1980 solo from Invasion tour

[unchainedguitars]

Someone cleaned up the audio on this (from the bootleg, i imagine), and listening with headphones, the tone of his guitar, fingers & rig just blew my freaking mind!

I'm sorry, no one comes close, not even Edward, today.
He normally played the Star guitar, for this particular solo spot, and damn, that thing sounds incredible.
Listen to that riff at 1:50, it's like a freight train!

[unchainedguitars]

I love the piece of music he plays from 3:53 to about 4:20, it would have made a great intro.

This solo gets so interesting midway through, because he does some cool manipulation of the volume knob, then cranks it & does some of the fastest, cleanest runs i've ever heard him play.
He's just improvising & taking chances, even a lot of the tapping is just stuff i've never heard him play since.

By Diverdown, he really was half the player he is here.
As cool as the Largo & US Festival shows are, his playing was not as sharp & fiery as it was in 1980/81.
His tone in 83, compared to here, was anemic, not even close to this!

And that Charvel Star....
That tone sounds so much like WACF, i find it hard to believe he didn't use it on the album.

[EVH_Erupted]

That's really good audio actually.


I have an '80 boot somewhere, no where near as good as this. Audiowise or playing wise.

[unchainedguitars]

That's really good audio actually.


I have an '80 boot somewhere, no where near as good as this. Audiowise or playing wise.

I know!

Listen to it with headphones, cranked, you feel like your there!
I love how he already had most of "Mean street" figured out.
Can you imagine hearing that, live, pre-Fair Warning?

All i can say is THIS is the tone, and THAT was what he once did...
in 1980, no less.

No one comes close, in my mind.

[jimi1152]

That was great! Thanks for posting the link, it has been a while since I heard that solo! Great stuff!

[unchainedguitars]

That was great! Thanks for posting the link, it has been a while since I heard that solo! Great stuff!

I love that slide up & bend on the low E or A string he does, it's scary & aggressive! like ROOOOOAAAARRRR!

I just love the tone so much from the Invasion tour (and the WACF album).
That tone combined with that virtuosity, plus all those ideas he's spewing forth in one solo....

Man, i can't even put it into words.

I wonder what it must have felt like to be him in 1980, on that stage?
To be that insanely good & to be that in control of your tone.

Keep your Yngwies, your Vai's, your Satriani's, etc.
This guy had all the cards in 1980!

[jimi1152]

Keep your Yngwies, your Vai's, your Satriani's, etc.
This guy had all the cards in 1980!

Absolutely.

[Simon Ribeiro]

A-mazing!

Thanks for the link, Unchained!

[garbeaj]

Forgive my ignorance,but how do we know for sure that he used the Star on this...I'm not aware of video evidence...
By the way,I love those embryonic "Cathedral" type volume swells he was doing...sounds like no echo was involved and it sounded cool;more cello-like...

[unchainedguitars]

Forgive my ignorance,but how do we know for sure that he used the Star on this...I'm not aware of video evidence...
By the way,I love those embryonic "Cathedral" type volume swells he was doing...sounds like no echo was involved and it sounded cool;more cello-like...

It DOES sound very cello-like, very atmospheric & interesting.

There was video evidence of him performing this solo (or one very similar), that someone posted on youtube from the Invasion tour.
The guy had a hand-held camera, but Ed was pretty clearly using the star guitar for his solo spot.
Had the same sound as what we hear here.

The star seemed to have a more warm tonal characteristic than the Frankie (at least, to my ears).
I guess it's possible he used a different guitar, but i'd assume its more than likely he was performing with the star, as that got lots of playing time on that particular tour.