Underrated musicians

Underrated musicians, by David Blampied

Somehow I know writing this I will open a can of worms because this is something everyone has an opinion on. However I feel compelled to bring attention to some in the music industry whose work and contribution far outweighs the recognition and apprise they have received. I will start simple, and focus my attention on only a few musicians and I welcome anyone to add to the list.
As easy as it is to think of musicians who are way underrated as far as their contributions to our art, it’s even easier to think of ones who don’t belong on this list. To start, all four Beatles, these guys have become the Mount Rushmore of rock and roll. I love the Beatles, but they don’t belong on this list. Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, you get the idea. All of whom changed how rock guitar is played today and have influenced all of us in one way or another. Enough said. Drummers like John Bonham, Neil Peart, Buddy Rich, Gene Kruppa, everyone knows who they are. With that said let me start with my list (in no particular order):

Jeff Lynne
Jeff’s contribution to modern music and recording is immeasurable. This Grammy award winning singer, song writer and guitarist has written some of the most recognizable song of a generation. "Evil Woman", "Telephone Line", "Livin' Thing", "Mr. Blue Sky", "Don't Bring Me Down" and "Sweet Talkin' Woman". Just to name a few. However it’s mainly his work as a producer that often goes over looked.
When discussions are had about producers names like Eddie Kramer, Ted Templeman, Robert John “Mutt” Lang, and of coarse the precious Phil Spector (who is completely out of his mind), are thrown around, and very rarely is Jeff’s name mentioned.

Rather than go on about Jeff Lynne’s work as a musician and producer I will just post some videos of Jeff talking and performing. I have always enjoyed Jeff’s song writing style in a lot of ways. If you imagine music as a visual piece of work, his song writing could be compared to a Norman Rockwell painting; almost photographic quality with every nuance of sound and note precisely placed and well thought out; just as a work by Miles Davis would be compliable to a Picasso. No doubt his work should continue to influence generations to come.




Les Paul
(Lester William Polsfuss)
Musician and inventor
Simply put, every musician today who records does so thanks to Les Paul. There may not be a more important person in music than this guy. There is just no under stating the importance of Les Paul’s innovations in music, how it’s played, and how it’s recorded. Les is the pioneer of the solid body electric guitar which literally made the sound of rock and roll possible. As if this contribution weren’t enough Les was also a pioneer in multi track recordings, overdubbing, and delay effects.

"The Log" (Taken from Wikipediea)
Paul was dissatisfied with the electric guitars that were sold in the mid 1930s and began experimenting with a few designs of his own. Famously, he created "The Log," which was nothing more than a length of common 4" by 4" fence post with bridge, guitar neck, and pickup attached. For the sake of appearance, he attached the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar, sawn lengthwise with The Log in the middle. This solved his two main problems: feedback, as the acoustic body no longer resonated with the amplified sound, and sustain, as the energy of the strings was not dissipated in generating sound through the guitar body.

Multitrack recording innovations (also taken from wikepedia)
In 1947, Capitol Records released a recording that had begun as an experiment in Paul's garage, entitled "Lover (When You're Near Me)", which featured Paul playing eight different parts on electric guitar, some of them recorded at half-speed, hence "double-fast" when played back at normal speed for the master. ("Brazil", similarly recorded, was the B-side.) This was the first time that multi-tracking had been used in a recording. These recordings were made not with magnetic tape, but with shellac disks. Paul would record a track onto a disk, then record himself playing another part with the first. He built the multi-track recording with overlaid tracks, rather than parallel ones as he did later. There is no record of how few "takes" were needed before he was satisfied with one layer and moved onto the next.

Paul even built his own disc-cutter assembly, based on auto parts. He favored the flywheel from a Cadillac for its weight and flatness. Even in these early days, he used the shellac disk setup to record parts at different speeds and with delay, resulting in his signature sound with echoes and birdsong-like guitar riffs. When he later began using magnetic tape, the major change was that he could take his recording rig on tour with him, even making episodes for his 15-minute radio show in his hotel room.

On top of all his contributions to music, Les is a amazing guitarist as anyone lucky enough to have seen him perform can attest to.






Lindsey Buckingham
With a unique picking style and fantastic voice, Lindsey Buckingham seems to be able to weave together brillient song writing with performance to create amazing music. On a personal note he also happened to have writen one of my favorite tunes of all: “Holiday Road”. Brilliant.





Duane Allman
As far as slide gutair goes theres Duane Allman; and then there is everyone els. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine named Allman as number two on their list of the top 100 greatest gutairist of all time. Unimaginable that he died at the age of 24 but left behind a huge legacy that often goes overlooked.

Burt Backarack
Ok so Burt’s not exactly the face of rock and roll, but the fact is this American pianist and composser has sold a lot of albums. From his work on albums, film and television, broadway and his contribution to music in general this guy is a giant. Plus it’s just really fun to say his name. Burt Backarack.


James Jamerson
Wether you know it or not you’ve heard James Jamerson playing bass. I could spend the next three days compiling a list of recordings Jamerson is on but I just don’t have that kind of time. The fact is givin his talent and contibution to music James Jamerson was screwed financially throughout his life and never really got the public recognition he deserved.

Honerable mention:
Laurence Juber http://www.laurencejuber.com/
Terry Kath
Joe Morello http://www.joemorello.net/
Peter Green
Christine McVie

I realize in this list of musicicians that is about under ratted individuals I have undoubtedly forgotten a lot of people,(how ironic) I welcom anyone to add names to the list respectively with any additional comments.