Recordings that really capture the Gibson sound

[Bob Mc]

What would you guys say ?
ABB Fillmore?
Santana Abrxasaaxxz (sp?)?
early Joe Walsh?

[c.o.jones]

All right now or Fire and Water. Paul Kossoff at his best

[Bob Mc]

belongs in the category "recordings that you can't sound like playing by yourself" too. Drove me nuts as a kid, I had no idea what multitracking was.

I'd have to say that - at least for modern rock & roll - Guns N Roses' "Appetite For Destruction" is pretty much the definitive set of Les Paul sounds for me. Slash's tone might not vary much - neck or bridge is about it, rammed through a cranked-up Marshall - but when I think Les Paul, I think Slash. Who can say that the tone he's got on the intro of "Sweet Child O Mine" isn't buttery smooth and ultra sweet?

Some others...Joe Perry/Aerosmith...Gary Moore...John Sykes/Whitesnake-Blue Murder...those are the guys I think about most when I think Les Paul rock.

--chiba

[dbudda]

Any of the blues Kings; Albert Flying V, BB 355,Freddie les Paul and 345. Got me to buy a Gibson. Oh yeah, Peter Green , Bloomfield and Clapton
d'budda

[Bob Mc]

Checked out the Prophet's website; very cool. Wes has a thing for PRSs, eh?

[Paul G.]

Side 1 (with Bloomfield) of "Super Session"--Especially listen to "Albert Shuffle" to hear what the bridge pickup of a Les Paul can do.

"John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton", aka "Beano"--the tone some guys are still chasing

Any early Allman Bros band--Duane and Dickie--Gibsons and Marshalls, aah!!

P.

[stantheman]

I agree with everything said previously all those artists are definitive in the genre...I would also like to add three gentlemen who should never be
overlooked in Gibson Tone: Mr. Alvin Lee (please tour with a jazz jump band), who if he were born earlier would probably have ended up with Woody Herman and The Herd. And nextly,never secondly Mr. Buck Dharma, (Buck's Boogie, Hot Rails To Hell) that's Gibson Tone. And Nicely
Nicely, Mr. Al Dimeola those might not have been Gibson Pickups(Dimarzio
Super Distortions) but we're talking Elegant Gypsy....Al D. has probably
influenced as many people as anyone and I bet 50% of them will never even realize it.

[gitardude]

Martin Barre of Jethro Tull and the Aqualung Album

[WasBurst]

"How High The Moon"? :wink:
J.R.

[mudshark]

Jorma Kaukonen - Blue Country Heart. Course, it's an Advanced Jumbo accoustic, but still that Gibson tone!

[Paul in Colorado]

"Live Dead." I think it's a LP Gold Top, but it might be an SG. But I love Jerry's tone on Dark Star.

[Oster]

Butterfield Blues Band - East West
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Grateful Dead - Live Dead
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails
Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains The Same (Soundtrack)
Yes - Close To The Edge
Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
What We Did On Our Holidays - Fairport Convention

[Tele295]

"That's Alright Mama" - Elvis, Scotty & Bill - ES295
"Polka Dots & Moonbeams" - Wes Montgomery - L5 w/P90s
"Killer Joe" - Danny Gatton - 3 pup LPC
"Broadway (live)" - Kenny Burrell - ES175

[reverbbb]

Wasn't Billy Gibbons playing LPs on the earlier albums - Mud, La Grange . . . ?

I would totally agree with ABB and Joe Walsh. They were extremely influential for me to buy my first LPC Black Beauty back in '75.

Everyone was raving over Jimmy Page. I did not care as much for his sound as I did Jeff Beck. But I would not consider JB the definative sound for the LP.

Recording groups these days have really transformed the LP/Marshall sound into something entirely different. It has a heavier deep voiced sort of power. I like it, but I don't know how to get that sound, and I really don't want to bother with it. I'm stuck in the '70's. :wink:

[Alucard]

Yeah....I'd have to say Jimmy Page definately influenced me. Tony Iommi got me really started with his SG sound though...

[BOSS-HOGG]

FLEEYWOOD MAC "LIVE AT THE BOSTON TEA PARTY". Killer Les Paul tone comming from every direction.

Although I think Spencer may have used a strat. Not too sure.

[BADFISH]

I like the P90 Sound... Early Chuck Berry and of course alot of the other blues and Rockabilly. Scotty, Carl and the boys. Chuck Berry nailed it for me (p-90's into a tweed amp, sometimes Gibson amps). I do like the sound of a good humbucker (early Clapton, Garry Rossington) Nice!

[agent2x4]

ANYTHING with Joe Pass playing guitar...(usually Jazzbox Gibsons)

[Oster]

Adding to Paul In Colorado's pick of Live Dead by The Grateful Dead:

if I'm not mistaken:

Jerry on SG
Bob on ES-345
Phil on (seriously modified) EB-3 or EB-0

Dark Star is the book on Gibson Tone.

[Core]

I agree with almost all of the above postings :D

For me, the defining moment in my life occurrred when I was six or seven years old - I saw a clip of Freddy King playing "The Stumble", on a 335, 345 or 355. That's one....

