It's always great to see Keith routinely ranked amongst the Top 10 guitarists of all-time in polls and magazines...but what about MT?

He's always skipped over, unfortunately. I know that rankings don't mean shit, but it's still a crime that his contributions are forgotten.

Just based on his studio and live work with the Stones, the guy should be right up there with Clapton, Page, and Hendrix. Is it because he wasn't a songwriter, or is the legacy of Stones as a band simply too big to single his playing out?

For me guitar is about feeeeling.
Hendrix, Richards, Fripp, Molnár, Gilmour, Beckerlee, Iommi, Young (ol´ Neil), Jones (Brian)
I take any day before Page, Blackmore*, Malmsteen (yik) or any MpH-axe scratcher
in the blues or heavy rock-tradition
...Taylor´s for me in-between Feeling & Technique.

The glorifying of Taylor is exaggerated.
He is a wonderful solist, yeah; but he
grew with his surroundings 1969-74.
And he was for sure no team player.

Oh, I agree...I'm a huge heavy metal fan, and although guitar pyrotechnics do impress me, nothing can top true emotion and feeling, even if technically simple or imperfect.

I know there is probably too much MT worship around here, but nevertheless, a little recognition of the prodigous talent he displayed during his tenure with the Stones would be nice.

Mick Taylor would probably be in the top 20. He could play a blistering blues lead just as easily as taking a leak. There were so many virtuoso's then and since and he was just another one. Great guitarist tend to write great guitar songs, that what make them great. Mick did not do that. Top 10 lists are stupid anyway, it's all subjective, and music is feel not charts.

seen harrison 1 time, clapton & page 5 times apiece,,j. winter & many other great lead guitarists ,,never seen hendrix or stevie ray,,,IMO Taylor was the fastest & most interesting slide player i ever saw ,clapton next , then harrison,, also his lead solos were so smooth & fluid like ,,,then when he hit the high notes it b like sometin comin straight otta heaven ,,,that 72 stones tour the word on the street was TAYLOR

He may have been a virtuoso, but my god, his playing can just overwhelm me emotionally. He never seemed to over-emote or go for the cheap licks like, say, Clapton. He was always tasteful, elegant and deep.

"tasteful, elegant and deep." Nice put. I agree.
Ronnie is more emptying beer pints-type pub rock guitarist.
But that´s nice too. Not fair to compare (sorry for rhymin).

Ronnie is such a different type of guitarist that it's impossible to compare them.

The poor guy has been put in an rough position. Taylor's talent is so overwhelming that almost no one can live up to him...but if you understand how Ronnie and Keith work together (at their peak), you really learn to appreciate him as a team player.

keefriff99 Wrote:
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> He may have been a virtuoso, but my god, his
> playing can just overwhelm me emotionally. He
> never seemed to over-emote or go for the cheap
> licks like, say, Clapton. He was always tasteful,
> elegant and deep.

For me, the mix of melody and soul are incredible in his playing. When the musician's around him referred to Taylor's "nailing it", they weren't referring to playing in the right key or getting the string to bend to the right note; they seem to be referring to his encapsulating in a solo the entire feeling of the song, generally by telling a "story" with his solo.

Also, both live and in the studio, his playing never suggests a canned collection of riffs or rehearsed parts: it always has this improvisatory, in-the-moment feeling to it.

And his playing typically is tailored (sorry) to the song so that by listening to the solo you can tell when the chords were changing, what the tempo is, etc., but you never hear the seams in his playing. (With so many lead guitarists, the leads are interchangeable and you wonder why they bother with a lead if they have nothing to "say". Just to give the singer a break?)

As for tasteful and elegant, I think he could do those things. But it kind of depends what you mean. SFM Wembley '73, LIV NY '72, ADTL NY '72--to choose some more well known examples--all show a rough edge that could readily match his co-guitarist grit for grit. If elegance means communicative simplicity--playing only those notes he needs to use to communicate the feeling he is trying to convey--then yes he was elegant.

As for the top 100 lists, etc., I don't think whether a guitarist is great depends on a popularity contest, in particular a list designed to sell magazines.

He definitely should rank somewhere in the top 50. The top five would have to be Hendrix, Page, Clapton, J. Beck and Stevie Ray -- in THAT order.

True, the fact that (despite the hard work of good ol' OpenG) Taylor is hardly ever aknowledged as one of the great r'n'r guitarists always amazed me.

It can't be the fact that he never had a true hit after quitting the stones. Page, Blackmore, Gilmour, even SRV never had a hit as solo artists.

It can't even be the fact that we are all blinded by our love for the stonse. As a matter of fact Taylor was (IS) a truly wonderful guitarist. He has little to learn from, say, Clapton. I am not sure this is also true the opposite way. I can remember seeing him some years ago and I was impressed.

Probably an explanation could be that no official live albums exist from the 70-73 era tours.

Could be. But if this could explain why MT is not known by the masses. And the so called experts?

C

yeah taylor can suck you into a solo like keith sucked you into the groove.
taylor is one of the best expressive guitarists of all time.Is fluidity and
melodic scales are always original and enrich whatever material he is playing.

listen to any GS from 72/73 tour and he is so EXPRESSIVE on his first lick when
he comes in after jagger sings lord I gonna fade away.

Taylor can also play dirty when the song calls for it - a good example is
Stray Cat Blues from Ya ya's - one of the best lean controlled dirty passages
of brilliance. Another good example is listen to his lead work on Dance Little
Sister same type of dirty playing(his solo on the outro sounds like it goes out
of tune)LOL.

