Yngwie Malmsteen - where to begin?

[iguana]

That's pathetically hilarious. What song is that from?

[Nearfest2]

So it's not from a song? I didn't hear it in this video either (whatever it is).

[Plasmatopia]

Personally my favorite lyric from YM is "forever is a long, long time".

[progholio]

Malmsteen blew me away. Which of his releases are worth buying?

Stick and stay with the first album Rising Force. The band is excellent, writing is very strong and Yngwie just blows the doors off with his blazing new shred technique. After that his sweeping arpeggios, blindingly fast speed and neo classical stylings don't break any new ground and goes stale real quick.

Here's a great guitar lesson -

[progmatist]

He also wrote a very ambitious Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra (in E flat minor, Opus 1) Technically brilliant (if you consider the notes per sec. rate) but one of the most uninspired, heavy and indigestible work I've ever heard, including all the possible clichés of the genre. In comparison even Deep Purple's Concerto (For Group and Orchestra) or ELP's most distasteful orchestral disgressions are lightweight. I listened it once then offered the CD to a friend, really not my cup of tea. But it's all instrumental and I guess there are some people who might like it, so here we go:

That's my take on Classical era music in general. Much of it is challenging to play, with many blazing scale and arpeggio runs. Substantively however, there's not much there.

[davis]

This is an interesting guy.

[davis]

See David Gilmour

[Gravedigger]

A friend of a good friend of mine from NYC used to provide Yngwie with a certain white powder every time he was in town back in the 80s. He told me of some very interesting tales that I can't repeat here ;-)

Yngwie hit on my brother's girlfriend several years ago in a South Florida club (Button South, maybe?). He was pretty wasted and gave her his
home phone number. They called it a few days later and listened to his answering machine... pretty standard message ("This is Yngwie; I'm not
home right now. Please leave a message, etc.") followed by him shredding away on guitar.

And yes, Rising Force was pretty groundbreaking. Zappa was complimentary ("Whatever else you say about him, the guy can PLAY!").

[GuitarGeek]

That's pathetically hilarious. What song is that from?

Isn't the "retarded sexuality" line from the review of Intranvenous De Milo album in This Is Spinal Tap? I think the line was something about the band "treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality".

[GuitarGeek]

Two words: Terje Rypdal

[progholio]

This is an interesting guy.

I'm not much of a shred weenie but Michael Romeo and Symphony X have always been good at mixing some neo-classical with prog metal, at least they throw some good riffs out there that you can hang your hat on.

[SteveSly]

I'm not much of a shred weenie but Michael Romeo and Symphony X have always been good at mixing some neo-classical with prog metal, at least they throw some good riffs out there that you can hang your hat on.

Love Symphony X and have all of their albums. I finally got to see them on the "Underworld" tour. Fantastic show.

[progholio]

Love Symphony X and have all of their albums. I finally got to see them on the "Underworld" tour. Fantastic show.

i got to see them a two different ProgPower fest a loooong time ago, they were mighty fine.

[SteveSly]

Love Symphony X and have all of their albums. I finally got to see them on the "Underworld" tour. Fantastic show.

I have also seen Russell Allan with Trans Siberian Orchestra several times too. The last tour I saw he was featured doing a bluesy song which was the polar opposite from what he does with Symphony X, but man did he pull it off well. The guys is an amazing singer.

[Rarebird]

See Mark Hollis

[Yaman Aksu]

I agree that the first few Rising Force albums are great (but like some posts here I too don't care for some of the lyrics, plus I didn't/don't even find out about all the lyrics in those albums such as back in the 80s when I was discovering those albums), and unlike some posts here I'd include the Oddysey album in that bunch too (noting especially the song Rising Force, for which I've bookmarked 4 great covers on youtube in recent years, as it turns out, it's a classic), and somehow I stopped checking out new releases by him after that album.

But approx 10 years after that, I did check out 2 newer albums (UtF, Attack), which had memorable tracks such as Baroque N Roll. I have not remembered much from those two albums but there were some solid tracks, for example I remember enjoying the heavy and live-like sound/production on a few songs, that were crunchy chord-heavy without necessarily being overpowered by his shredding.

And the concerto on DVD which was interesting for the most part (not counting the DVD tracks that aren't a part of the concerto), but it can give me a headache sometimes after half hour.

About covers, also: Vocalist Asha Blaine on youtube sings two of his early tunes really well with a great solid band in the same recording: 1. I'll See The Light Tonight, 2. I am a Viking

[IncogNeato]

Honestly, Yngwie is an amazingly skilled player. However, I would not rank any of his albums beyond the first 4 and his symphonic album.

[Plasmatopia]

I actually liked a lot of the stuff on Yngwie's The Seventh Sign, but I wouldn't consider it essential.

[IncogNeato]

I actually liked a lot of the stuff on Yngwie's The Seventh Sign, but I wouldn't consider it essential.

I would not call that a bad album. But after listening to Yngwie since 1986 and owning much of it through the early 00s, it didn't stick in the long term for me.

[Plasmatopia]

I would not call that a bad album. But after listening to Yngwie since 1986 and owning much of it through the early 00s, it didn't stick in the long term for me.

My experience is nearly identical. I really don't need to hear more from him.

[Klonk]

"Yngwie Malmsteen is the best guitarist who ever lived" - Yngwie Malmsteen

[MudShark22]

The Rickey Henderson of Neoclassical Metal

[Digital_Man]

I remember when I was briefly involved in college radio someone was playing something by him but the only thing I remember about it was symphonic keyboards as a backdrop. It was probably from one of his early albums though.

[progmatist]

^^ What I remember was that song from the Odyssey album, with Joe Lynn Turner singing receiving heavy radio air play. JLT added as much pop sensibility to Malmssteen as he did Rainbow.

[Digital_Man]

^^ What I remember was that song from the Odyssey album, with Joe Lynn Turner singing receiving heavy radio air play. JLT added as much pop sensibility to Malmssteen as he did Rainbow.

While I certainly knew his name, I don't remember hearing anything by him on the radio although that was also the case with Joe Satriani too. It's funny how you can know someone's name or hear of them but not know anything by them. I don't think I heard any Metallica songs until the black album but I heard of them about five or six years earlier.