangest. I wonder what made someone decide to turn this length of metal pipe into a guitar? Because it was here, perhaps? See how the frets have been formed by removing metal from the spaces inbetween them. What a strange approach. I'd hate to think how this tubular guitar plays. It's not exactly the most user-friendly design, is it?

Friday Night Is Bond Night over at BBC Radio 2 on Friday 7 November. Recording on Monday 13 November, Ken Bruce hosts a concert of music from Bond films such as Licence To Kill, Goldfinger, Thunderball, For Your Eyes Only and Diamonds Are Forever. Leading the festivities is the 70-piece BBC Concert Orchestra, with performances from David McAlmont, Mica Paris, Tom Baxter and Jodie Prenger. You can apply for tickets for the Monday 13 November recording here.

On a related note, the guitar pictured here is THE original James Bond guitar. The original theme was played on this very guitar - a Clifford Essex Paragon De Luxe - by the fantastically-named guitarist Vic Flick. The guitar currently resides in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.

I remember when these carbon graphite Bond Electraglide guitars came out circa 1986. I thought the "fretless" stepped neck design was pure genius (in theory anyway) and always wanted to try one. However, it's quite a rare beast. When did you ever see one of these? The seller of this one claims that they were financed and endorsed by The Edge. I can't ever remember seeing him with one, but perhaps a dedicated U2 fan could point me in the right direction there. The only person I ever remember playing one of these was Mick Jones of Big Audio Dynamite (and formerly The Clash). I'm surprised that no-one else ever took up the stepped neck design. Perhaps it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Has anyone out there ever played one of these? Let us know.

Here's another Ampeg, this is one I consider to be quite tasty and desireable. It's an original Ampeg AEB-1 Bass and appears to be in all original condition, other than having been converted to fretless (which is no bad thing in my book).

I love the through-body f-holes, the double-bass styled headstock, and also the fact that this bass comes with a spike that can be screwed into the bottom so that it can be played as an upright.

You'll notice it doesn't has any obvious pickups. Some of the earlier Ampeg basses featured a rather unusual pickup that was supposedly a bit like a speaker in reverse mounted beneath the scratchplate. I'm not 100% on how exactly these functioned, so if anyone has any more info, please don't be shy in offering it up for us.

Eastwood Guitars make some nice copies of these basses in both fretted and fretless versions but with the more usual magnetic pickups.