Grace and Favour
I agree with your comments regarding the late Allan Holdsworth in the last Guitarist. I saw him many years ago and he was absolutely awesome – although I can honestly say I didn’t recognise a single chord or scale he played throughout the whole evening. It’s sad that he seems to have not been adequately rewarded for his undoubted talent.
Music seems to have so many contrasts. I recently returned from a holiday in the deep south of the USA and visited BB King’s museum, his grave in Indianola and the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. They were treasure troves of artefacts and information, but my wife and I were the only people there. Later in our holiday we visited Graceland, the home of a certain Mr Presley. What an unbelievable contrast in visitor numbers and revenue. Robert Else, via email Thanks Geoff and Robert for your memories of Allan. We were talking about what makes a hit record here at Guitarist the other day and Nev Marten noted that Tears (For Souvenirs) by the
comedian Ken Dodd was the third bestselling single of the 1960s. Just think about all the music created in the 1960s and let that sink in. Yep, sometimes a catchy yet ephemeral tune can win more success overnight than decades of artistic excellence. The problem for artists who understand their craft deeply and want to express complex musical ideas is that most people don’t need or want that. But some listeners, among them many Guitarist readers, appreciate the complete musical freedom of rare players such as Allan who – like a mountaineer – climbed higher into rarified air, into the magic and mystery of music, simply because it was there to be explored.