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Classic Vinyl

With John Gardiner

He was too strange for the Stones and a little Big Brother

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

He was almost the guitar player for the Rolling Stones. He was one of the greatest blues guitarists of his era. Still, most people don't readily recognize the name of Roy Buchanan. During his life, he was one of the best kept secrets in the music business. If you get a chance to listen to his music, you'll know we lost a rare treasure when he took his own life some years ago. He was one of the great ones.
I came to Roy Buchanan late in life, picking up his first album almost by accident. I'm always on the hunt for new blues artists and that was the only reason I picked up his self titled LP. What I got was more than I bargained for.
Pete's Blues, which leads off this piece of excellent vinyl, is one of the most amazing blues pieces you'll hear. Most blues takes the form of a 12-bar, meaning the musicians usually have three chords to work with. Pete's Blues takes place on one note – drums and bass set up a slow, heavy rhythm and Buchanan wails away on the guitar, creating some of the most beautiful licks you'll hear anywhere.
Next piece is "The Messiah Will Surely Come", which came during the guitarist's "born-again" phase, and which is possibly the most beautiful guitar solo in the history of the instrument. The emotion in it brings me to tears almost every time I hear it. Buchanan works the volume knob on his Telecaster to create some of the most mournful guitar work ever heard. Brilliant stuff.
And that's what I really like about this guy. He pours emotion into his work, and Buchanan is one of the few "rock/blues" guitarists who I'd consider a true artist. He was a great technical player, but it was the emotion in his work that really made me sit up and take notice.
I've been lucky enough to pick up all four of his albums during my album hunting. The first three are studio albums and all three are excellent. But his fourth album, "Livestock", is a true piece of recording history. In fact, an excellent Toronto-based guitarist once told me that Livestock is the best live guitar album ever recorded – and there's some great keyboard work on the album too as Buchanan only fronted the best of the best bands.
Buchanan was basically a very unhappy guy in life. He did indeed try out for Jagger and the Stones away back when, and while the boys were impressed with his guitar playing, they apparently thought he was "too strange" to be part of the band. Can you imagine? Mick Jagger and Keith Richards thinking someone else was too strange to join their band.
He died a few years back – hung himself in a hotel room. A sad ending for a great artist. I will remember him well and continue to enjoy his tunes for years to come. I must admit that Roy is one of the few guys I'll listen to on CD – and only because someone gave me a two-CD set that has some stuff on it I don't have on my albums.
If you get a chance to pick up any Roy Buchanan, hopefully on album, but even on CD if you really have to, do it. It really is great stuff that will rock your socks off. Can't believe it took me this long to get to this guy. He was a truly great talent.

A Little Big Brother

So, the other night I'm about to spin some tunes and went digging in one of the record bins. I ended up coming up with an album by Big Brother and the Holding Company. Now, most of you are going to remember Big Brother for only one thing – they were Janis Joplin's first backing band and were a big reason Piece of My Heart is such an amazing tune – Joplin's vocals aside.
But Big Brother really faded from the scene after the gravel-throated Joplin moved on to the (Canadian) Full Tilt Boogie Band. I wasn't even aware they'd done any recording on their own, until I found this album. Then I'd bought it and forgot it.
So, I grabbed the Big Brother Album up and dropped it on the turntable in my office. Wow! What a great piece of work! Sam Gurley Brown and the rest of Big Brother were certainly more than just another backing band. This album has great vocal work, soaring guitar and is really just a great collection of tunes. There's even a great chick singer called Kathy McDonald, who I'm not familiar with.
Anyway, check out this great post-Joplin gem if you get the chance. It's great stuff.



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.