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What fuzz for McLaughlin with Miles and Mahavishnu?


english_bob

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I haven't listed to any Mahavishnu stuff for ages but I'd always assumed it was just a cranked Marshall. Someone's suggestion earlier in this thread of Maestro effects sounds pretty realistic.


Another Lifetime shot:

Lifetime.jpeg

 

Les Paul?

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The BEST book by far on Miles' electric music is 'Miles Beyond' by Paul Tingen. It might have slipped out of print but it's well worth seeking out.



I might look for that. I've read Miles' autobiography but it would be nice to compare Miles' version to one with less drugs and "mother{censored}ers" :D

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I'll be a ram and say the definitive Mahavishnu album and subsequent tour is the 1984 album simply titled Mahavishnu. On a simple basis I like the sound of the record and the band as a whole. It was more or less a reunion in name. The album only hinted at what you were in for live. It featured Billy Cobham on drums but it also had Dan Gotlieb as the official drummer though Cobham covered most of the drums from my understanding Gotlieb did the tour. The other three players are nothing short of fantastic and are all well and alive still putting out music. Mitchell Forman-Keys, Bill Evans-Sax/Reeds, and Jonas Helborg-bass. Jonas Helborg was has a style of slap bass going on before it was a household Flea name. I have everything officially released and a few boots but the 1984 album is my favorite. Couple of things come to mind beyond the fabulous playing is by this time you have the mature McGlaughlin who is still playing like fire but with the compassion he earned and learned over the years. In concert you could see he was more generous at being a listener than just lettin loose none stop like one of the posters mentioned above. I have no evidence though that just cause he was lettin loose doesn't mean a negative thing. I've played with many players who blow constantly it boarders on attention neediness or something :-) Another thing is it was the dawn of digital recording and and instrumentation. The DX7, New England Digital Synclavier which McGlaughlin used figured prominently in my preference for this version of Mahavishnu. Most of all I like the compositions and where I was at the time of it's release.

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I guess he's a big lad. All that yorkshire country air growing up
:D

I'd heard that too about the Mustang. I think it's the same guitar on "Bitches Brew" too- similar tone.




Still working my way through Miles' stuff from that period. Haven't got round to those two yet (my wife can't stand Miles' electric stuff either, so it always gets passed over when she buys me CDs for birthdays and stuff...
:mad:
)


Seems logical to assume it's a Fuzz Face- it seems to have been the "flavour of the month" fuzz in the late 60s too. I hear all sorts of odd overtones and ring-mod-like intermodulation and stuff though...




I've never owned a proper Fuzz Face- I built a BYOC Tonebender kit and modded it to switch out the first transistor stage, which was supposed to get me a fuzzface sound, but it sounds bad. I think a decent FF clone should be on my list of stuff to buy.



Oh, check those albums whenever you can, those are definitely worth a listen.

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Oh, check those albums whenever you can, those are definitely worth a listen.

 

 

I've got "Pangaea" now- gotta say, it's very similar to "Dark Magus" for the first half, only the playing and the sound quality aren't as good. The later parts have their own thing happening though. AFAIK, Agharta was always the more well-regarded of the pair though, and I haven't heard that yet...

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Yeah, 'Miles' by Miles Davis is a pretty tedious book. I'm gonna check one of these others out. Cheers.

 

 

Aw,c'mon! I laughed my head off when he was telling the story about driving around NYC in a taxi cab with Charlie Parker, whose getting a bj from a "white woman" while he's eating fried chicken.

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Yeah, 'Miles' by Miles Davis is a pretty tedious book. I'm gonna check one of these others out. Cheers.



It wasn't that bad. I'd forgotten the Charlie Parker taxicab fried chicken blowjob story but there's some absolute classic rock & roll excess stories in the first half of the book. It's less interesting in the later part, and considering his views on the damage heroin did to his generation of players in the 40s and 50s, Miles seems to be surprisingly uncritical of his behavior during his "retirement" to drug-induced catatonia in the late 70s. He also manages to paint a fairly positive picture of himself, considering what a misogynistic, self absorbed and borderline racist arsehole he appears to have been :thu:

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