[M Rael]

Steve Vai has called Y. Malmsteen a 'whale amoung minnows' because of the way he introduced classical style and phrasing into his electric guitar solo's, and listening to them I am impressed with this and his monster chops. In the end I find Malmsteens songs not very enjoyable; the solos are all there, but the structure of the songs is hack work. Steve Vai on the other hand can create a guitar structure for a song that is FUN to listen to and his solos are amazing. 'Going Crazy' (Vai with DL Roth), shows exactly what I'm talking about: a very inventive rhythm part that *in itself* is almost a kind of running solo- and then a main solo that shows just how much he had in reserve the whole time! Malmsteen is pretty amazing, but Vai has the whole package and in my opinion is very very enjoyable to listen to.

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[rajan]

Since this thread always comes around I would recommend "Pat Metheny and Jim Hall". It is a cd from Telarc and the songs are a combination of live and studio recordings. The imaging especially on speakers, distinguishing between Pat at the left and Jim at the right, is excellent. The disc is very involving even on headphones.

 

[Cherokee Mist]

Here are some of my favorite performances:

Artist - Song - Album

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun - Band Of Gypsies
Al DiMeola - The Wizard - Land Of The Midnight Sun
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Little Wing - The Sky Is Crying
Jimmy Page - Since I've Been Loving You - LZ III
Jef Lee Johnson - Just Have To Be There - Communion
Steve Howe - Mood For A Day - Fragile
Robert Fripp - Red - Red
Michael Schenker - Rock Bottom - Strangers In The Night
Doyle Bramhall II - Cry - Welcome
Billy White - Diamond - Sistershootingstar
Jean Paul Bourelly - Restless Waves - Blackadelic Blu
Al Dimeola/Paco DeLucia - Mediterranean Sundance - Elegant Gypsy
Steve Morse - Bloodsucking Leeches - Industry Standard
Mark Knopfler - In The Gallery - Dire Straits
John McLaughlin - Meeting Of The Spirits - Inner Mounting Flame
Steve Stevens - Endless - Situation Dangerous
Frank Zappa - Black Napkins - Zoot Allures

There are many more, but that's all I can think of right off the top of my head without hurting myself...

P.S. - My 2 favorite guitar albums of the year so far are:
Doyle Bramhall II - Welcome
Eric Gales - That's What I Am

 

[pigmode]

Santana? My absolute favorite is Incident At Neshabur from Abraxas. It's not the most well known track, but imo it's one of his best works.

 

[XXhalberstramXX]

I just got the "David Russel plays Baroque" on Telarc upon high reccomendation from Grammophone magazine. My impressions after 2 or 3 days of listening are as follows:

Awesome! perfect studying music. David Russel sounds like a trio of guitarists all playing at once. He seems to pay a great deal of attention to the exact mannner in which he chooses to phrase his guitar lines. The selection of music (mostly harpsichord music) is also exemplary (Loeillet, Vivaldi, Handel, Scarlatti). The sound is very good, but seems to be a bit better suited to speakers than headphones, because there is a reasonable amount of room acoustic that almost gets in the way during headphone listening. i'm very happy with this purchase, and reccomend it to anyone who wants to hear baroque music played on the guitar.

 

[mcbiff]

Definitely Dire Straits - Money for Nothing. The intro is nothing short of amazing.

EDIT: Had to add Van Halen - Eruption.