Later I discovered Firebirds thru the albums "Johnny Winter" and "Still alive and well"....blew me away. That's two...

But the third is the one I personally think of immediately, when anyone mentions "The Gibson Sound"... with Les Paul Standards, SG, a 335, a Firebird and - of course - an EB-3 bass....

Anything by "CREAM"

Pure. :)

[MMaker]

Cream: Crossroads.

[brianwenz]

Hello Hello--
Jeff Beck - "Truth" Some of the best Les Paul tones on record. His live gigs were even better....usually played through 50-watt Marshalls.
Brian.

[Sharky]

ANYTHING with Joe Pass playing guitar...(usually Jazzbox Gibsons)

How about anything by Wes Montgomery on his L5, Herb Ellis on his ES-175 - Great jazz tone. Also EARLY Russell Mallone before he went to Buscarini.

For cool rock tones - in the 70's (hate to admit) Ace Frehely sold me on the Les Paul and Ted Nuegent on the Byrdland.

For Original rock classics - come on Scotty Moore on the ES-295 - lead guitar on "That's Alright Mama" - the first rock recording and still the standard.

[Kojack]

"Keep on Lovin' You"

Gary Richrath with R.E.O. Speedwagon. It was the 70s and those pick slides, chirps & scrapes were the height of cool.

Neck humbucker power-ballad stuff. Maybe he wasn't a virtuoso guitarist, but he & his Les Paul had a happening tone.

Kojack

[eggman]

Howdy,

I'm with Bad fish; Early Chuck Berry records have that ES-350-t with black plastic P-90's just honking away! "Johnny B. Goode" being argualby the most requested 50's oldie anywhere, as well as an obligitory closing number for almost any cover band.
"Brown Sugar" features Keef and his SG. On a slightly more marginal Gibson note "Revolution" (by the Beatles, of course.) and "Get Off My Cloud" both feature Kalamazoo made Epiphone Casinos with P-90's as well.
"Sunshine of your Love" and "Evil Ways" also come to mind as very popular radio songs with Gibsons featured prominently. Oh yeah, "The Thrill is Gone"by B.B., too.

Eggman

[Green Manalishi]

A couple more:

Mountain's "Mississippi Queen" - Les Paul Jr.

Robert White, from MoTown's house band The Funk Bros., played an ES-335 or L-5 on:
"My Girl"
"My Cherie Amour"
"You Keep Me Hanging On"

[Aqualung]

Over a lot of years, ive had my ears fed with gibsons from all
rock & blues bands from all over, recorded and live, and for my
money is Peter Green, for me he is mr les paul !

Next its got to be Eric Clapton (Cream) God of the Gibson !!

The best "LIVE" gibson was an explorer played at Hammersmith
by Cheep Trick... awsome sound! thats never left me!!

ROCK ON !!! 8) 8)

[mechanicdave]

For me, I think it would have to be the British blues guys from the 60's. Clapton, Bloomfield, Alvin Lee.
Most of what we think of as "Gibson Tone" is actually Marshall amps driven by humbuckers. Aside from BB using the Lab Series amps, and as of late Joe Perry with the stack'o Gold Tones, anyone else using Gibson amps for that Gibson tone?

[Gibson-Talk]

Two Words.... Gary Moore.

Need I say "moore"?

[Aqualung]

Yeah, Gary moore is up there allright, ive been to a lot of his
live gigs over the years, and own everything he's recorded,
a true master of the guitar

I dont think that he puts "that feel" into his blues playing
though, like Pete green did!

I seen Gary live with phil linott as guest, it was just amazing,
it was phil's last live gig

Rock on 8)

[thunderbyrd]

one of the sweetest examples of a 70's era les paul sound for me is at the end of mott the hoople's version of "sweet jane": a fat-toned honking guitar, almost the timbre of a saxaphone.

and i never read anybody comment on black sabbath's 1st album. the distortion level is not so thick as on their later records. Tony iommi is playing a SG with p-90s (except for the song wicked world which was played on a strat) thru a marshall and it's a beautiful tone.

[RDS]

;) Man- there's a bunch of old farts around here. I like it. Trapeze had some good Gibson sound goin on. Anyone remember them? Mel Galley -lead guitar

[dsharman]

OK, this is an old thread but I have to add at least one name. Terry Kath of Chicago really influenced me regarding Gibsons and his approach to the instrument. Others that have been mentioned that can never be mentioned enough are Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, The Kings (B.B., Albert, and Freddie), Joe Pass, Eric Clapton, and Duane Allman. I always thought of Freddie Green as influencing the Gibson tone, but he mostly played Gretches and Strombergs. Although he occassionally played Epiphones. Still, I suspect that his playing influenced how Gibsons evolved.

[texas blues]

Thin Lizzy "Jailbreak". Stan Webb, Chicken Shack, "Imagination Lady". Al DiMeola, "Elegant Gypsy", even with Dimarzio's the LP sound was nailed.
Billy Gibbons of course on ZZ's First Album. Zombie juju all over that album.
Bowie/Ronson, "Ziggy and the Spiders".

I used to have a Gibson Skylark but found it a bit more farty and muddy than the tonier Champ. LP and Fender Deluxe is "waaaass happenin'!"