There are so many examples he has like a body of over 50 classic live solos
throughout his career with the stones,dylan etc. One of his greatest solos
is with Alvin Lee from Nov 1981 on a song called I Can.t Stop .

I think his post stones work will keep him from being considered one of the best.
I don't think the 20 people who have bought his solo records will be able to change that.

Clapton does and he is no of his peers,In a book I read clapton called taylor's
playing frighting.Forget the numbers its about quailty and his two solo records
are musically better than keith's solo records.Keith ran out of gas on his
second record and all you hear his leftover riffs from the old days.

Taylor wrote a rocking tune in 1997 called Twisted Sister now that song rocks
and grooves also Broken hands from his first record rocks as hard as anything
the glimmers wrote after he left. Now dont bring up You Got Me Rocking as
an example of a good rocker please. All the rock songs they wrote in the 80's
sounded to trendy and them trying to sound like the current pop band.

funny since taylor left - If an OBJECTIVE rock Historian reviewed the quality
of stones records done after taylor left he might come to the conclusion that
they had only one great record Some Girls with many average records with a few
good songs on each record.

chippy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> seen harrison 1 time, clapton & page 5 times
> apiece,,j. winter & many other great lead
> guitarists ,,never seen hendrix or stevie
> ray,,,IMO Taylor was the fastest & most
> interesting slide player i ever saw ,clapton next
> , then harrison,, also his lead solos were so
> smooth & fluid like ,,,then when he hit the
> high notes it b like sometin comin straight otta
> heaven ,,,that 72 stones tour the word on the
> street was TAYLOR


Nothin against Taylor (or any others on anyone's list of top guitarists), but I don't know why Duane Allman (or any other guitarist from the Allman Brothers past and present) gets slighted.

Taylor was great, but Allman was THE slide guitarist (the only ones who can top him are Warren Haynes, Jack Pearson and Derek Trucks - Pearson definately - and coincidentally they were all or are still members of the Allman Brothers).

Maybe it's because Duane died too young. I don't know - but his work with the ABB and as a Muscle Shoals session musician is legendary.

From what I've read thats the only conclusion all rock 'historians' have ever said?? Average albums with a few gems.
But I don't think anyones ever come to the conclusion that the reason the Stones haven't produced anything of the quality of 'Some Girls' is because Taylor left. More to do with the music scene developing and the Stones not being at the forefront any more cause basically they don't have to! Been there, done that..... got old!

electric-duane Wrote:

> Taylor was great, but Allman was THE slide
> guitarist (the only ones who can top him are
> Warren Haynes, Jack Pearson and Derek Trucks -
> Pearson

I've never heard (of) those guys, but there are a lot more great slide players out there. To name a few: Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth.

Baboon, thanks for Molnár!

#1

Best combo - Playing AND composing - keith

With Taylor, the mastery was not just what he did with his fingers, but more about how he uses his pedals to get the most amazing tones and colours. He just aimed for a new richness and expanded the palette. That's his true genius. That's where he leaves most other virtuoso guitarists "in the shade".

And, ofcourse, it's not a competition. But Taylor, at a very early age, just aspired to create sounds that most would not dream about.

The other obvious example - Jeff Beck, (but without the 'flow' - ditto Zappa).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2005-09-29 15:35 by Four Stone Walls.

Baboon Bro Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "tasteful, elegant and deep." Nice put. I agree.
> Ronnie is more emptying beer pints-type pub rock
> guitarist.
> But that´s nice too. Not fair to compare (sorry
> for rhymin).


ha ha...nice analogy (spelling?).
Very true.

Mick Taylor, one of the greats indeed. I wish his carrer could be/could have been managed better, although, in one aspect, its somehow satisfying that he's still playing our "corner pubs".

I think it would be great if he were to join the Allman Bros. Band. I think being in a band situation would fit him nicely--a band that would give credit where credit is due.

The reasons Mick T. are often not mentioned:

1 He is not a known songwriter or soloartist.

2 The Stones never released an album with his (and theirs) best work - the 72 and 73 tours.

If the criterion is "who has played the best rock", Mick T. should be number one on the list.

maybe more "blues-rock"....

yeah taylor would be a great fit for the allman brothers, govt mule - wow
with warren haynes or how about the dead when they tour.

When Taylor did play with the Dead ('88), not surprisingly, it came off quite well. I think it would be interesting if he hooked up with any one of the fine "jam bands" currently on the robust scene - I think he's a "jammer" at heart.

Duane - yeah D. Allman desearves his due, just like Taylor and
Peter Green!! BB King's favorite of all the British Blues players back in the
60's - he even said that to Clapton & G. Harrison who were front row at one of
his concerts.He looked down at them and said: Sorry guys but
Peter Green's the best guitarist over here! MLC

T&A, do you know what the date was when Taylor played with the Dead? I'd love to hear that.

Madison Square Garden, New York, NY - Rainforest Benefit (9/24/88)

Iko Iko
Feel Like a Stranger
West L.A. Fadeaway - with Mick Taylor
Little Red Rooster - with Mick Taylor
Box of Rain
Ramble on Rose
Masterpiece
Don't Ease Me In

Chinese Bones
Neighborhood Girls
Crazy Fingers
Man Smart/Woman Smarter
Every Time You Go
What's Going On
drums
The Wheel
Throwin' Stones
Not Fade Away

Good Lovin'
Knockin' on Heaven's Door


Like many latter-era Dead shows, this one circulates in soundboard...Suzanne Vega also guests on a couple of tracks....