2010 – Whitesnake, Mr. Big, Buckcherry confirmed for Sweden Rock Festival
Whitesnake (with special guests, Mr. Big and Buckcherry have been confirmed for next year’s edition of the Sweden Rock Festival, set to take place June 8-11, 2011 in Sölvesborg in southern Sweden.
The festival billing is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):
Agent Steel
Buckcherry
Dan Reed Band
Destruction
Electric Wizard
Fläsket Brinner
Ghost
Groundhogs
Helloween
Jason & The Scorchers
Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
Judas Priest
Mason Ruffner
Moonspell
Mr. Big
Mustasch
Overkill
Ozzy Osbourne
Rage (acoustic)
Raubtier
Rhapsody Of Fire
Rob Zombie
Saxon
Styx
The Cult
The Damned
The Haunted
Walter Trout Whitesnake
2008 – Whitesnake guitarist Mel Galley, died at the age of 60 from cancer of the oesophagus. Galley also played with Trapeze, Glenn Hughes, Cozy Powell and the Blue Jays.
1960 – Steve Vai: Widdlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddlywiddly-SCREECH! Yes, it’s happy birthday to Steve Vai, born today in Long Island, N.Y. this day in rock Guitar God History!
Steven “Steve” Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer.
After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa’s backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: “…artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments.”.
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands. He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai then attended the Berklee College of Music.
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa’s “The Black Page”, an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai’s guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe’s Garage album and the Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa’s album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa’s band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his “little Italian virtuoso” and was listed in liner notes as “stunt guitar” or “impossible guitar parts”. He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa’s Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing Zappa music as a special guest on Dweezil Zappa’s ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ tour.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s group to record the albums Eat ‘Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai’s visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then in 1989 Vai stepped into guitarist Adrian Vandenberg’s shoes to record with British rock-group Whitesnake after Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Joe Satriani on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990 Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare. The song For the Love of God was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions—”My Little Man”—was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai’s band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa’s Universe.
Vai playing a twin-necked IbanezIn July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira’s Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra. In 2004, a number of his compositions for orchestra, as well as orchestra arrangements of previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai’s group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai’s latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox’s Halo 2 Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a “special guest” guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. One song being the Halo Theme, the second was for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center by doing a masterclass. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his next record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release will be a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD will eventually accompany the record but will be released in August. He makes a guest appearance on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song “Repentance”. However, this appearance is vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai is one of many musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Vai is set to release a DVD of his show dated 19 September 2007 at the Minneapolis State Theater from his 2007 Tour.
Movies
Steve Vai’s music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film’s climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio’s earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene’s Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini’s Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin’ Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991′s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS’ God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track Drive the Hell Out Of Here can be heard during 1992′s Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Musical style
This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (March 2008)
Vai performing in 2001Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music . He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument including legato, pinch harmonics and volume swells, and is noted for his whammy bar effects and sporadic outbursts on the instrument often contrasting sweep-picking or finger tapping with slower sections to his compositions. His 1990 album Passion and Warfare and the ballad For the Love of God in particular received a significant amount of press and are often cited by critics and fans alike as amongst his best work to date .
Vai’s playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. Vai was the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context – having designed the 7-string electric guitar, and has used double and triple neck guitars on many occasions.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: “The Mothership” and “The Harmony Hut” ) and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a “monkey grip”) cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses Floyd Rose locking tremolo system, as well as an elaborate and extensive “Vine of Life” inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before he used Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship would only last for two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique and equal in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were ever made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white “Evo”, a JEM7V, and his “Flo”, which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. “Flo” is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named “Mojo” in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You’re Here. Vai’s effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90. His flight cases are labeled “Mr. Vai”, or latterly, “Dr. Vai”. He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Vai also has a signature pedal in the works with Ibanez called the “Jemini” pedal (see external links for a picture). This pedal is expected to be released at Winter NAMM 2008.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, ‘Favored Nations’, ‘Favored Nations Acoustic’ and ‘Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)’
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mattias IA Eklundh, Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.
Band History – not including guest appearances
Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
Steve Vai (1982-1984)
Alcatrazz (1985)
David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
Frank Zappa (1986)
David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
Whitesnake (1988-1990)
Solo (1989-present)
Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
Steve Vai – vocals, lead guitar
Dave Weiner – rhythm guitar
Ann Marie Calhoun – Fiddle, keyboard
Brian Beller – bass guitar
Jeremy Colson – drums, percussion
Alex Depue- Violin
Discography
Solo albums
Flex-Able (1984)
Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
Passion and Warfare (1990)
Sex & Religion (1993)
Alien Love Secrets (1995)
Fire Garden (1996)
The Ultra Zone (1999)
The 7th Song (2000)
Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Strat abuse
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Guitar parts
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin’
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai G3: Live in Concert
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O) Solo in their cover version of “I’ll Be Around”
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds Birdland
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen G3: Live – Rockin’ In The Free World
2004 Motörhead Inferno
2004 Bob Carpenter The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
2004 Mike Keneally Vai: Piano Reductions, Vol. 1
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner Live at Astoria DVD
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
2007 Aki Rahimovski U vremenu izgubljenih
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only) Systematic Chaos
2007 Eros Ramazzotti e²
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar’s Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa’s Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II – A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
Awards and Nominations
Grammy Winner
1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Sofa” from Zappa’s Universe
2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions [Steve Vai Producer/Engineer]
Grammy Nomination
1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Tender Surrender” – from Alien Love Secrets
1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “For the Love of God” – from G3 Live in Concert
1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Windows to the Soul” – from The Ultra Zone
2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Whispering a Prayer” – from Alive in an Ultra World
2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Lotus Feet” — lost to Les Paul & Friends’s “69 Freedom Special”
2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “The Attitude Song” — lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Awared Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice – Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1990 Best Sex Object (No. 6)
1990 Best RAW Cover (No. 3)
Player
1995 Best Hard Rock Guitarist – 2nd Place
Making Music
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Guitarist
1990 Best Musician
Metal Hammer
1990 Best Guitarist (Reader’s Poll)
California Music Awards
2001 Outstanding Guitarist (nominee)
2008 – Led Zeppelin ‘To Announce 250Million Pound World Tour’
Whitesnake singer says…
by Jason Gregory
More Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin will mark their 40th anniversary with a £250million world tour, according to reports. Calls for the band to reform for a full world tour have been relentless since they played a one-off show at the O2 Arena in London last December.
Yesterday (May 9th), David Coverdale, the frontman of Whitesnake and a long-term friend of the band, said the tour was “very likely”.
“I’m expecting a call from Jimmy any day asking my band Whitesnake to support them on their world tour. Am I on board? You bet. Probably worth billions,” he said.
“Unlike rolling out the wheelchairs with the umpteenth Rolling Stones world tour, a Led Zeppelin tour will be incredible.”
Led Zeppelin have previously said that they would wait until September for other touring commitments to finish before deciding whether to announce new shows.
However, according to today’s Mirror, the tour is now inevitable and could take place as early as the end of their year.
The paper also claims that each member stands to make as much as £10million each from touring.
1987 – Pink Floyd release A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The comeback album is the band’s first since the departure of Roger Waters and the subsequent lawsuit over the use of the band name.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd’s 1987 album, the band’s first release after the departure of Roger Waters from the band in 1985. The album reached #3 on both the U.S. and UK charts. It was released in the UK and the rest of Europe on EMI and on Columbia Records for the rest of the world.
Background
After Roger Waters had declared Pink Floyd ended in 1985, David Gilmour attempted to continue the band together with Nick Mason. A bitter dispute with Waters ensued, but Gilmour and Mason eventually settled out of court for the legal right to continue using the name Pink Floyd. In exchange, Waters dissolved his former management partnership with Steve O’Rourke and gained exclusive rights to some traditional Pink Floyd imagery, including the original flying pig design, almost all of The Wall concept and everything to do with The Final Cut. Richard Wright re-joined the band during the recording sessions for this album, but only as a salaried session musician.
