Reeves Gabrels - opinions
Kenneth Wang
I hate to be negative, but I would really like to know why most people
like Gabrels' playing. Personally, I feel he is by far the worst
guitarist Bowie has had. In concert, he plays practically the exact
same thing on every song, just squealing and making uninteresting noise
on his guitar as if he were a kid who doesn't really know how to play.
I enjoyed Bowie's recent shows (since '95), but they never quite reached
the level of excitement that they should. This is due to Gabrels' poor
playing in my opinion. Just compare his playing to Mick Ronson, Bowie
himself, Carlos Alomar, Robert Fripp, etc. It doesn't even come close.
Just my opinion
Richard Gjerde
It is certainly objectively wrong that Gabrels "can't play." Technically
he is one of the very best musicians within pop music. He is
probably even better than Fripp at least Bowie thinks so. You may not
like his style of playing, but at least on the albums he is playing in
many styles so I don't really understand that. I think he is probably the
best guitarist Bowie has worked with, and the solo on "Looking for
Satellites" is divine.
richard
Whoah! ugan
Think about it, and get used to it. If it wasn't for Reeves, Bowie
would still be performing "Day In-Day Out". And putting out boring
things like "Black Tie White Noise" I love you Gabs...
DCL in PA
RG rocks.
DCL
Richard Gjerde
He had already been working with Gabrels for many years when he put out
BTWN and Gabrels even play guitar on You've Been Around. You may think
BTWN is boring, I think it is his most underrated album ever. Young
Americans for the 90's, only better.
richard
He Is John
OXEHUFWUD wrote
>reeves is one of the most imaginative musicians in the feild today, he
dares to
> go on unbeaten pathes of guitarship, instead of going to the obvious, he
> choses to experiment to learn and create, twist and yes distort the
obvious <snip>,
OK, I'll agree with everything here but the first line. Yes, Reeves is on
the unbeaten path -- he experiments, creates, twists and distorts, but I
wouldn't call him imaginative at all. He's basically an accomplished
"shredder". He gets BIG "style points" and he's real quick, but nearly
every Reeves solo has that been-there-done-that feel to it. Bowie's 10 spot
show was a perfect example of this. Most of Reeves' solos made GREAT live
TV, but they were pretty much the same drill.
All kind of reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen in some respects. He, like
Reeves, is lightning fast and a brilliant technician, but truly lacking in
the imagination department.
John
Dara O'Kearney
In article <3446F6AD...@geocities.com>,
Kenneth Wang <kkw...@geocities.com> wrote:
>I hate to be negative, but I would really like to know why most people
>like Gabrels' playing. Personally, I feel he is by far the worst
>guitarist Bowie has had. In concert, he plays practically the exact
>same thing on every song, just squealing and making uninteresting noise
>on his guitar as if he were a kid who doesn't really know how to play.
Reeves can certainly play - in purely techncal terms, he's probably the best
guitarist Bowie has worked with. I disagree that he sounds the same on each
song - he has his style and he sticks to it, but if his guitar were isolated
and that was all I could hear, I'd still be able to tell which song he was
playing.
Maybe it sounds the same to you because you don't like that particular
style. For example, my parents hate rock/pop, and they genuinely believe
that all the songs sound the same. They genuinely can't hear any difference
between Michael Bolton and David Bowie. We can hear a difference, but that's
because we're used to the genre. So maybe it's the same with you and Reeves'
style of playing.
>I enjoyed Bowie's recent shows (since '95), but they never quite reached
>the level of excitement that they should. This is due to Gabrels' poor
>playing in my opinion. Just compare his playing to Mick Ronson, Bowie
>himself, Carlos Alomar, Robert Fripp, etc.
I don't know why people compare Reeves to Carlos. You almost might as well
compare him to a bass guitar player. Carlos is a brilliant rhythm guitarist,
but he's not a lead guitarist. Reeves is a brilliant lead guitarist, but
he's not a rhythm guitarist (he can do a reasonable rhythm guitar if
absolutely necessary).
Bowie is an adequate guitarist himself (mainly on the rhythm side), but I
really don't see how anyone could think he's better than Reeves.
Slan leat,
Dara.
NewRomntic
Not being much of a musician, I can't say much about the technical style of
Reeves' playing. What i can say is that since he's been around, Reeves has
added a much-needed volcanic burst of fury to David's work. And I'm a big fan
of any guitar player that can keep Peter Frampton from ever happening again
since it resulted in the absolute blandest Bowie work ever.
