Al and Andy Summers

[lifeson90]

ok so Al for me is the greatest rock guitarist there'll ever be, right...

 

but how much do you think he really owes to Andy Summers?

 

i mean, at a time in the early 80's when rush really needed a change in sound and direction, did Al consciously try to incorporate some of Andy's sound into his own playing, possibly even to the point of copying him to a degree?

 

dont get me wrong, i dont care if he did or didnt... Signals is just a truly superb album and Al's never sounded better or more unique but, i recall being around at the time, when The Police were massive, and i remember thinking ' hmm interesting Alex is definitely ripping off Andy Summers a bit ' :)

 

so personally speaking, even though as i say Al will always be my untouchable number one, i do believe Alex has a helluva lot to owe to andy Summers for the rejuvenation of his sound and the band in general, propelling them into the 'modern' era of rush so to speak.

 

even the albums after Signals banging well on into the late 80's still bore the influence imo, the sound was a mechanism by which the band could write an album of 4 or 5 minute tracks instead of the longer prog stuff, you know what i mean...

 

 

Anyways, probably been said many times before in this forum and others but... props to Andy Summers I say.

[HomesickAlien]

The quality of this recording leaves much to be desired, but it's very Summers-esque:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AthRv__R_Lw

[Rod in Toronto]

Finally some credit to Andy - he never got the respect he deserved in The Police because Sting and Stewart were dominant personalities in the band. The similarity between Andy´s and Al´s tones in Middletown Dreams demo posted above is uncanny!!! It sounds really cool - I wonder what this would have done for Rush in terms of ppopolarity if they kept it like that.

 

Eventually Alex has changed his sound, as was the case with Neil and Geddy - no two albums sound the same when it comes to Rush! But it´s interesting how the boys have always been able to capture the essence of each era into their sound: first with Led Zeppelin, then with prog giants like Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis etc., later with New Wave and The Police, and grunge to a certain extend in the Counterparts era. I dare say that even Muse circa Absolution has some influence in a few things they have done since 2000...

[lifeson90]

Yeah nice one substance that demo recording illustrates quite powerfully the undeniable influence of Andys sound you simply have to acknowledge that Al took the style and sound for himself, dare i say it even in a plagiarist way, i mean its almost like a direct copy of artistic style, which ordinarily i'd say wasnt too cool but, bearing it mind the great modern rush albums it helped to produce, we shouldn't care too much if at all.

 

By the way i wouldn't say Alex was just blatantly copying Andy's playing, which obviously is far from truth, more like twisting the sound into another kind of animal altogether.... theyre obviously two completely different artists, just making point that Alex drawn to Andy's groove and jumped into it, producing his own Alex Lifeson take on it, thats all :)

Edited April 12, 2013 by lifeson90

[Todem]

Finally some credit to Andy - he never got the respect he deserved in The Police because Sting and Stewart were dominant personalities in the band. The similarity between Andy´s and Al´s tones in Middletown Dreams demo posted above is uncanny!!! It sounds really cool - I wonder what this would have done for Rush in terms of ppopolarity if they kept it like that.

 

Eventually Alex has changed his sound, as was the case with Neil and Geddy - no two albums sound the same when it comes to Rush! But it´s interesting how the boys have always been able to capture the essence of each era into their sound: first with Led Zeppelin, then with prog giants like Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis etc., later with New Wave and The Police, and grunge to a certain extend in the Counterparts era. I dare say that even Muse circa Absolution has some influence in a few things they have done since 2000...

 

Funny I heard Rush's influence in Muse On the epic jam that closes out Knights of Cedona.

 

Totally agree about Andy Summers and his influence on Alex's tone and approach/phrasing in the mid 80's.

 

Some of Alex's finest work during the so called keyboard era. And so happy they are cranking out he mid 80's stuff on the CA tour.

 

AWESOME!! 14 days away.

Edited April 13, 2013 by Todem

[sitboaf]

Alex is great at everything- power chords, shredding, soloing, and rhythm.

But, I consider Andy Summers to be the best rhythm guitarist of all time. It wasn't Andy's riffing or wailing that illuminated all those memorable Police songs. He was able to elevate rhythm guitar to the heart of the song and eliminate the need for lead guitar.