The recording sessions started in October 1986 as a new David Gilmour project. Gilmour revealed on the Shine On and A Momentary Lapse of Reason episodes of In the Studio with Redbeard that it was almost his third solo album as the material initially sounded too weak to be a Pink Floyd album. He then went on to say that by Christmas of 1986 that he had enough confidence to turn the album into a Pink Floyd project.
The music press responded with mostly negative reviews of the album (though Rolling Stone claimed it portended “a Floyd with a future”), despite its heavy airplay rotation on video and radio music stations. Many fans regard this album a David Gilmour effort, rather than an actual Pink Floyd album. The allmusic review refers to it as a “Gilmour solo album in all but name”. Waters himself described it as “a pretty fair forgery or a good copy” of a Pink Floyd record; his most generous appraisal was that the album contained “a few bright moments when I heard something and thought, ‘Well, maybe I’d have done something with that’.” But Waters also commented that to him, Pink Floyd no longer existed.
Recording
The album was performed largely by David Gilmour and several session musicians. The most famous of these was Tony Levin (of Peter Gabriel and King Crimson fame), who played bass on most of the tracks. Nick Mason felt he was out of practice on drums, and thus many of the percussion parts were either programmed or delegated to others. For example, Carmine Appice played drums on “The Dogs of War” while Jim Keltner played on “On the Turning Away” and “One Slip”. The drum machine, used on “Sorrow”, was programmed by Gilmour.
Session keyboardist Jon Carin, whom Gilmour met and played with in Bryan Ferry’s band at Live Aid, went on to collaborate with both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters on subsequent albums and tours. Pink Floyd’s original keyboardist Richard Wright arrived during the sessions, but did not officially rejoin the band due to concerns about his severance contract with Waters (the initial album lists Pink Floyd as consisting of only Gilmour and Mason; however, later re-releases add his name). Wright can be heard playing on a few tracks, notably “Sorrow”, which features his background vocals. Most other keyboard parts on the album were played by Carin, Gilmour or Ezrin.
It has been rumoured that some of the songs on A Momentary Lapse of Reason were David Gilmour’s rejected contributions to The Final Cut. Early demos to songs like “The Dogs of War,” “Round and Around,” and the melody to “On the Turning Away” are the only known songs to be rejected.
The recording heard in the middle of “Learning to Fly” is of Mason talking to an air traffic control tower in his private aircraft (both he and Gilmour became enthusiastic pilots after conquering their mutual fear of flying).
A Momentary Lapse of Reason is Pink Floyd’s first fully digital recording; however, the acoustic drums and bass guitar tracks were recorded on analogue equipment.
Cover artwork
The cover shows 700 hospital beds placed on Saunton Sands, Devon. This effect was not achieved with trick photography; a team actually hauled the wrought iron beds over three hours from London to Devon and arranged them as seen on the finished design. When the team realised that the shoot would take more than one day, a single bed was left on the beach to see if the sea would have any effect on it over night. When they returned the following morning, the bed was nowhere to be found. Long-time Pink Floyd collaborator Storm Thorgerson produced the artwork.
The official Storm Thorgerson website actually covers a version of this story:
700, yes 700, wrought iron hospital beds separately made up and positioned on the beach. Madness to do it at all, but we had in fact to do it twice cos it rained suddenly the first time, dank grey dizzle, and we couldn’t see the distant half of the beds.
This was the first Pink Floyd studio album since Animals to feature his work (not counting a design for the compilation album A Collection of Great Dance Songs in 1981).
In the gatefold sleeve was a portrait of David Gilmour and Nick Mason making it the first time that a picture of the members of Pink Floyd appeared in a gatefold sleeve since 1971′s Meddle album (not counting a poster of the band members on stage that came with vinyl copies of The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973)
The vinyl copies had two picture labels. Side one depicted a black and white photo of a man rowing his boat. Side two depicted the beds from the front cover on a beach with the dogs of war running whilst a man is sitting on a bed and a female maid is standing up.
If you look closely, there is a person flying a Hang Glider, probably a reference to Learning to Fly.
Reissues and remastering
A re-mastered CD was released in the early 1990s for Europe, and in 1997 for the rest of the world. Another remastered version was released in the U.S. and Canada in October 2005 due to Columbia Records losing the production masters. James Guthrie and Joel Plante supplied the label with new masters, and thus the mastering credit was changed from Doug Sax to Guthrie and Plante. Also, a number of minor changes have been noted in the credits and legal text for this latest release, mostly reflecting changes in the band’s business situation since 1997 (including the death of their manager Steve O’Rourke).
It is also the only one of the post-Waters Pink Floyd albums to have a remastered EMI version. The Columbia version is now out of print and will be re-released by Capitol/EMI in the not too distant future.
Track listing
All lead vocals performed by David Gilmour except where noted.
1. “Signs of Life” (instrumental, spoken word by Nick Mason) (David Gilmour, Bob Ezrin) – 4:24
2. “Learning to Fly” (Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Ezrin, Jon Carin) – 4:53
3. “The Dogs of War” (Gilmour, Moore) – 6:05
4. “One Slip” (Gilmour, Phil Manzanera) – 5:10
5. “On the Turning Away” (Gilmour, Moore) – 5:42
6. “Yet Another Movie” (Gilmour, Patrick Leonard) / “Round and Around” (Gilmour) – 7:28
7. “A New Machine (Part 1)” (Gilmour) – 1:46
8. “Terminal Frost” (Gilmour) – 6:17
9. “A New Machine (Part 2)” (Gilmour) – 0:38
10. “Sorrow” (Gilmour) – 8:46
Live performances for the 1987–89 tours
1. “Signs of Life” (performed after “Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1–5)” or “Echoes”)
2. “Learning to Fly”
3. “Yet Another Movie”
4. “Round and Around”
5. “A New Machine (Part 1)”
6. “Terminal Frost”
7. “A New Machine (Part 2)”
8. “Sorrow”
9. “The Dogs of War”
10. “On the Turning Away” (ended the first half of the show)
11. “One Slip” (was the first encore on the 1987/88/89 tour)
The Momentary Lapse Tour, according to Tim Renwick, was only supposed to last 11 weeks. Originally the band would play a show at Wembley Stadium, tour the United States Of America, and finish back again at Wembley, much like what Roger Waters was doing on his Radio K.A.O.S tour. The tour began on 9 September 1987 at Lansdowne Park Ottawa, Canada, and finished at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada, on 10 December 1987. The World Tour began with the band’s first and only New Zealand performance at Western Springs in Auckland, New Zealand on 23 January 1988 and finished at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, on 23 August 1988. In the spring and summer of 1989, the band did another European leg of the tour, dubbing it Another Lapse. During the tour, the band played two consecutive nights in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center, where one of the men who the band was named for, Floyd Council was born.
Personnel
* David Gilmour – vocals, guitars, keyboards, sequencers
* Nick Mason – drums, percussion, drum machine, sound effects
Additional personnel
* Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals
* Tony Levin – bass guitar, Chapman Stick
* Bob Ezrin – percussion
* Carmine Appice – drums
* Jim Keltner – drums
* Jon Carin – keyboards
* Tom Scott – alto and soprano saxophones
* Scott Page – tenor saxophone
* Patrick Leonard – synthesizers
* Bill Payne – Hammond organ
* Michael Landau – backing guitar
* John Helliwell – saxophone (mistakenly credited as John Halliwell)
* Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie, Phyllis St. James, Donnie Gerrard – backing vocals
* Spherical sound by: Ken Caillat, Tom Jones, Sarah Nean Bruce
* Recorded by: Guy Charbonneau, Le Mobile, Los Angeles
* Additional sound effects by: Andrew Jackson
* General technical and musical instrument supervision: Phil Taylor
* Mastered at: Mastering Lab & Precision Lacquer
* Pink Floyd management: Steve O’Rourke, EMKA Productions, London
Sales certifications (U.S.)
