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ROY BUCHANAN Guitar On Fire (Atlantic/Rhino) Roy Buchanan is one of the most influential guitarists in rock history; having notable beginnings with Dale Hawkins who was famous for 'Suzie Q'; Roy replaced James Burton in Dale's band, and it was James that had invented the lick on 'Suzie Q'. From there Roy joined Ronnie Hawkins and The Hawks (featuring most of the members who became The Band), and in 1969 Roy was signed to Polydor. It was after the release of his second album Roy Buchanan in 1972 that the World stood up and took notice of this unasuming axe hero. His first album The Prophet was never released. This featured Charlie Daniels (vocals/guitar) and Roy on lead guitar. It was Charlie Daniels song 'Black Autumn' that featured a gentle soaring lead from Roy, that was to become 'The Messiah Will Come Again' off Roy Buchanan. Guitar On Fire is a compilation featuring Roy's Atlantic sessions, and quite a few of these compositions were songs he had recorded before for Polydor. I have only hand picked a few of the songs I love for your attention; here goes. Guitar On Fire opens with 'Ramon's Blues' that features Steve Cropper (Booker T. & The MG's) as well. This is blues with soaring leads and guitar wizardry. 'The Heat Of The Battle' is a Stanley Clarke composition and features Stanley on bass. More often it was the case that Roy would start off gently then build up to flying crescendoes. 'Hidden' is a track that features Jan Hammer and Stanley Clarke, and it is a style that was to influence the great Al Di Meola. One half of Booker T. & The MG's (Donald 'Duck' Dunn and again Steve Cropper) feature on Roy's remake of 'Green Onions'. On this Steve is awesome, whereas Roy absolutely shows who is the master. This has long been my favourite version of this great instrumental. Even Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie (Fabulous Thunderbirds) performed this track often. Roy prove's he can play licks like Chet Atkin's with his 'Advetures Of Brer Rabbit And Tar Baby' that features just Roy and Stanley Clarke. The next four track reviews are from Roy's famous You're Not Alone (1978) album: Joe Walsh's 'Turn To Stone' is taken through some amazing changes. My favourite Roy Buchanan track is 'Fly...Night Bird', and this is a track that Pink Floyd fans should check out as it shares similarities to 'Shine On You Crazy Diamonds'. 'Supernova' is a flying instrumental. Then there's the awesome version of Neil Young's 'Down By The River'. Gary St. Clair features on lead vocals with Luther Vandross on backup vocals. Another fanatstic Atlantic album was A Street Called Straight (1976); and on this album Roy's flirts with everything from country to jazz. Two highlights are a cover Jimi Hendrix's 'If Six Was Nine' and a remake of his own 'The Messiah Will Come Again'. This is an instrumental that is racked with so much soulful emotion that the soul can only but ponder. For many of Roy's early years his biggest fans were other famous guitarists. Counted among those are Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Les Paul. Roy's music is the sort of music I love to listen to at 3am; comfortably loud, with a bourbon in one hand, and lover in the other. Another great Roy Buchanan album worth checking out is When The Guitar Plays The Blues; this was a 1985 comeback album on the Alligator label and this showed Roy was still in fantastic form. Sadly Roy died August 14th 1988.Gazz Click on album image to see larger album cover 
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