Dude, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing. Bruce really can "burn away" on the guitar!

Oh, that's an absolutely fabulous record. I remember the Brothers Johnson hit version from when I was a kid, obviously, but the original is a much more interesting record with all kinds of psych and soul stuff going on.

Haha, to be fair the Mick Taylor replacement auditions/shortlist must have included every man and his dog!!





Stuff like this is ridiculous for a mid teen, and the solo stuff speaks for itself and not just the Strawberry Letter track but Inspiration Information as an album is marvellous and Freedom Flight also has plenty going for it.

Yeah Shuggie was a devastating guitarist...

Yah, for sure. I think he is a pretty underrated guitar player. Probably quite a few dont even know he plays guitar.

He might not be the best technically (although he can more than hold his own), but he makes up for any shortcomings with raw emotion. When he comes in, it's like a razor blade slashing through the wall of sound created by the E Street Band.

A big plus for him overall is his stamina. I don't think he has EVER had an off day on stage. He gives 100% every time.

Clash is gonna love this.

I have an issue of Record World from August 7, 1971.

There's a Ron Ross review of a July 29 Who concert from Forest Hills. Some excerpts:

After a fine , tight set by Labelle, black, proud and sassy......a new Who came on to a hopefully insulated stage (it had rained) to a gratifying thunder of applause. Years of planning and waiting have paid off: the Who are without a doubt the most consistently exciting and compelling group performing today. It's impossible to judge the Stones on a purely musical basis, and the off nights of the Dead and the Airplane are notorious. Other million selling bands like Creedence and Blood, Sweat and Tears repeat their greatest hits show after show, while some, like Led Zeppelin, don't bother a whole lot with a stage act. So we are left with the Who. Thank God and and Meher Baba for that.

Cool. Labelle recorded a cover of "Won't Get Fooled Again".

Bruce, you needed a magazine article to tell you how great The Who were as a live band?

Obviously not, but it's always fun to see contemporary accounts like that.

Out of curiosity, why are The Roots so high?

Ganja.

They're the first self-contained rap band to make a huge impact in live performing, giving them the ability to recreate on the stage what they do on record, which had always been rap's weak point. Additionally, they were versatile enough to back others, not just Jay-Z on Unplugged and lots of diverse artists on recording projects, but on TV every night behind a wide array of acts from all types of musical backgrounds. They're the go-to band of the last decade in many ways - you want the proper funky sound, you call the Roots.

Led Zeppelin definitely needs to move up. They are probably the greatest live hard rock band second to The Who. They put on a hell of a show: Song Remains the Same, BBC Sessions, How the West Was Won, plenty more. Queen should move up too.

Dude, you're lucky I'm one of the more courteous and respectful people on the site.

But you really need to stop making these "artist x should be much higher, they were so great", without really explaining it.

I'm not being a dick to you, it's just that you're new here and you still have a bit to learn.

Believe it or not, I've been on this site since roughly 2003 (!), and when I first came on, I was just like you. You will learn and grow more as you continue to create discussions with the rest of us.

Now, who do you think Zep could top that's ahead of them?

1. James Brown
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Elvis Presley
4. The Who
5. Otis Redding
6. Ike & Tina Turner
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Solomon Burke
9. Michael Jackson
10. Parliament/Funkadelic
11. Bo Diddley
12. Sam & Dave
13. Queen
14. Led Zeppelin

They certainly dont top Queen, who were a colossal live act for well over 10 years.
Zep's greatness as a live band was pretty much null and void by 1976.
Very few, if any, other frontmen had such incredible command over their audiences.

I dont think #14 is unreasonable at all for Zeppelin. This is all rock artists OF ALL TIME.
You cant possibly consider that low.

If anything, they're a bit too high. The Grateful Dead do better by the criteria.