The R.I.A.A. have certified the album:
* Gold and Platinum (in November 1987)
* Double Platinum (in January 1988)
* Triple Platinum (in February 1992)
* Quadruple Platinum (in August 2001)
Single releases
* “Learning to Fly (edit)”/”Terminal Frost” – Columbia 38-07363; released 15 September 1987
* “On the Turning Away”/”Run Like Hell (Live)” – Columbia 38-07660; released 24 November 1987
* “The Dogs of War”; April, 1988 (US radio only)
* “One Slip”/”Terminal Frost”; June 1988
Chart positions
Album
Year Chart Position
1987 UK album chart 3
1987 The Billboard 200 3
1987 Billboard CD Charts 1
1987 Norway’s album chart 2
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1987 “Learning to Fly” Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
1987 “Learning to Fly” The Billboard Hot 100 70
1987 “Learning to Fly” UK Singles Charts 55
1987 “On the Turning Away” Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
1988 “The Dogs of War” Mainstream Rock Tracks 10
1988 “One Slip” Mainstream Rock Tracks 5
1988 “Sorrow” Mainstream Rock Tracks 36
Quotations
On the Momentary Lapse of Reason album, Nick’s belief in himself was pretty well gone, and Rick’s belief in himself was totally gone. And they weren’t up to making a record, to be quite honest about it Roger’s very good at belittling people, and I think over the years he managed to convince Rick completely that he was useless and more or less convinced Nick of the same thing.
– David Gilmour, Rock Compact Disc magazine, September 1992
I must say, that under the circumstances, it’s a superb title for a so-called Pink Floyd record.
– Roger Waters, Penthouse magazine, September 1988
Release of the LP
A Momentary Lapse of Reason was released on the same day in the UK as the LPs Bad by Michael Jackson and Actually by The Pet Shop Boys, both of which topped it at the first and second positions in the following week’s album charts. It debuted at No. 3 and never rose any higher although sales remained brisk helped by heavy airplay, the overall welcome reunion of Pink Floyd, and the world tour which lasted over a year.
The album debuted at #43 on the Billboard 200 and, like in the UK, rose to No. 3 in the United States as Michael Jackson’s Bad and Whitesnake’s Whitesnake ’87 occupied the top two spots respectively at numbers 1 and 2. The album remained on the US charts for over a year.
1970 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer give their debut performance in Plymouth, England.
Progressive rock can be a very disreputable subject. No other musical style has been so vilified by the critics and became a synonym for ‘pompous’ and ‘bombastic.’ Almost every music critic in the early ’70′s had something unflattering to write about it. None of them seem to have noticed that the genre combined the old with the new and brought things to popular music that simply wasn’t there before. Prog rock flourished during the early ’70′s but was wiped out almost completely by 1976- each of the bands who played it had to undergo changes in order to ensure their survival or else evaporate during the late ’70′s and the ’80′s.
It’s hard to decide which band best represents the genre. King Crimson’s debut In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) might be considered one of the first pure prog rock album while Genesis’s Selling England By The Pound was the best prog album to my mind and Yes and Pink Floyd made a huge splashes on both sides of the Atlantic, but none of these bands was never really identified with the genre as closely as Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Johnny Rotten’s hatred of Floyd to the contrary). ELP shared prog rock’s great paramount and deep chasms, reflecting all that was good and bad in that time, which is known the age of the rock dinosaurs.
ELP, like many early prog bands, was an English group. Keith Emerson, its founder and keyboard player, began to take formal piano lessons when he was eight years old. He started to learn classical music but was fed up with “playing like Bach.” Later, he discovered jazz and started to perform in little clubs while he was in college. It was during that time that Emerson, searching for a new sound, purchased with the benevolent help of his father a new Hammond L100 electric piano. Later, Emerson would delve into the world of keyboards even further.
After playing in several bands, Emerson heard that P. P Arnold (then a successful solo singer and today a back up singer for ex-Floyd Roger Waters) was looking for players. He then formed The Nice, with the group playing behind Arnold. But after six months, they began performing by themselves. During late 1967 and early 1968, the band traveled in Britain with such names as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. In January 1968, they traveled in the U. S and came back to Britain just in time to see the release of their first album The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack (a pun on the band members’ names). They later recorded “America,” a work that combined Leonard Bernstein’s famous piece from the West Side Story with Dvorak’s New World Symphony and protest lyrics, making for a complex political statement (as well as a controversial once since Bernstein didn’t approve of it). During that time, Emerson began to use knives when playing. He nailed them to his keyboard in order to help him hold certain keys while he was playing. This was just one of his yet-to-come stage tricks.
The Nice recorded another two albums during the next couple of years, but in April 1970, Emerson decided that he had enough and the band ceased to exist. Nevertheless, their manager was able to piece together more albums based on live shows and out-takes and eventually try to piggyback ELP’s success to get some sales.
During a King Crimson/Nice show in 1969, Emerson met Crimson’s young bass player Greg Lake backstage. After a small chat, they have decided to form a new band in several months. Now with The Nice project finished, Emerson was ready to move on.
Greg Lake started his musical career when he was given a guitar by his mother. When he was just a school boy, he wrote the song that will later become one of ELP’s greatest hits, “Lucky Man.” During the late ’60′s, Lake played in several bands. One of these bands, The Shy Limbs, nearly got him killed. The band used to sleep in a van and eat from the hand to mouth. Eventually, Lake developed pneumonia and had nearly died before his mother sent him to a doctor.
When he played with another band, The Gods, he caught the attention of Robert Fripp who was searching a bass player for King Crimson. Lake sang and played bass on the band’s first album, In The Court Of The Crimson King. But Fripp’s tyranny made the members of the band bitter and Lake was searching for a way out. Eve after meeting Emerson and making plans with him, Lake still helped Fripp with recording the next King Crimson’s album In The Wake Of Poseidon (retained as lead singer but not bassist) and then went of to start his own new group.
But the duo was searching for a drummer. They met Mitch Mitchell, Hendrix’s drummer who didn’t want to join but tried to get Hendrix into the new band. After the couple decided to join Carl Palmer as their drummer, the British Press fantasized about a new band with two virtuosos such as Hendrix and Emerson and speculated that the band will be called Hendrix, Emerson, Lake and Palmer or HELP (which would have surely made for some hilarious headlines). But Hendrix died in September 1970, before this idea came to fruition.
Emerson and Lake found Carl Palmer after he was recommended to them. They bought an album of his band Atomic Rooster and liked what they heard so they asked him to join them. But Palmer said no at first; he has been working hard, along with Vincent Crane, to get his band running and didn’t want to throw it all away. He was playing professionally since he was 15 years old and just recently toured with The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown which had a U.K. number one hit chart single, “Fire.”
But after continuing persuasion by Greg Lake, he decided to join them for a jam session. He enjoyed it very much and the trio began to practice until May 1970, when Palmer finished his work with Atomic Rooster and thus, ELP was born. Like another then-recent supergroup, Crosby, Stills and Nash, the English trio took the audacious move of using the group members’ names as the name of the group itself.
During 1970, ELP recorded its debut album, which was called, appropriately enough, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. They drew attention from the beginning because every one of its members played in a famous group before ELP. They were a super group, a term that was given to Cream in 1967 and was quite common during the late ’60′s and early ’70′s when music world was managed like the NBA. The first album included a modern version of a Bela Bartok piece called “The Barbarian.” It also included one of their greatest radio hits, “Lucky Man”. Lake was also responsible for the recording and it gave the album a very unique final sound. Another instrument which was innovatively used was the Moog Synthesizer. Although the Monkeys played it in 1967, no other musician has gained control over it as did Emerson. He was the first musician to use it on stage and managed to get amazing sounds out of this analog multi-switched instrument., becoming one of the earliest pioneers of the synthesizer (inventor Bob Moog himself though of Emerson as one of the great exponents of his Moog synthesizer).
The band gained wide public interest at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, during which Keith Emerson, dressed in shiny robe, fired two cannons (thus slightly injuring an Italian camera man) and played his keyboard like a madman.
