'60's rock n roll questions

[TillEulenspiegel]

Maybe someone knows.............

The background singer in Gimme Shelter (studio ) was that Leon Russel's wife? The one they wrote Brown Suger about.

The solo on the Animals' Sky Pilot .That WAS Jimi wasn't it?

[michaellee]

Gimme Shelter was released in 1969. Leon Russel married Mary McCreary, I believe in 1974, and she was a singer, but not as a backup for the Stones.

The backup singer on Gimme Shelter original studio version was Merry Clayton.

The guitar player on Sky Pilot, by Eric Burdon and the Animals, was Vic Briggs.

[TillEulenspiegel]

You sure about the guitar thing? I know their guitarest played on the song but the solo sounds like Jimi..maybe Vic was copping licks. This was during the time Chas Chandler ( Animals bass player ) was "producing" Hendrix in England.

edit: Just got a copy off Kazza ...The song also has Eddie Kramer's touch on it phased drums and the solo as well , cross panning and layered tracks.( Kramer was Jimi's engineer and he invented flanging and Jimi used it quite a bit).

cool song ...and kind of topical today.

[michaellee]

Hendrix used to listen to Vic play for Trinity, met and jammed with him, and Jimi told Vic that Clapton, Beck and Vic were his most inspirational and favorite 3 guitar players.

Sky Pilot, for that matter almost the entire "The Twain Shall Meet" album was arranged by Vic. It sounds like Hendrix on Sky Pilot because Vic Briggs didn't imitate Hendrix, it was the other way around.

[TillEulenspiegel]

Uhhh no sorry. I completely disagree with you. The sound was Jimi's and his alone at that time listen to the earlier records and Vic was a Clapton/English interpretation /Mississippi blues clone. Noone had that sound at that time except Jimi. Jimi had the sound befor he ever left America. Les Paul saw him in Grenich Village and was floored. I will do research and find out , but I know Jimi was light years ahead of all players at the time Page,Clapton, Beck , Et.Al. Clapton was ready to quit , Beck went into hiding and woodshedded and Pagey........ well who knew what he was doing. The derivative sources that Jimi acknowledged were Albert King, Muddy and mostly Buddy Guy.

[michaellee]

Vic started hanging out at Jim Marshall's music store in 1962, in Hanwell. Thats the year Marshall amplication first emerged. Briggs played with different bands, one was Peter Nelson and the Travelers, who had Mitch Mitchell as their drummer for a brief period prior to the Hendrix Experience creation in the fall of 66.

Hendrix hung out in Greenwich village in the last part of 65 and the first part of 66 and was noticed and signed by Chas Chandler in Sep of 66. This is when Chandler changed his named to "Jimi".

Briggs Greenwich village playing and partying time coincided with Hendrix, thats when they met and Hendrix commented on his 3 favorite guitar players. Granted, Briggs playing style, at least from the early 60's, was erratic and he was still trying to find a nitch. Regardless of who originated what, here is a quote from Briggs, regarding September 28th, 1966 when Brian and the Trinity were playing at the Scotch of St James. Chas Chandler came in with a very unusual looking black guy with wild hair. Asking if he could sit in with the band, he borrowed Vic’s amplifier and proceeded to wow the crowd.

“At that time I was playing an unusual Marshall stack that they had developed. It had twelve six-inch speakers with a hundred watt amplifier. Jimi plugged in his Strat (which was right handed but strung left handed) and turned every control on the amp up to eleven! I was horrified. For one thing I was sure this would blow out the speakers, I had never turned the volume up past five. And for another, The Scotch of St. James was about twice the size of the average living room. What was this guy trying to do?
He must have seen the look of horror on my face because he immediately said to me "Don't worry man, I turn it down on the guitar".

This was Jimi Hendrix. He and Vic became friends that evening, partly based on their mutual admiration for each other’s playing. Wish I had been there.