In the rock world, who is generally considered to be the band who started or popularized this sound? Maybe it's neither, for all I know. I heard Bowie's band do it on "The Supermen".
In the rock world, who is generally considered to be the band who started or popularized this sound? Maybe it's neither, for all I know. I heard Bowie's band do it on "The Supermen".
Wishbone Ash
My favorite is Lotus, the 1973 Swedish instrumental band. But Allmans and Wishbone Ash kind of pioneered it in a sense, as far as I know. Fleetwood Mac was even earlier, but rather than duel harmonizing leads, different members were playing different things, adding to the whole.
I'm not sure but I know who unequivocally perfected it - The ALLMANS! Thin Lizzy is still a great band though.
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
Wishbone Ash and Allmans were, as far as I can tell, the first two bands to do harmony guitars on a regular basis. Both bands were formed at roughly the same time, so it's hard to say which was first. One could maybe call it a case of "mutual discovery", except...
The Beatles had already done guitar harmonies, on And Your Bird Can Sing, from Revolver.
And as Dickey Betts once pointed out, all the Allmans (and really everyone else) was to take something that had been done decades before in western swing and jazz music, and apply it to electric guitars.
For the record, I think Thin Lizzy didn't start doing guitar harmonies until a couple years into the band's existence. I think Whiskey In The Jar has some harmony guitar lines on it, but they didn't really get into it heavily until a little bit later, when Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson started playing around with harmonies. So I wouldn't say they were "pioneers" as such, though they were certainly one of the bands that popularized it.
Wishbone Ash seems to be generally credited as the pioneer of this style, although as others have mentioned the Allmans were right around the same time, so who knows who really was first. As much as I love Thin Lizzy, they came later and cited Wishbone Ash as an influence. Of course Iron Maiden took it to the next level in the following decade.
Steve Sly
I would say that the Allmans and Wishbone were the first to get it on record. There's live stuff of the original Fleetwood Mac doing a little of this, and supposedly Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page were beginning to experiment at the last few live Yardbirds shows.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Blossom Toes, before anyone else.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Also, be sure to check out Rare Bird's Epic Forest album. Blistering twin leads.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
That was my first thought, but it's valid only until There's the Rub (actually it was already not as good since Argus)
But then again, for ABB, it's only valid until Duane's disappearance
Thin Lizzy (of what I know of them) shouldn't be mentioned next to WA and ABB on this subject...
As for Blossom Toes, Godding comes up in a few a bit of albums I own (Centiped Jullie Tippetts, etc....), but their two albums doesn't let me see their live brilliant interplay early on in that YT link...
And to be honest, neither of their albums are well-rated in either RYM and Gnosis (PA doesn't have them in their DB)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
The Allman Bros., Wishbone Ash and Fleetwood Mac were the first to do it on many songs in their repertoire. The Beatles did not do it on that many tunes, even though they may have been first.
AEarly Allmans.
Thin Lizzy best stuff was with the first lineup.After that it was mostly quite predictable rock imo, though Downey's excellent drumming did his best to elevate it.
Thin Lizzy for sure! And allow me to add a second recommendation for Rare Bird’s Epic Forest, a very underrated disc!
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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"Siento que debemos saber para el sueño de quién brillará esta luz
o consagrar una propia estrella" --Alberto Felici
N.P.:“Rubato Industry”-Wobbler/Hinterland
The correct answer is Wishbone Ash
Brian Jones and Keith Richards were experimenting with some intertwining of leads as well.
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
I'll go along with this answer.
And just a brief comment about something said earlier in this thread about the WA twin lead guitar sound being "valid" only through "There's the Rub" , HUH? With the exception of some of their early to mid 80's stuff like "Twin Barrels Burning" & Raw To The Bone" and those 2 trance albums that Andy Powell put out in the late 90's (that never should have been called Wishbone Ash, they should have been AP solo albums) the twin lead sound is on every album, even the newer ones that have come out in the last decade.
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