In early 1971, they released their second album, Tarkus- their first concept album – which was recorded in only two weeks. The main theme of the album (the first side of the vinyl album) is, unsurprisingly, “Tarkus.” Tarkus is a bionic armadillo who fights other bionic creatures until it is convinced by the Manticore (a mythical hybrid creature that’s part human, part lion) to cease from its deviant ways. You may say that the story is a parable about wars and the ill-necessity of machines, but ELP claimed that it didn’t have any such exalted intentions. Significantly though, ELP later named its record label Manticore Records.
Tarkus was very popular in Britain and reached 9 on the U.S. Billboard charts. Six months after Tarkus, the band released Pictures At An Exhibition (1972), a newly rearranged version of the famous piece by Mussorgsky which was recorded during a live show in Newcastle City Hall. The band had already played it before at the Isle of Wight Festival (with the shooting cannons). Pictures was a very controversial album. Some people thought that it was a great achievement in rock while some classical fans thought that it was a disgrace to the original composer and some classic rock fans thought that it was self indulgent, masterbative crap that had nothing to do with rock itself. While I might understand some of the detractors’ opinions, I still think that they have ignored the most important thing in this album- the fact that these players combined two completely different types of music into a wholly amazing piece. Instead of classical masters like Liszt or Rachmaninoff who run in a raging fury on a classical keyboard, we had a new one who combines an amazing technique with amazing technicality and creating amazing, weird and feel accentuating sounds. We can get a great sense of pace from the rhythm section as well, which combines a deep electric bass with excellent drum work. And isn’t it true that many times, great art initially faces controversy when it first appears? If one is listening to this piece without comparing it to its antecedents, one can hear that Picture At An Exhibition is a very innovative work like no other.
Another anecdote about this album is that during a 1993 show in Budapest, Lake saw a man crying on the front row. After the show he asked the man why he was crying, and he told him that 15 years earlier he spend three months in jail because the Communist regime found out that he had had a copy of the album. That was the power of such music and how it was both loved and despised so strongly.
In 1972, the band released their third studio album, Trilogy. This was another eclectic album which drew on classical sources, combining the works of Ravel with the works of Aaron Copland and, of course, highly skilled playing by the members of the band. The album also contained ELP’s best selling single, “From The Beginning.”
From 1972 to 1974, ELP were one of the most popular bands in the world. With the exception maybe of other great showmen like Alice Cooper and Kiss, their shows were the most extravagant seen. Emerson was breaking keyboards like Pete Townsend use to break guitars while he also used a special remote which allowed him to play without even touching the instrument. Carl Palmer modified his drum battery by adding all kinds of bells, tubes and percussions. Capitalizing on their success, the band started its own label in 1973 to manage their music and to help new prog bands to achieve exposure, including Crimson lyricist Pete Sinfield and Italian band PFM.
In 1973, ELP recorded another studio album, Brain Salad Surgery. The cover was designed by H. R Giger, which became one of the first high-profile gigs for the artists who later designed the set and creatures for the movie series Alien as well as David Lynch’s Dune and album covers for the Dead Kennedys and Debbie Harry of Blondie. The first side of BSS contains, like every ELP album before, a new version of previous works, this time William Blake’s “Jerusalem” and Alberto Ginstera’s “Toccata” (along with the stamp of approval from the composer himself). The rest of the first side contains two other short songs, including Lake’s lovely “Still… You Turn Me On” and a collaboration with Pete Sinfield. The end of the first side and entire second side of the album contained a 30 minute piece called “Karn Evil 9″ (a pun with carnival). The piece is divided into three parts and talks about the battle between men and technology (recalling Tarkus).
1974 was the best year in ELP’s history. The road shows were unprecedentedly grandiose, featuring twenty tons of musical gear. Lake played while standing on a 5000 pound rug because he was afraid two get electrified (he nearly did during an earlier show). Emerson’s piano flew and spun in the air while he was playing. In April 6, 1974 the band played at the California Jam rock festival after Deep Purple. 350,000 viewers watch their best performance and the show was broadcasted nationwide. Later on, they released a triple album to commemorate the tour with a title taken from “Karn Evil 9″ (Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends– Ladies and Gentlemen. Emerson, Lake and Palmer). ELP’s albums hit top of Billboard again and Melody Maker Magazine voted them as “Best Band” along with “Best Keyboard Player” and “Best Drummer” (leaving poor Lake in the lurch). But it was to be ELP’s, as well as the progressive rock’s, apex- from here the only way to go was down. Times began to change.
After the tour, the three had decided to take some much-deserved rest. During the next three years, they bought new homes, had some rest and worked on solo albums. When they came back, punk was the popular style of the day and one of the punk’s main targets were the progressive dinosaurs, who they painted as villains that were ruining rock and growing rich and fat from it.
During the next couple of years, the band recorded two “group solo albums” (1977′s Works) with a part for every member solo composition (and years before Outkast or Hella had the idea). A tour in 1977 was economically destructive for the band members, with a loss of nearly two million dollars. And then in 1978 came Love Beach, an album that was made because the trio was under contract and was forced to do the album. Even worse, from its Beach Boys title and sunny cover image, it’s the least convincing of all of their records. This was the end. In July 1979, ELP disbanded.
During the next 20 years the band reunited as Emerson, Lake and Powell (with Cozy Powell formerly of Whitesnake, Jeff Beck Group). Palmer was available as he was involved in the most commercial of all post-ELP projects- another supergroup called Asia (included former members of Yes and Crimson).Emerson, Lake and Powell disband in the late ’80′s but Emerson, Lake and Palmer reunited again. In the early 90′s, rthey ecording a new album (Black Moon) and embarked on a few tours during the 90′s, occasionally disrupted by Emerson’s problem with nerves in his right arm (no doubt brought on by years of his theatrical playing). ELP then ceased to exist once again in 1998.
The ELP phenomenon was not unique. Every prog rock band had to reinvent itself in order to survive the punk revolution and the shallow ’80′s. Of course, they had to do it because the bands members were accustomed to a certain living style they wanted to preserve, but the prog rock style itself became somewhat inadequate. In a world where punk could transfer the essence of a song in two minutes of guitar work, nobody needed a 15 minutes piece for the same task. The bright side is that today with the Internet revolution more and more bands can get exposure and the prog rock is more alive than ever, as witnessed by the subsequent math rock movement and groups like TV on the Radio and Radiohead who have picked up on prog’s threads.
But a parallel ELP can never exist. ELP symbolized progressive rock in all its glory, with thousands of fans, tons of technical music and a highly desired glamour. But here laid its weakness. ELP became literally too expensive to maintain. All the stage tricks, all the extra players and accessories led to a situation were the cancellation of one show could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The band’s pomposity was derided by almost many writers who instead of listening to the music as it was, tried to find the band’s faults. The fact is that few other bands has ever taught so many young men and women that classical music can correspond very well with modern rock and roll. No other band could have done it as good as ELP had.
Sure, you can say they were a bunch of self indulged hedonists and you might accuse them of plagiarism, but to me, ELP is one of the symbols of London during the ’70′s. Every time I am listening to one of ELP’s early records, all I have to do is close my eyes and I am there, walking from Oxford St. to Regent St. There you are, going through Soho, watching King Crimson perform in Hyde Park or David Bowie at the Hammersmith Apollo, or just wandering around in the streets of London at its peak; traveling in a time when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
1965 – The Beatles record “Day Tripper” this day in rock history!
“Day Tripper” is a riff-driven rock song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles as a “double A-side” single with “We Can Work It Out”. Both songs were recorded during the sessions for the Rubber Soul album. The song topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Day Tripper” became a part of the group’s concert repertoire in 1965 and 1966, and was one of the songs played at their final tour date at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August 1966.
Lyrics:
Got a good reason for taking the easy way out
Got a good reason for taking the easy way out now
She was a day tripper, a one way ticket yea
It took me so long to find out, and i found out
She’s a big teaser, she took me half the way there
She’s a big teaser, she took me half the way there now
Tried to please her, she only played one night stands
Tried to please her, she only played one night stands now
She was a day tripper, a sunday driver yea
Took me so long to find out, and i found out
Day tripper
Day tripper yea
Composition
Under the pressure of needing a new single for the Christmas market,
The lyric may be partly about McCartney’s reluctance to experiment with LSD.