Robert
"Who died and made you Material Girl?"
Douglas Bailey
On Fri, 17 Oct 1997 19:44:16 -0500, "Adam J. Cook" <ajc...@flash.net>
wrote:
>Fripp was fantastic. I love his work on the SCARY MONSTERS album,
>especially the solo on "Teenage Wildlife".
Here, at least, we're in total agreement. That solo made me want to
learn how to play guitar (and no, I still can't play the solo, or
anything close to it, but what the hell). I think it's one of the most
beautiful things in all of pop music...
doug
======================================================================
douglas bailey (trys...@saturn.net)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
don't you let my letter get you down...
Theresa Marie Knoche
>
>
amen, amen, amen, I don't even like to look at Reeves'. He reminds me of
a child molester and anyone who thinks he's God needs to "get real" and
remember Mick Ronson.
Theresa Marie Knoche
he makes nothing but noise - if it weren't for the fact that Bowie's music
is timeless - Reeves' wouldn't amount to "you know what"
what else has Reeves' done except play for Bowie?
Dara O'Kearney
In article <Pine.OSF.3.96.97101...@alpha3.csd.uwm.edu>,
I think he worked with a lot of the proto-grunge bands in the US in the
early and mid 80's. There used to be a discography of everything he'd worked
on somewhere on the Web, not sure if it's still there. He's also released a
solo album.
In the last year or so, as well as his work with Bowie, he's played on the
current Sister Machine Gun album, the new Cure single ("Wrong Number") and
done some work on his next solo album with Frank Black, Dave Grohl, and Mark
Plati.
Kathleen
ORAC wrote:
>
> In article <627ogr$961$1...@newsd-111.bryant.webtv.net>, ug...@webtv.net
> (Whoah! ugan) wrote:
>
> >Think about it, and get used to it. If it wasn't for Reeves, Bowie
> >would still be performing "Day In-Day Out". And putting out boring
> >things like "Black Tie White Noise" I love you Gabs...
>
> efforts of the last decade, IMHO.
>
I think so too. It's a very multi-layered album that puts me in a real
relaxing mood. Buddah of Suburbia too is well worth a listen for
relaxation.
But, I don't always like to relax, so bring it on Reeves!!!
Kathleen
He Is John
ORAC wrote:
>Who said BLACK TIE WHITE NOISE was boring? It was one of Bowie's better
>efforts of the last decade, IMHO.
Agreed! David finally redeemed himself with this one after nearly a full
decade of crap (for lack of a better term). My wife graduated from nursing
school one week after BTWN was released. I played "The Wedding"
(instrumental) as all the students were marching in at the beginning of the
ceremony, and *EVERYBODY* wanted to know who it was! (Most were real
surprised to learn it was Bowie.)
The title track, "Nite Flights" and "Pallas Athena" are all standouts, and
as a whole, I see the release as a real turning point -- his first
full-length disc since Scary Monsters that didn't sound like it was written
with American radio in mind.
John
CygNetKS
> I don't even like to look at Reeves'. He reminds me of
>a child molester and anyone who thinks he's God needs to "get real" and
>remember Mick Ronson.
>
players....What about Jimi Hendrix? Eh??
Or Eddie Van Halen??
Or Jimmy Page??
Eh? Eh?
Different styles for Different Folks! Not one of these guitar players can
objectively be seen as better than the other, as it all comes down to personal
style! I think many guitarists are great! Even the ones just starting to
learn, like me, as to learn to play that contraption is mastery in itself! I
mean, just look at any of those guitarists mentioned above...how their fingers
fly on the fret board! It basically does all come down to repitition...but the
guitar somehow seems to be part of the musician (Kinda like Elton John and the
piano) ....you know the in's and out's of the instrument...you know how to get
it to work...how to avoid that irritating buzzing of the string....you know
how to get the guitar to sound like a dentist's drill..(RG) yet keep the
people from screaming in fear...you know how to work the music and the
instrument into your soul. You know how to play it with passion, basically!
You may not like it....but there are some of us who can listen to it and find
stillness in that powerful vibration of sound.
Now to go practice Greensleeves....
P.S. Anyone....never judge a person on their physical appearance....That's
called DNA...and everyone takes that and works with it. Reeves is beautifully
eclectic!
DNA is only here so that we may exist in physical 3-d form....but it does not
make us Who We Are.
