Shoutbox

sysmalakian: Birthday month starts now!
362 days ago

diceophonic: Vampiro Classics 2024 reissue
343 days ago

SabedLeepski: Sunburn Surf Fest for some scorching hot surf music: https://sunb...
300 days ago

skeeter: I know a Polish sound guy.
228 days ago

skeeter: I know a Czech one too!
228 days ago

PatGall: Surfybear metal settings
148 days ago

Pyronauts: Happy Tanks-Kicking!
126 days ago

midwestsurfguy: Merry Christmas!
95 days ago

sysmalakian: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
88 days ago

SabedLeepski: Surfin‘ Europe, for surf (related) gigs and events in Europe Big Razz https://sunb...
49 days ago

Please login or register to shout.

Current Polls

No polls at this time. Check out our past polls.

Current Contests

No contests at this time. Check out our past contests.

Donations

Help us meet our monthly goal:

100%

100%

Donate Now

Cake March Birthdays Cake
SG101 Banner

SurfGuitar101 Forums » Music Reviews »

Permalink James Wilsey: "El Dorado"

New Topic
Page 1 of 1

don't have much of a review for you yet, just received the cd from amazon on saturday february 23rd.
image

a glorious and highly-evocative / moody cd. james wilsey seems have a knack for finding the riff that sticks...and then he sticks it to the riff!

my favorites so far are: "San Bernardino", "Untamed", "Diabolic" and "Tierra del Fuego"

anyone else out there picked up this cd?

Last edited: Feb 25, 2008 13:16:46

I got mine over the weekend. I love it. I've also been listening to the earlier variations of this stuff that he's been posting for the past couple of years out on Myspace (both under his name and The Mysteries). It's been cool to hear the evolution of these tunes. The final product is great. I love the kind of pitch bending effect that he gets which adds a lot of tension to the overall sound. I'd also love to see him live doing this stuff (aside from YouTube). I've been keeping an eye out for him for a long time. I saw him w/Chris Isaak around the time Wicked Game came out. He's also been posting as "WickedGtr" over on the Telecaster Discussion Pages Reissue (TDPRI) for a few years.

DP,
I got the cd at the Cd release party last week.
you should have been there man, but thats another story.

Phat Tele.
its not a pitch bending effect, its a Tele with a B Bender.
aftermarket contraption built into the guitar on the back side with huge springs and Caverns to house them. They are attached to the strap button
by the neck, you push down on the guitar neck to bend the note up. and the spring pulls it back to original note.

He said it works really well at being just like a pedal steel note bender.
but adds alot of weight to the guitar.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

i got to see him at the Deke Guitar Geek festival this year. it was pretty good - BTD liked him more than me. then i listened to some tracks on his myspace page - I liked it a lot more. I bought the disc on i-tunes last night, and listened to it 3 times today - there are some cool songs on there.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Cool. I wouldn't doubt that he uses a B-bender. He mentions them a lot on the TDPRI pages. However, I'm actually thinking of that drop tune pitch shifting that he seems to get where the tone seems to go just slightly slack. Maybe it's a combination of things he does to get that. I don't know. I've always loved that effect.

PhatTele
Cool. I wouldn't doubt that he uses a B-bender. He mentions them a lot on the TDPRI pages. However, I'm actually thinking of that drop tune pitch shifting that he seems to get where the tone seems to go just slightly slack. Maybe it's a combination of things he does to get that. I don't know. I've always loved that effect.

He played a strat a lot when i saw him - and he had the trem arm in his hand the whole time - one tune, I think he had the bar bent down almost the whole song. - he worked that tremolo all night.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I picked it up, and listened to it about 4 or 5 times the first day.
I guess you could say I like it. Wonderful melodic, moody, mysterious,
western-tinged songs. No super fast scortchers on this CD, but
Jimmy's got the "slow burn" goin' real intense. Highly recommended!!!

Bob

Bob

He's King of the slow guitar some say...

Freshwater Surfin'

The Murray Basin
Australia

PhatTele
Cool. I wouldn't doubt that he uses a B-bender. He mentions them a lot on the TDPRI pages. However, I'm actually thinking of that drop tune pitch shifting that he seems to get where the tone seems to go just slightly slack. Maybe it's a combination of things he does to get that. I don't know. I've always loved that effect.

He plays a Baritone guitar, all strings tuned down,
not just the lowest string.

Not sure if its B or A, or Low E like on a Bass.
but its ballsy.
I dont think he uses a pitch shifter, all I see and hear is a volume pedal, and Reverb, built in to the Twin, and Digital wise too.
maybe some echo repeats too.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Jeff(bigtikidude)

I received this CD yesterday. I spun it about three times (Larry "Moon Dawg" White is visiting, so we've been hanging out, listening to music). The actual sound that Wilsey gets is pretty amazing, but so far it seems to me that the melodic content is a bit too minimal. It's all about a mood. Anyway, I definitely don't regret getting the CD, and I'm sure I'll be listening to it a lot over the next few weeks. More will probably be revealed with subsequent spins.

Ivan

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

back in the mid to late 80s I didnt know much about retro or surf for that matter. My parents had a pretty weak vinyl collection save for some Beach Boys and some Beatles. All I knew was what was on mtv and movies. I heard Jimmy on the horrible north shore soundtrack when Chris isaak was backing him (just a joke) but basically Blue Hotel got me into the whole twang thing and I have been a fan ever since.
I don't care what gear he uses although it seems like all he used in the old days was a silverface twin and some echo. he didn't ever seem to be a big reverb proponent not overly anyway.
I think his stuff leans towards the moody side, which is great.
On his myspace page it says he is influenced by Duane Eddy, Billy Strange (munsters theme and bang bang with Nancy Sinatra) so it sounds in his tunes.
I would say I was most influenced by him and the Ventures and of course Dick Dale, although I would never say I sound like any of them.

Page 1 of 1
Top