According to Ian MacDonald, the song “starts as a twelve-bar blues in E, which makes a feint at turning into a twelve-bar in the relative minor (i.e. the chorus) before doubling back to the expected B—another joke from a group which had clearly decided that it was to be their new gimmick.” Indeed, in 1966 McCartney said in Melody Maker that “Day Tripper” and “Drive My Car” (recorded three days prior) were “funny songs, songs with jokes in.” McCartney provides the lead vocal and Lennon the harmony, in contrast to the Beatles’ usual practice of a song’s principal composer singing lead.
Recording
The song was recorded on 16 October 1965 at Abbey Road Studios. The Beatles recorded the basic rhythm track for “If I Needed Someone” after completing “Day Tripper”.
The released master contains one of the most noticeable mistakes of any Beatles song, a drop out at 1:58 (1:49 in the version on Past Masters, Volume Two) in which the rhythm guitar part momentarily disappears; this may have been done to cover tape damage or some other recording mishap. This was later fixed on the 2000 compilation 1.
Credits
* John Lennon: lead vocal, rhythm guitar and tambourine.
* Paul McCartney: lead vocal and bass.
* George Harrison: lead guitar.
* Ringo Starr: drums.
Cover versions
Year Band Record Notes
1966 Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 Herb Alpert Presents album
1966 Nancy Sinatra Boots album
1966 Otis Redding Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul album
1967 Jimi Hendrix Experience BBC Sessions album of recordings from 5 days with BBC’s Radio One, released in 1988.
1967 Lulu Love Loves To Love album
1974 Electric Light Orchestra Long Beach live album and single in Germany and the Netherlands
1975 Anne Murray Highly Prized Possession album, and a minor hit single, reaching #59 on the Billboard charts
1978 Whitesnake Trouble
1979 James Taylor Flag album
1980 Cheap Trick Found All The Parts live 10″ EP
1980 Sham 69 The Game
1980 Yellow Magic Orchestra Public Pressure live album
1984 Devo 4th Dimension borrowed riff
1976 Skyhooks Million Dollar Riff borrowed riff
1987 Bad Brains The Youth Are Getting Restless live album
1991 Daniel Ash Coming Down album
1994 Gene Wooten The Great Dobro Sessions album of dobro players.
1996 Ocean Colour Scene single with members of Oasis
1999 tok tok tok 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Album of German Jazz Award winning soul-acousic band, “Day Tripper” to re-appear on 2005 compilation I wish
1999 Type O Negative World Coming Down album
2000 Simply Uncanny Heads over Heels demo album
2001 The Bollock Brothers ’77 ’78 ’79 – The Bollock Brothers album
2001 Ian Hunter Missing In Action live album
2004 The Punkles Pistol album
2006 Tommy Shaw Butchering the Beatles: A Headbashing Tribute Compilation Album
2008 David Cook Day Tripper (American Idol Studio Version)- Single American Idol Season 7
Cultural references
* On the 1966 John Mayall album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, a faster version of the riff is interspersed within the closing section of their cover of “What’d I Say”, the 1959 rhythm & blues signature hit by Ray Charles.
* In 1968, Yes used the riff in their Beatles cover “Every Little Thing” on their debut album.
* The Police incorporated part of the riff into “O My God”, from 1983′s Synchronicity. It can be heard in the introduction and chorus call “Fill it up”.
* In 1984, Devo reused “Day Tripper”‘s riff in “The 4th Dimension” on their album Shout!.
* 2 Live Crew used the riff on the As Nasty As They Wanna Be album track “Fraternity Record.”
* The Wildhearts covered part of the song in “My Baby Is a Headfuck”, appearing on their album Earth Vs The Wildhearts.
* April Wine used the riff at the end of their song “I Like to Rock”, in canon with The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” riff, and “I Like to Rock”‘s own riff.
* The Eagles play the riff in the outro for “In the City” from The Long Run.
* Buffalo Springfield borrowed the riff for “Baby Don’t Scold Me” (at the 1:54 mark) on their debut album.
* In the ABC comedy, Full House, Danny Tanner plays the riff on the season two episode “I’m There For You, Babe”.
* Johnny Marr of The Smiths incorporated the riff from “Day Tripper” in live versions of the band’s early song, “Jeane”.
* Guns N’ Roses plays the riff from “Day Tripper” at the end of a cover of “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth (band) in their 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident?.
* The song is featured in the TV show The Mighty Boosh, near the end of the episode “Jungle”. Vince Noir and mod-wolves are seen dancing to the song.
* Type O Negative cover the song as part of a medley consisting of “Day Tripper”, “If I Needed Someone”, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, on the album “World Coming Down”.
1960 – Steven “Steve” Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is an American instrumental rock guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and producer. After starting his professional career as a music transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, Vai would also record and tour in Zappa’s backing band starting in 1980. The guitarist began a solo career starting in 1984 and has released 13 solo albums as of 2008. Apart from his work with Frank Zappa, Vai has also recorded and toured with numerous musical artists including Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. Vai has been a regular touring member of the G3 Concert Tour which began in 1996. In 1999 Vai started his own record label Favored Nations with the intent to showcase, as Vai describes: “…artists that have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments.”
Career
1970s and 1980s
In 1974, Vai took guitar lessons from guitarist Joe Satriani, and played in numerous local bands such as a band named “The Steve Vais”. He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth. Vai then attended the Berklee College of Music.
Steve Vai (right), Frank Zappa and band during a concert at the Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY. Oct 25, 1980
Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa’s “The Black Page”, an instrumental song written for drums, along with a tape with some of Vai’s guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician that he hired him in 1979 to do work transcribing several of his guitar solos, including many of those appearing on the Joe’s Garage album and the Shut Up ‘n’ Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book.
Subsequent to being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa’s album You Are What You Is. Thereafter he became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the Autumn of 1980. One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, recorded in Buffalo was released in 2007. While touring with Zappa’s band, Vai would sometimes ask audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his “little Italian virtuoso” and was listed in liner notes as performing “stunt guitar” or “impossible guitar parts”. He would later be a featured artist on the 1993 recording, Zappa’s Universe. In 2006 he returned to playing Zappa music as a special guest on Dweezil Zappa’s ‘Zappa Plays Zappa’ tour.
After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1985 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace. Later in 1985 he joined former Van Halen front man David Lee Roth’s group to record the albums Eat ‘Em and Smile and Skyscraper. This significantly increased Vai’s visibility to general rock audiences, since Roth was in a highly public battle with the Van Halen members and Vai was favorably compared by many commentators to Eddie Van Halen.
In 1986 Vai also surprised everyone by playing with ex-Sex Pistols John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd on their album Album (also known as Compact Disc or Cassette). Then, in 1989, Vai joined Whitesnake, replacing Vivian Campbell. But, when Adrian Vandenberg injured his wrist shortly before recording was due to begin for the album Slip of the Tongue, Vai played all the guitar parts on the album. Vai also played on the Alice Cooper album Hey Stoopid along with Joe Satriani on the song Feed my Frankenstein.
1990s and 2000s
Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one-time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth and Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour. In 1990 Vai released his critically acclaimed solo album Passion and Warfare. The song For the Love of God was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World.
In 1994 Vai began writing and recording with Ozzy Osbourne. Only one track from these sessions—”My Little Man”—was released on the Ozzmosis album. Despite Vai penning the track he does not appear on the album. His guitar parts were replaced by Zakk Wylde. Vai’s band members throughout the 1990s included drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally and bassist Philip Bynoe. In 1994 Vai received a Grammy Award for his performance on the Frank Zappa song Sofa from the album Zappa’s Universe.
