My favorite ever guitarist. The song is on the Tones album, which was his 1986 debut for Warner Bros, produced by David Tickle(they should work together again - Eric's records have never sounded this good since). Trail Of Tears begins quietly, building up for quite awhile into a fusion of new-wave and Texas Hendrix - yes, you heard me, and it works. At the end the rhythm section drops out and you float with just synth and guitar, which coalesces into Bristol Shores' quiet, arpeggiated clean guitar intro. Bristol Shores is heartfelt and lonely guitar pop, also with a kinda new-wavy feel. I've never heard anything quite like this magical pair of songs, or quite like the sound & style achieved on this record. Eric really should think about revisiting this sound.

A laid-back song, my favorite on And The Horse They Rode In On, along with "Spinnin". Good midwestern post-punk. The album title is also my favorite ever.

The alt/rock cover band I front in my dreams plays this song at the end of every gig. Why? It's the perfect last-gig song; It's slow, it's soulful, and it pretends to the sophistication every college-age hipster does. The whole album Saturation has that feel to it, this song is just the perfect denouement.

An all-instrumental piece (three clean-tone electric guitars, one drummer) with loud-soft rock dynamics and the sort of build up that one expects from a band influenced by Mogwai and the other 'post-rock' kids. Perhaps the most romantic song I know. If you like three riffs overlapping and complementing each other, check this song out.

The B-52's were one of several late-'70s bands for which there was no real category. With their modified surf guitar sound, their thrift-shop fashion sense, and their jokey demeanor, they certainly weren't in the rock & roll mainstream, but they exhibited none of punk's sneering rebelliousness or musical aggression, either � the only anarchy that seemed to interest the B-52's was of the sartorial variety. "Rock Lobster" was the first B-52's song to catch popular attention, and it's easy to see why. The minimalist guitar lick is like a beach-bum's rendition of the James Bond theme, the one-note organ ostinato complements it perfectly, and Fred Scheider's campy sprechgesang jumps out at you immediately. Yet despite the song's self-consciously weird texture and silly lyrics about earlobes falling off and communal towel coordination, there's a thread of darkness weaving through it. Make no mistake � this is not a song with hidden meaning lurking below the surface. But its surface is a little more complicated than it seems to be at first. For one thing, it's almost seven minutes long, and it does start to drag toward the end. Right when it does, you notice the mood getting darker � Schneider delivers lines about "having fun" and "baking in the sun" in a hoarse croak, and the guitar starts sounding repetitive in a slightly creepy way. Suddenly you realize that the whole song has been in a minor key, and as Schneider shouts and the guitar barks out its angular riff over and over, you start to wonder if maybe there's some kind of commentary going on here. But then Kate Pierson's angelic voice comes in with a surprisingly pretty falling harmony part that can only be described as a descant, which repeats several times, gradually paring itself down to a single phrase, and abruptly the song is over. The whole song ends up being a goofy party confection with a slightly crunchy center � a pretty satisfying overall flavor combination.
(AMG)