(I follow that reincarnation mixed with the Cosmos ideology.)
******************Cygnet***********Committee********************
A Committee of Youth; trying to Find the Beauty of the Soul
within All of this World's ugly Social Madness.
*******************Bowie******************1969********************
JAHowe23
Reeves has played in at least two Boston bands-- Modern Farmer & Bentmen. MF
are OK (both on CD and live), but Bentmen's CD is great! It even has a couple
of tracks with Adrian Belew.
Robert Thornhill
hello
i have to disagree with most people in this thread.
I love reeves guitar style .I think the thing is that reeves plays with
a more attack style than someone like carlos .but before i go futher i
have to say that i think carlos's guitair playing kicks ass as well.
but all you have to do is see reeves play scary monsters on s.n.l.
and man that will blow your mind right out of your skull .
Like this gut is an experimental guitarists dream .
well thats all i have to say
Bowie fan
Robert THornhill
yes we have no bannas
CygNetKS
>. .
>Gabriel's guitar playing sounds EXACTLY LIKE A DENTIST'S DRILL!
Well, to manipulate the guitar that way is still cool....have you seen his
hands flying..creating those lasting notes?! Yow!
Actually, I was referring more to the "side noises" in the songs of
Earthling....Reeves plays his guitar in the usual...but then other guitar
sounds are overlays....in other words, part of the track David has in the
background of each song he performs...which you can tell he's using because
all of a sudden David's singing the backup vocals at the same time he's
singing the lead vocals..or at the same time he's flinging giant eyeballs.. =)
"Animals!" (from 10 spot as the eyes were *torn apart*)
Perhaps David is using the eyeballs in honour of his luvly mismatched
gaze....--oh that's a real "duh!"
Susan
>he makes nothing but noise - if it weren't for the fact that Bowie's music
>is timeless - Reeves' wouldn't amount to "you know what"
>
>what else has Reeves' done except play for Bowie?
>
Ignorance is bliss.
Toni Engle
It's funny that you use ScaryMonsters as an eexample. It was on that
song that I missed Carlos's playing the most. I've got a couple of tapes
of tours and He is playing on both of them so I'm used to his
palying-and prefer it really.
GAbrels is good but is too inclined to over-use that tremolo bar--
hence his "attack style" as someone here called it.
Alomar seems to be a lot more versatile-- he plays in several styles
not just attack the strings and hang on the whammy bar. Gabrels seems to
have a heavy metal style of playing. While I like metal a lot not all of
db's songs are written to be played as metal. Or so I think....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.~ Baby I've been ~~Breaking glass in
your room again~~~
Theresa Marie Knoche
I like you Adam, you're my kinda Bowie fan . . . boy am I gonna get it for
this one . . . oh well, what's new?
Didja make it to St. Paul? Guess I'm kinda glad I didn't go after all,
from what I've been hearing.
Theresa
Kenneth Wang
Adam J. Cook wrote:
> Theresa Marie Knoche wrote:
>
> Boy, I think Theresa's animosity towards Gabrels is even greater than my
> distaste for the SANTA MONICA '72 album.
You must be joking, right? Distaste for SM '72?! That's the only good official
live record of his.
Adam J. Cook
Ha! Don't get me started! It's all opionions, but in mine, it's by far
the worst of the four. I have never been more dissapointed in any Bowie
album than that one. So, just so you know, I was not kidding.
Adam
SherryeLyn
Robert Thornhill <geo...@thezone.net> wrote:
>but all you have to do is see reeves play scary monsters on s.n.l.
>and man that will blow your mind right out of your skull .
That was amazing, wasn't it?! I found myself practically jumping out
of my skin during that solo!!! (In a positive way, that is! ( : )
We all respond differently to different music and different
musicians, and my response to that solo was something I can't put into
words politely -- let's say that it was just about orgasmic, but on a
higher level of sorts. If you're tuned in to him, he takes you with
him every step of the way! (Whew!)
I used to respond to Fripp in a similar way, and that the time other
people I talked to thought it was "noise". It's all a matter of
perspective.
And, because people keep bringing up Carlos, I'll say again that I
love Carlos' funky rhythms -- he gets me moving every time, like no
one else does -- and on the flip side, his neo-classical moments are
graceful, deeply moving, and often quite elevating. (People are often
surprised to find out that he's much more than a rhythm guitarist.)
SherryeLyn