Vai playing a twin-necked Ibanez
Vai playing a twin-necked Ibanez
In July 2002, Steve Vai performed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, in the world premiere of composer Ichiro Nodaira’s Fire Strings, a concerto for electric guitar and 100-piece orchestra. In 2004, a number of his compositions for orchestra, as well as orchestra arrangements of previously recorded pieces, were performed in The Netherlands by the Metropole Orchestra in a concert series entitled The Aching Hunger. In 2003, drummer Jeremy Colson joined Vai’s group replacing previous drummer Virgil Donati. Vai’s latest album, Sound Theories, was released in 2007.
Steve Vai released a DVD of his performance at The Astoria in London in December 2001, featuring the lineup of bassist Billy Sheehan, guitarist/pianist Tony MacAlpine, guitarist Dave Weiner and drummer Virgil Donati.
In February 2005, Vai premiered a dual-guitar (electric and classical) piece that he wrote called The Blossom Suite with classical guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris. In 2006, Vai played as a “special guest” guitarist alongside additional guest Zappa band members, drummer Terry Bozzio and saxophonist-singer Napoleon Murphy Brock in the Zappa Plays Zappa tour led by Frank’s son Dweezil Zappa in Europe and the U.S. in the Spring as well as a short U.S. tour in October.
On September 21 2006, Vai made a special appearance at the Video Games Live concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, California. He played two songs with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. One song being the Halo Theme, the second was for the world premier trailer for Halo 3.
Steve Vai made an appearance at the London Guitar Show 2007 on the 28th April 2007 at the ExCeL Center by doing a masterclass. In late April 2007, Vai confirmed the release of his next record, called Sound Theories, on June 26. The release will be a 2-CD set consisting mostly of previously released material that Vai rearranged and played in front of a full orchestra. Vai says that the project was a great joy because he considers himself to be a composer more than a guitarist, and he is happy to see music he has composed played by an orchestra that can play it well. A DVD will eventually accompany the record but will be released in August. He makes a guest appearance on the most recent Dream Theater album, Systematic Chaos, on the song “Repentance”. However, this appearance is vocal rather than instrumental, as Vai is one of many musical guests recorded apologizing to important people in their lives for wrongdoings committed in their pasts.
Vai is set to release a DVD of his show dated 19 September 2007 at the Minneapolis State Theater from his 2007 Tour.
Video Games
In 2004, Steve Vai was featured on Xbox’s Halo 2 (a game by Bungie Studios) Volume 1 soundtrack, performing a heavy rock-guitar rendition of the Halo theme, known as Halo Theme (Mjolnir Mix). He also performed on the track Never Surrender. He later featured in the second volume of the soundtrack, where he performed on the track Reclaimer.
In 2008, Steve Vai’s For the Love of God (instrumental) was featured as a downloadable track for the game Guitar Hero 3
Movies
Steve Vai’s music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film’s climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and also Ry Cooder, who played the initial slide work in the duel and Macchio’s earlier performances in the film. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled Eugene’s Trick Bag with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini’s Caprice #5. He later borrowed the opening riff from the track Head Cuttin’ Duel for a song called Bad Horsie from his 1995 EP Alien Love Secrets. Later the Crossroads duel reappeared on the 2002 album The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1.
In 1991′s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey the introductory riff to KISS’ God Gave Rock ‘N Roll To You II, as performed by the Wyld Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions in 2001 to the score for John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks Ghosts of Mars and Ghost Poppin. His track Drive the Hell Out Of Here can be heard during 1992′s Encino Man in the scene where Brendan Fraser is taking a driving lesson.
Playing style
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Vai performing in 2001
Vai is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso in the world of guitar music .
Vai’s playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. He often uses exotic guitars; he plays both double and triple neck guitars, and is regarded as the first to use the 7-string guitar in a rock context. Along with Ibanez, he designed a signature 7-string guitar, the Ibanez Universe.
Equipment
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: “The Mothership” ) and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign’s Pro Tools HD recording system and plug-in effects architecture.
Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a “monkey grip”) cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration with several different types of pickup including Evolution, Breed and EVO 2. He also uses an Ibanez Edge double-locking tremolo system (the current production JEMs have the newer Edge Pro), as well as an elaborate and extensive “Tree of Life” inlay down the neck. Vai also equips many of his guitars with an Ibanez Backstop, a tremolo stabilizer that has been discontinued. Lately Vai has also equipped some of his guitars with True Temperament fretboards in order for his chords to sound completly in tune. Vai also has a 7-string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other bands to create nu metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria. Before he used Ibanez, he briefly endorsed Jackson guitars, but this relationship would only last for two years.
Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique and equal in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used. Over his long musical career, Steve Vai has used and designed an array of guitars. He even had his DNA put into the swirl paint job on one of his signature JEM guitars, the JEM2KDNA, in the form of his blood. Only 300 of these were ever made. Nowadays he mainly uses his white “Evo”, a JEM7V, and his “Flo”, which is a customized Floral Jem 777FP painted white. They are both inscribed with their names in two places, mainly in order to allow him to distinguish between the guitars he uses onstage. “Flo” is equipped with a Fernandes sustainer system.
He also has a guitar named “Mojo” in which the dot inlays are blue LED lights. Additionally, he has a custom-made triple-neck guitar that has the same basic features as his JEM7V guitars. The top neck is a 12-string guitar, the middle is a 6-string, and the bottom is a 6-string fretless guitar with a Fernandes Sustainer pickup. This guitar was featured on the G3 2003 tour on the piece I Know You’re Here. Vai’s effects pedals include a modified Boss DS-1, Ibanez Tube Screamer, Morley Bad Horsie, TC Electronics G-System, Morley Little Alligator Volume pedal, Digitech Whammy, and an MXR Phase 90/Phase 100 on the Passion and Warfare album. His flight cases are labeled “Mr. Vai”, or latterly, “Dr. Vai”. He used a number of rack effects units controlled via MIDI, but used a floor-based TC electronics G system instead for the Zappa Plays Zappa tour. Vai also has a signature pedal in the works with Ibanez called the “Jemini” pedal (see external links for a picture). This pedal is expected to be released at Winter NAMM 2008.
Philanthropy
In 2005, Vai signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member.
Favored Nations
Vai owns Favored Nations, a recording and publishing company that specializes in internationally procuring and maintaining recording artists. Favored Nations is separated into three sections, ‘Favored Nations’, ‘Favored Nations Acoustic’ and ‘Favored Nations Cool (Jazz style)’
Artists who the Favored Nations label works or has worked with include Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Neal Schon, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, Mattias IA Eklundh, Tommy Emmanuel, Vernon Reid, The Yardbirds, Larry Coryell, Mimi Fox, Eric Sardinas, Dweezil Zappa, Dave Weiner and Johnny A.
Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Vai and Maiocco have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees
Band History – not including guest appearances
* Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
* Steve Vai (1982-1984)
* Alcatrazz(1985)
* David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
* Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
* Frank Zappa (1986)
* David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
* Whitesnake (1988-1990)
* Solo (1989-present)
* The Brian May Band (1992)
* Ozzy Osbourne (1995)
Current band members
* Steve Vai – vocals, lead guitar
* Dave Weiner -rhythm guitar,electric sitar
* Ann Marie Calhoun – violin,keyboard
* Alex DePue-violin
* Bryan Beller-bass guitar
* Jeremy Colson – drums, percussion
Discography
Solo albums
* Flex-Able (1984)
* Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
* Passion and Warfare (1990)
* Sex & Religion (1993)
* Alien Love Secrets (1995)
* Fire Garden (1996)
* The Ultra Zone (1999)
* The 7th Song (2000)
* Alive in an Ultra World (2001)
* The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
* The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
* Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
* Sound Theories (2007)
Appearances on Zappa albums
Year Album Credit
1981 Tinseltown Rebellion Rhythm guitar, vocals
1981 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Rhythm guitar
1981 You Are What You Is Guitar
1982 Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Guitar parts
1983 The Man from Utopia Guitar parts
1984 Them or Us Guitar
1984 Thing-Fish Guitar, vocals
1985 Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention Guitar
1987 Jazz from Hell Guitar
1988 Guitar Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore Sampler Stunt guitar
1988 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 Stunt guitar
1989 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3 Stunt guitar
1991 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 4 Stunt guitar, vocals
1991 Beat the Boots I: As An Am Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 Stunt guitar
1992 You Can’t Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 Stunt guitar
1995 Strictly Commercial Guitar
1997 Have I Offended Someone? Guitar
1998 Cheap Thrills Guitar
1999 Son of Cheep Thrills Guitar, vocals
With other artists
Year Artist Album
1983 Lisa Popeil Lisa Popeil
1985 Heresy At The Door
1985 Alcatrazz Disturbing the Peace
1985 Public Image Ltd. Album
1986 Bob Harris The Great Nostalgia
1986 Shankar & Caroline The Epidemics
1986 David Lee Roth Eat ‘Em and Smile / Sonrisa Salvaje
1986 Randy Coven Funk Me Tender
1986 Western Vacation Western Vacation
1988 David Lee Roth Skyscraper
1989 Whitesnake Slip of the Tongue
1990 Rebecca The Best of Dreams
1991 Alice Cooper Hey Stoopid
1994 Whitesnake Whitesnake’s Greatest Hits
1995 Ozzy Osbourne Ozzmosis (cowriter on one song)
1996 Wild Style Cryin’
1997 Munetaka Higuchi with Dream Castle Free World
1997 Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson / Steve Vai G3: Live in Concert
1997 David Lee Roth The Best
1998 Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette
1998 Al Di Meola The Infinite Desire
1999 Joe Jackson Symphony No. 1
2000 Whitesnake The Back to Black Collection
2000 Gregg Bissonette Submarine
2000 Thana Harris Thanatopsis
2000 Andrew Dice Clay Face Down, Ass Up
2001 Robin DiMaggio Blue Planet
2001 Billy Sheehan Compression
2002 Tak Matsumoto Hana
2003 Surinder Sandhu Saurang Orchestra
2002 Girls Together Outrageously (G.T.O) Solo in their cover version of “I’ll Be Around”
2003 Eric Sardinas Black Pearls
2003 Steve Lukather & Friends SantaMental
2003 Hughes Turner Project HTP 2
2003 Shankar & Gingger One in a Million
2003 Yardbirds Birdland
2004 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen G3: Live – Rockin’ In The Free World
2004 Motörhead Inferno
2004 Bob Carpenter The Sun, The Moon, The Stars
2004 Mike Keneally Vai: Piano Reductions, Vol. 1
2005 John 5 Songs for Sanity
2005 Dave Weiner Live at Astoria DVD
2005 Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci G3: Live in Tokyo
2006 The Devin Townsend Band Synchestra
2006 Marty Friedman Loudspeaker
2006 Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose
2007 Dream Theater (spoken voice only) Systematic Chaos
2007 Eros Ramazzotti e²
Soundtracks
Year Soundtrack Type
1986 Crossroads Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1987 Dudes Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1991 Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1992 Encino Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1994 PCU Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
1997 Formula 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2001 Ghosts of Mars Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2004 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 1 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2006 Halo 2 Soundtrack Volume 2 Original Video Game Soundtrack
2008 Guitar Hero III: Virtuoso Track Pack Original Video Game Soundtrack
Compilations
Year Artists Compilation
1989 Various Guitar’s Practicing Musicians
1993 Various Zappa’s Universe
1995 Various In From The Storm
1996 Various Songs of West Side Story
1997 Various A Guitar Christmas
1997 Various Angelica
1999 Various Radio Disney Kid Jams
2001 Various Roland Guitar Masters
2002 Various Guitars For Freedom
2002 Various Warmth In The Wilderness Vol. II – A Tribute to Jason Becker
2004 Various Halo 2 Original Soundtrack
2006 Various Monsters of Rock
Grammy Winner
* 1994 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Sofa” from Zappa’s Universe
* 2001 Best Pop Instrumental No Substitutions
Grammy Nomination
* 1990 Best Rock Instrumental Album Passion & Warfare
* 1995 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Tender Surrender” – from Alien Love Secrets
* 1997 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “For the Love of God” – from G3 Live in Concert
* 1999 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Windows to the Soul” – from The Ultra Zone
* 2001 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Whispering a Prayer” – from Alive in an Ultra World
* 2006 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “Lotus Feet” — lost to Les Paul & Friends’s “69 Freedom Special”
* 2008 Best Rock Instrumental Performance “The Attitude Song” — lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
Guitar Player Magazine
1995 Gallery of Greats
1995 Best Rock Guitarist (Tie with Jimmy Page)
1995 Best Overall Guitarist 3rd Place
1995 Best Experimental Guitarist (Tie with Buckethead)
1995 Best Metal Recording 3rd Place
1995 Best Overall Guitar Recording 2nd Place
1995 Best Metal Guitarist 3rd Place
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Overall Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Album
1990 Best Metal Guitarist
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
1988 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Rock Guitarist
1987 Best Overall Guitarist
1986 Best Rock Guitarist
Guitar World
1990 Most Valued Player (tie with Stevie Ray Vaughan)
1990 Best Album
1990 Best Rock Guitarist
1990 Best Guitar Solo (For the Love of God)
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
International Music Awared Nomination
1990 Best Guitarist
Select Magazine (UK)
1990 Best Album (Passion and Warfare)
1990 Best Musician
1990 Sexiest Male
Guitar for the Practicing Musician
1993 Editor’s Choice Award
1990 Reader’s Choice – Guitar Album of the Year
1990 Best Instrumental Guitarist of the Year
1988 Rock Guitarist of the Year
1987 Hall of Fame
1986 Guitar in the 90’s Award
Kerrang (UK)
1993 Best Hard Rock Performance
1990 Guitarist of the Year
1989 Best Rock Guitarist
Young Guitar (Japan)
1997 Best Rock Guitarist
1991 Best Rock Guitarist
Rock Brigade
1996 Best Guitarist
1997 Best Guitarist
RAW
1990 Best Selling Album (No. 10)
1990 Best Selling LP Sleeve (No. 1)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 5, I Would Love To)
1990 Best Selling Promo Video (No. 7, The Audience is Listening)
1949 – David Coverdale of the groups Whitesnake and Deep Purple is born in Saltburnon- Sea, England.
David Coverdale (born September 22, 1951 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire) is an English rock vocalist most famous for his work with the English hard rock band Deep Purple, and his later band Whitesnake.
Career
Coverdale, briefly a student at Middlesbrough Art College, was largely unknown until he was selected to replace Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan (who had resigned) in September 1973. He was living in Marske-by-the-Sea and working in a clothes shop in Redcar, Teesside fronting a local group called Government which had supported Deep Purple.
With Deep Purple advertising for a vocalist, he sent them a demo tape of his vocals. Impressed by his deep blues timbre, Coverdale was recruited to the band, sharing vocal duties with bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes. Coverdale immediately became an international rock superstar with the million selling albums Burn, Stormbringer, and Come Taste the Band. In April 1974, he sang to over 200,000 music fans in his first trip to America at the California Jam. He also sang on Jon Lord’s Windows and Roger Glover’s Butterfly Ball. His tenure ended in March 1976 when Deep Purple (in that incarnation) finally split up.
Coverdale soon formed Whitesnake and during the late seventies and early eighties, with ever changing line-ups, recorded a series of well-received blues-rock albums. With ex-Deep Purple founders Jon Lord followed by Ian Paice joining in 1979, Whitesnake worked hard to become international superstars. According to British heavy metal magazine Kerrang!, in 1982, Coverdale was considered for the vocalist position with Black Sabbath following the departure of Ronnie James Dio. Coverdale declined. Whitesnake gained large popularity in the UK, Europe, and Asia but North American success remained elusive. In 1984 the album “Slide It In” dented the US charts but not enough to be considered a success. In time for the US release of “Slide It In” David Coverdale made a calculated attempt in updating Whitesnake’s sound and look by recruiting guitarist John Sykes. Sykes brought a more contemporary, aggressive guitar sound with him and had stage manners to match. In 1985 Sykes and Coverdale started working on new songs for the next album but Coverdale soon contracted a troublesome sinus infection that made recording close to impossible for the most part of 1986. Coverdale eventually recovered and recordings were continued but before “1987″ (the name the album has become popularly known as) was fully recorded and released, Sykes and the rest of the recording band had parted company with Whitesnake. The split with Sykes was not amicable. In many period interviews David Coverdale openly stated that the next album was a make or break album for Whitesnake and if not successful he would disband the band altogether. During 1987 and 1988 North America was finally won with the multi-platinum self-titled Whitesnake album, co-written for the most part with John Sykes.
