It's into middle of September 2010... Hot weather is fading slowly but still pretty hot here in Japan. August and September so far only few rainfall in Tokyo. Anyways I've been watching films a lot but I'll write about music here. I'm going to say something about John Sykes the English rock/metal guitarist. He's 51 now! Time flies... He's 20 years older than me! Lets go back to main subject, he's often compared to Gary Moore, in a good way or bad way. I like both just as much and can't pick who's better. It's like McDonald's and KFC?! He started his career just after I was born (1979) and played in a NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band called Street Fighter but they've never recorded any materials I think. Then he joined famous NWOBHM band called Tygers of Pan Tang from Newcastle, North East of England. Then he left his mark with great guitar play and they also had good singer Jon Deverill. I think Tygers of Pan Tang peaked after "Spellbound", because their music wasn't good anymore. Then Phil Lynott asked John to join legendary Thin Lizzy band to record mega heavy "Thunder and Lightning" album. He revitalised lethargic group like them and beafed up the music to more hard and tough, metal sound rather than good hard rock music for what they were known for, then he joined David Coverdale's (ex-Deep Purple vocalist) Whitesnake. Coverdale wanted to hire Sykes to break into US market. Whitesnake had orthodox and subtle blues/hard rock feel to their music but with Sykes they can toughen their image as well as music and he eventually joined. I think somewhere between Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake, John played for John Sloman's (Lone Star/Uriah Heep) band called Badlands (He also did some solo called "Please Don't Leave Me" and one instrumental for a Xmas album - "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"). I got the demo tape on mp3 format but not very good really. Whitesnake released "Slide It In" and "1987" with John Sykes on guitar and I'd say it's there best material. "1987" is one of the all time best hard rock/heavy metal really. Sykes left the band after a row with Coverdale. Not just Sykes but all recording member had left the band. Coverdale is a great singer but he's a egomaniac, dictator and control freak and he only care about image and money!
So he formed Blue Murder with Tony Franklin (The Firm) on bass and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, King Kobra etc) on drums. "Blue Murder" self titled album and "Nothin' But Trouble" both great albums. Latter album had unknown Marco Mendoza on bass and Tommy O'Steen on drums. But the band didn't get enough recognition and John dropped the band name to simple Sykes.
With Sykes more or less same line-up from above mentioned musicians and some guest and he released "Out of my Tree", "Loveland", "20th Century" and "Nuclear Cowboy". And then he hasn't released anything for a decade now! He does occasional live gigs but only play Thin Lizzy tribute stuff with main members from original Thin Lizzy members but really bit dull to be honest. I prefer his solo stuff.
I really love John Sykes and he's one of my all time favourite guitarist ever. Not just the way he plays his trademark old and battered Black Beauty Gibson Les Paul guitar but he's a great singer as well as song writer and music is great. Melodic yet fast and aggressive. It's really rare to find such talented musicians really. He deserve a knighthood really. He should be called Sir Sykes!! He's often under rated but I would put him very high. And great thing is that every time you listen to him live music sound different but each one is great. He has released quite a few live albums too but it's all brilliant. I can't praise him more.
Lucky I've seen him once live in London! I hope he'll release more solo albums!
His best albums are... "Spellbound", "Thunder and Lightning", "1987", "Blue Murder", "Nothin' But Trouble" and "Out of my Tree". I think these albums should be enough!
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