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>
> Hey Bill! Yes, I know the song well. It's definitely similar
> to "Nitro Fuel" - I-IV-V with a simple riff and wailing solo in
the
> middle. I gotta say that the "Mag Wheels" solo, though very good
> and classic Dick, isn't nearly as impressive as "Nitro Fuel" - at
> least for me. I tell you, I can totally see these songs being
done
> on the spot in the studio: "Well, we've got another half an hour -
> Anybody get any ideas?" "How about this riff I came up with the
> other day?" "Good enough - what key?" "Dick, can you just come up
> with some kind of a solo in the middle? "Sure thing." 15 minutes
> later - done! (Actually, according to Dusty, this is how Dick
STILL
> works!! Which explains why almost all of the songs on his
nineties
> albums have the familiar I-IV-V progressions. When in doubt...)
Another track that reminds me of Nitro Fuel, and Mag Wheels is
Flashing Eyes off the Mr. Eliminator album. I've noticed all three
of these tracks have something similar in common with the
Treblemakers Fistfight. Now listening to Zak's solos on this track
they sound very "Dick Daleish."
>
> Yeah, man, but have you seen Dick play live? He really bends
those
> suckers! He's gotta have unbelievably strong fingers, cause he'll
> actually bend those bridge cable strings by a full step. You can
> hear it on "Nitro Fuel" - it must hurt like hell, but he does it!
>
> I was also under an impression that Munson did minimal playing on
> those albums. You probably had guys like Jerry Cole or Glenn
> Campbell or whoever else was in the studio around then that do the
> drier, bendy stuff.
>
> BTW, I don't think any of the studio guys played the solos on the
> instro tracks, which was all Dick. But, the vocal tracks, well,
it
> sounds to my ears like on a lot of those Dick doesn't even play -
> just sings. It's the studio guys playing everything.
I agree I think Dick played all the solos on the instro stuff.
Well really I don't know who was onhand during any of the Dick Dale
sessions. So maybe I shouldn't have used Munson as an example. But
I know what I'm hearing and I'm hearing two different styles of lead
playing. One is more doublepicked "shredder" style which I'm
assuming was Dick. The other is much more bendy and it sounds like
a plain G. You know sometimes you can just tell when someone has a
plain G? For a lack of better words... I can just tell. I know
Dick can really bend those heavy strings, but this just doesn't
sound like Dick's playing. Most of these "bendy" solos are on songs
Dick sings, so with what you're saying Ivan maybe he just didn't
play on these. On "50 Miles to Go" Dick actually sounds like he's
trying to pump whoever is playing the guitar up on this track.
After the 2nd verse there is some "bendy guitar" being played and
Dick yells, "play your guitar man!" But, I guess coming from a guy
who refers to himself in 3rd person he could have been just goofing
around on a vocal overdub. So Dick could have played that, but
those G string bends have that plain steel vibrato feel... Oh man, I
don't believe we've gotten so far into this.
Bill
www.reluctantaquanauts.com
