Favorite uncredited guitar solos, starting with Beatles, McCartney, Lennon

[alistair.blankley]

Hearing of the death of Phil Ramone (I suppose he deserves his own thread) got me thinking about legendary engineer/mixer/producer Shelly Yakus for some reason, which got me thinking about John Lennon's 1973 Mind Games album, which was engineered by Yakus. 

Mind Games is my favorite Lennon album, and I can't think of the album without thinking of one of my favorite cuts on it, "Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)" and the killer guitar solo which concludes the song.  The solo is by David Spinozza, a top New York session musician who has the distinction of being one of the very few non-Beatles to have played on albums by both John Lennon and Paul McCartney (he also played on McCartney's Ram). "Aisumasen" is a beautiful and powerful song already, but Spinozza's extended solo brings it home in a moving fashion that is both plaintive and hopeful, and is so remarkable that Lennon uncharacteristically chose to close the song with about 45 seconds of guitar solo with no vocal at all.

The next solo comes from the aforementioned Ram by Paul and Linda McCartney. But although he appears on this album, too, this one is not Spinozza, but another crack session ace, Hugh McCracken on the song "Too Many People." On an album dismissed by most fans and critics but a sentimental favorite of mine because of the memories of discovering and exploring it when it came out, "Too Many People" is to my mind the best tune, and was second only to "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" in popularity and chart success.  It is a promising start to the album, which has a lot of good stuff on it, and it is certainly much better and more polished than his previous McCartney, it still succumbs to the clichés and twee-ness that most of his solo work without the cold, stern criticism of Lennon suffers from. Without Lennon to compete with within the Beatles, McCartney wasn't driven to always present his best work, but rather whatever would suffice.

Those are my two favorite uncredited solos from Lennon and McCartney.

If that's not enough to get any discussion going, how about these:

Probably everyone knows the solo in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was by Eric Clapton, but did you know that the guitar solos in "Taxman" and "Good Morning, Good Morning" were by Paul McCartney, not George Harrison? I listened to those songs for many years before I knew that. As I understand it from various sources, in both cases it was a matter of Paul's impatience with waiting for George to come up with an adequate solo, as George tended to take a long time composing and perfecting his solos, and was never good at improvisation. On the one hand, it reinforces the lack of respect with which Paul often treated George which really bothers me, but on the other hand, they are both outstanding, dynamite solos and it's hard to condemn Paul for giving them to the world.

[Gina Marie]

Wow... you know your Beatle history... Impressive! A WOO for this post!

Do you know what guitar Macca used for those two solos? (no fair looking it up!)

[alistair.blankley]

Wow... you know your Beatle history... Impressive! A WOO for this post!

Do you know what guitar Macca used for those two solos? (no fair looking it up!)

Despite being a musician I've never been much of a gear slut like a lot of guitarists I've known, so I don't pay a lot of attention to that kind of stuff.  Thus I don't recall ever coming across that information, but if I had to guess I would guess that it's the same guitar he is pictured  playing in the interior photos of Ram, which looks to me like a Gibson Firebird.  The sound of those solos sounds right for a Firebird, too.

Do I win a cookie?

EDIT: After a little more thought, I had my doubts that Paul would have had a Firebird in 1966 (as it was not at all a popular guitar at that time as it became in a few years), and did do a little searching. I should have guessed it was an Epiphone Casino, the Beatles relied on them extensively from 1966 on, and they were capable of an astounding variety of sounds.

[Gina Marie]

Sadly, no cookie for you, my sweet...

An educated and excellent guess, but the firebird was not yet in his arsenal in 1967. No sir, the guitar in question was indeed a Fender. In 1966, Paul McCartney purchased a 1964 Fender Esquire with a sunburst finish and rosewood fretboard: McCartney bought this guitar, a right-handed model which he restrung and played "upside-down," during the Revolver sessions (most notably, the infamous Taxman solo). It was also used on "Good Morning, Good Morning," "Helter Skelter", and "Maybe I'm Amazed," among other tracks from his solo career.

Also pictured is Sir Paul's Epiphone Casino which was a strong fave of his for many years, but it was that 'cutting top end' of the Esquire that won out for solos.

[alistair.blankley]

Sadly, no cookie for you, my sweet...

An educated and excellent guess, but the firebird was not yet in his arsenal in 1967. No sir, the guitar in question was indeed a Fender. In 1966, Paul McCartney purchased a 1964 Fender Esquire with a sunburst finish and rosewood fretboard: McCartney bought this guitar, a right-handed model which he restrung and played "upside-down," during the Revolver sessions (most notably, the infamous Taxman solo). It was also used on "Good Morning, Good Morning," "Helter Skelter", and "Maybe I'm Amazed," among other tracks from his solo career.

Also pictured is Sir Paul's Epiphone Casino which was a strong fave of his for many years, but it was that 'cutting top end' of the Esquire that won out for solos.

You have educated me, good lady. A woman after my own heart. I admire your knowledge and devotion. Just imagine what it felt like to hear brand new Beatles music as it came out. One of the saddest memories of my childhood was hearing that the Beatles were breaking up. It was almost like losing a family member.

For what it's worth, on the article "Were the Beatles ripped off?" I think it gives too much of a free pass to too many people involved in the Beatles' career.  Brian Eptsein was well-meaning, but terribly inexperienced and naïve, and agreed to a lot of deals that sold the Beatles well short of what they were worth, and locked them into long-term arrangements that very quickly became lopsided compared to the Beatles' value. After their first couple of single and first album, it was obvious their was no risk on the part of record companies, publishers and others who drove a hard bargain with new acts because they had no guarantee of making any money. Given his justified belief in the potential of the Beatles, Epstein was a fool to allow the Beatles to be locked into such unfavorable terms for so long. This view comes from reading a number of different sources over the years, but the most authoritative is Bob Spitz, whom I think did a very good, thorough and fair job chronicling the Beatles career.

I also think you have to take George Martin's comments on the fairness of their deal with Dick James with a grain of salt, as it's pretty obvious to me he has always thought he didn't get sufficient credit and recognition for his considerable contribution to the Beatles' music, so any opinion he expresses on such subject is likely colored by his own sense of resentment. He's the closest thing to a "fifth Beatle" there ever was.

Then, I suppose this belongs in that thread. Well, I started this one, so no one can tell me I'm off topic.