The 1987 album has sold 8 times platinum since its release, propelled by hit singles such as “Here I Go Again.” Through the late 80′s and early 90′s, caught in the “hair-band” era, Coverdale kept Whitesnake going with great success and with changing lineups until the end of 1991. It is no secret that Coverdale wanted out of the business at that point. He’d grown uncomfortable with the entity he then felt Whitesnake had become and admits that he got “caught up in it”. In a candid period interview, Coverdale sums it up in one sentence:
“It got louder and louder, and so did I, to the point now where I have to get dressed up as a “girly man” and tease ones questionable bangs (or hair) and it’s all getting a bit… boring.”
In 1994 Whitesnake was put on the road again in support of a Greatest Hits compilation. Citing weak sales figures for this compilation, Geffen Records elected not to renew Whitesnake’s recording contract, and Whitesnake was again put on ice.
In December 2002, Coverdale re-reformed Whitesnake again for an American and European tour, with Tommy Aldridge on drums, Marco Mendoza (bass), Doug Aldrich (guitar), Reb Beach (guitar) and Timothy Drury (keyboards). In 2004-2005 saw Whitesnake embark on a tour of the U.S., South America and Europe. A live DVD, shot during the 2005 tour at the legendary Carling Apollo (better known as the Hammersmith Odeon) in London, was released in February 2006. In June 2006 David Coverdale signed a new record deal with Steamhammer/SPV. The first release under the new contract was the double live album Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues (released Nov. 27th 2006), the album also contained 4 brand new studio tracks written by Coverdale and Aldrich. Coverdale recently (2006) had a song written about him by Australian independent band the Fauves. The song alludes to buying one of his albums at a gas station and driving through the night listening to it.
In 2008, Coverdale with the new Whitesnake line-up embarked on a European Tour as part of a double bill with fellow Yorkshire rockers Def Leppard, featuring a triumphant return to Wembley Arena.
Band history
David Coverdale, singing with Whitesnake in Ljubljana, Slovenia in Summer 2006
David Coverdale has been in many different well known musical movements other than the one he is best known for (Whitesnake).
* The Government (1968 – 1972)
* Fablosa Brothers (1972 – 1973)
* Deep Purple (1973 – 1976)
* solo (1976 – 1977)
* Whitesnake (1978 – 1982)
* Whitesnake (1982 – 1991)
* Coverdale/Page (1992 – 1993)
* Whitesnake (1994)
* Whitesnake (1997-1998)
* Solo (1999-2002)
* Whitesnake (2002-present)
Personal life
Mural depicting David Coverdale on the wall of an apartment block in Kavarna, “the rock capital of Bulgaria”
David Coverdale was first married in 1974 to Julia, and their daughter Jessica was born in 1978. Coverdale’s second marriage was to actress Tawny Kitaen, from February 17, 1989 until their divorce in April 1991. Kitaen was known for her “provocative” appearances in Whitesnake’s music videos for “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love.” Currently he is married to Cindy (they married in 1997), an author, her most recent work being The Food That Rocks. They have a son, Jasper (b. 1996). Coverdale is also a grandfather to his daughter Jessica’s two children, Georgina and Mathilda. He has been linked to Gabrielle Jamae (83-97) but no photographic proof has been produced (or found) to substantiate these allegations. On March 1st 2007 David Coverdale became a U.S. citizen, in a ceremony in Reno, and now holds dual US/UK citizenship. He has lived near Lake Tahoe for more than 20 years.
Guitarists
Over his 30 year career, Coverdale has worked with many of rock music’s most accomplished guitar players.
* Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow, Blackmore’s Night) – in Deep Purple (1973-1975)
* Tommy Bolin (The James Gang, Deep Purple) – in Deep Purple (1975-1976)
* Micky Moody (Juicy Lucy, Whitesnake, Company of Snakes, M3) – in Whitesnake (1977-1982, 1984)
* Bernie Marsden (UFO, Whitesnake, Bernie Marsden SOS, Company of Snakes, M3) – in Whitesnake (1977-1982)
* Mel Galley (Trapeze, Whitesnake) – in Whitesnake (1982-1984)
* John Sykes (Tygers Of Pan Tang, Badlands (UK), Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Blue Murder, Sykes) – in Whitesnake (1984-1987)
* Vivian Campbell (Sweet Savage, Dio, Whitesnake, Riverdogs, Shadow King, Def Leppard) – in Whitesnake (1987-1988)
* Steve Vai (Frank Zappa, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake) – in Whitesnake (1988-1991)
* Adrian Vandenberg (Vandenberg, Whitesnake, Manic Eden) – in Whitesnake (1988-1991, 1994, 1997-1998)
* Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin, The Firm, Coverdale/Page, The Yardbirds) – in Coverdale/Page (1992-1993)
* Warren DeMartini (Ratt) – in Whitesnake (1994)
* Earl Slick (David Bowie, John Lennon, Phantom Rocker & Slick) – in David Coverdale solo work (2000)
* Doug Aldrich (Lion, Hurricane, Bad Moon Rising, Burning Rain, Dio, Whitesnake) – in Whitesnake (2002-present)
* Reb Beach (Winger, Dokken, Alice Cooper, The Mob) – in Whitesnake (2002-present)
Discography
With Deep Purple
* Burn (1974)
* Live in London (1974)
* Stormbringer (1974)
* Made in Europe (1975)
* Come Taste the Band (1975)
Post-1976 Albums with Deep Purple
* Last Concert in Japan (1976)
* Singles A’s & B’s (1993)
* On the Wings of a Russian Foxbat: Live in California 1976 (1995)
* California Jamming: Live 1974 (1996)
* Mk. III: The Final Concerts (1996)
* Days May Come and Days May Go, The California Rehearsals, June 1975 (2000)
* 1420 Beachwood Drive, The California Rehearsals, Part 2 (2000)
* This Time Around: Live in Tokyo (2001)
* Listen Learn Read On (2002)
* Just Might Take Your Life (2003)
* Perks and Tit (2004)
* Live in Paris 1975 (2004)
* Burn 30th Anniversary Edition (2004)
* Live in California 74 (DVD) (2005)
Solo
* White Snake (1977)
* Northwinds (1978)
* Into the Light (2000)
With Coverdale/Page
* Coverdale Page (1993)
With Whitesnake
* Snakebite (1978)
* Trouble (1978)
* Lovehunter (1979)
* Live at Hammersmith (1980)
* Ready an’ Willing (1980)
* Live…In the Heart of the City (1980)
* Come an’ Get It (1981)
* Saints & Sinners (1982)
* Slide It In (1984)
* Whitesnake (1987)
* Slip of the Tongue (1989)
* Restless Heart (1997)
* Starkers in Tokyo (1997)
* LIVE In the Still of the Night (DVD+CD Recorded on the 2004 UK Tour) (2006)
* Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues (2 CD set Recorded during the 2005-2006 world tours) (2006)
* Good To Be Bad (2008)
Others
* Various artists – Days of Thunder soundtrack (song “The Last Note Of Freedom”) (1990)
* Coverdale/Page – Coverdale-Page (1993)
* Butterfly Ball – Behind The Smile (voice)
* Steve Vai – song “For The Love Of God” (voice at the end)
* Bernie Marsden – And About Time Too (vocals on “Who’s Fooling Who (live)” -bonus track on CD)
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