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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Videos »

Permalink James Calvin Wilsey "Superstar"

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I was shocked when I heard that Leon Russell & Delaney Bramblett wrote this tune that ended-up being a huge hit for the (GASP!!!) Carpenters. Jimmy Wilsey really does a stunningly beautiful instrumental version here.

Bob

Bob

Last edited: Sep 21, 2011 15:32:14

Man, I truly miss the king of Slowcore!
I wish sooooo much that he'd resurface and share his talent with us all once again! Worship

Insect Surfers
The Tikiyaki Orchestra
The Scimitars
Lords Of Atlantis
Fiberglass Jungle - Surf Radio

Me too, JonPaul. The guy is national-freakin'-treasure!

Bob

Bob

Does someone have a problem with the Carpenters?

Wow, very nice! Thanks Robbie!

I'm a bit ashamed to say I don't have anything by Wilsey or Chris Isaak.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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Stormtiger wrote:

Does someone have a problem with the Carpenters?

Guilty, as charged!
@#$%^&+<;}>&^%$#@~"{+?:0*&^#$%~@#$+< !!!

Bob

man, that is fantastic.

i have a ton of Chris Isaak, but none of his solo stuff. sigh... more music to buy! lol

The CD is more atmospheric mood music than melodic tunes like this. But I love it. It has a lot of that Ennio Morricone spaghetti-western thing going on through out most of the CD.

Bob

Bob

Last edited: Sep 21, 2011 19:24:57

TONE!

Mike
http://www.youtube.com/morphballio

Here's some more....

Bob

I've watched "Superstar" about 5 more times since posting it, and it gets better every time. I've gotta say.... for me it doesn't get any better than this. Absolutely spectacular!

Bob

morphball wrote:

TONE!

You said it. Can that tone possibly get any better? I dont think so. Tone for days...

Downloading El Dorado album right now on iTunes. I listened to the samples on it. Oh man, that is NICE.

Those videos were shot at the now closed Safari Sams in Hollywood,
and it was the CD release party. I saw that show and about 8 others before he disappeared, and stopped playing.
Cry

If you listen to the beginning of the Insomnia Video, you can hear Dave Arnson talking.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Great version. Sonic Youth does a great version as well. The Carpenter's original is one of my favorite all time songs. Worship

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook

bigtikidude wrote:

Those videos were shot at the now closed Safari Sams in
Hollywood,
and it was the CD release party. I saw that show and
about 8 others before he disappeared, and stopped
playing.
Cry

Dana worked that night & got the last CD they had.

Wilsey hasn't disappeared. He's pretty active on a social networking site that you abhor.

If you listen to the beginning of the Insomnia Video,
you can hear Dave Arnson talking.

If you hold the neck of a broken SG to your ear, you can hear Dave Arnson doing his Jerry Lewis impression.

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RobbieReverb wrote:

Here's some more....

That bit that starts at 2:25 tears me up every time...especially on the CD. It sounds so simple but is so hard to play as emotively and effectively as he does. Another example of this is the song City of Broken Dolls on the CD. Anyone can play that song, mechanically, but I'd guess very few can play it as gut-wrenchingly as he does.

Don

Brian wrote:

Wow, very nice! Thanks Robbie!

I'm a bit ashamed to say I don't have anything by
Wilsey or Chris Isaak.

Buy Jimmy's solo cd, that JP is talking about if there are any left.
and then for the Chris Isaak stuff, get the first 3 or 4.
up to and including the one with Wicked Game.
after that It gets spotty in my opinion.

or if you can find one.
get this import best of, of the early years.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=Chris+Isaak+cd,+wicked+game&oe=utf-8&rls=com.yahoo:en-US:official&client=firefox&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=7740938625532704936&sa=X&ei=rW57Tv_AGqvYiALcur3WDw&ved=0CDIQ8wIwAg

image

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Pretty much universal agreement on his exceptional sound.

I can't help but focus on the mix of things he appears to be doing to achieve it.

To my naive eyes & ears, it seems he's got volume jacked pretty high on amp & guitar. Like many convo's here talk about "it's in the hands"... I think these video's demonstrate that well - you can see very clearly where he's literally plucking (often up strokes, up and away from the body of the guitar - not perpendicular to the body, especially seen in the 2nd video), and so many other places where he's hardly touching the strings - but thanks to the jacked up volume knobs - still getting rich, warm, colorful and expressive sounds with plenty of volume.

The phrase "he makes it look effortless" isn't just speaking about his muse (it is indeed that gift too!), but it's also a very literal comment about his physical effort/force/touch, I think.

Sorry if I'm just stating the painfully obvious. To me, these videos jump out more than just about any other I've seen to demonstrate the point of amp/guitar volume settings ~ combined with ~ the finesse and care put into "the hands" to create exceptional quality sounds. I'd hazard a guess that a common mistake made is setting volumes too low... causing a player to over compensate with hands to create volume (at the expense of "tone".)

Of course there's time/vibe/place/mood to use the heavy hand and high volume too - that just ain't what JCW is doing here.

...then again, what do I know. I could be entirely wrong. Wouldn't be the first time, won't be the last.

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

Last edited: Sep 22, 2011 12:49:17

bigtikidude wrote:

Buy Jimmy's solo cd, that JP is talking about if there
are any left.

The CD was sold out when I went looking for it a few months ago. You can still download it from Amazon though, which is what I did.

And I agree with BTD about which Isaak stuff to buy.

Don

I have Eldorado, and love it. Mr. Wilsey is active on another forum where he has described his recording of the songs as well as his live rig. I'm not positive, but I think he's been playing out with a Fender Concert amp (loud!). You guys out there on the west coast have the opportunity to see him live...yjr rest of us only get to see the videos.
From what I understand, he is working on a follow up CD, which he wants to be different from Eldorado. He was talking about incorporating some pedal steel.

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