Quote:
Originally Posted by htismaqe
To me, those 3 albums are all Marty Friedman. If you have any of the re-issues, you can hear some of the demos Dave cut by himself and they're absolutely not the same.
That's not to say that Marty was the sole creative force because in reality Dave was the only real creative force. It was the effect Marty had on Dave that made those albums special. He brought a polish and musicianship that was really unparalleled at the time, IMO. The thing is, Friedman wasn't a typical thrash guitar player but he also wasn't a traditional neoclassical player, either. Sure, since Malmsteen and Rhoads broke on the scene in the early 80's, all kinds of guys were playing sweeping arpeggios and harmonic minor scales. Friedman took it to a whole new level. He wasn't afraid to mix it up in mixolydian or pull out some exotic Arabian scale. Combine that with some very unconventional phrasing and he was just uber-unique.
Again, you should listen to "Dragon's Kiss". Friedman's solo album is one of the best albums I've ever heard.
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Funnily enough, I was listening to an interview with Marty last night on Sirius. Guess he has a new album getting ready to drop. I knew he had disappeared to Japan, but I didn't know that he's mostly known over there for his TV work rather than his music. Odd considering the Japanese' love for that era of metal.
You're pretty knowledgable about this era, so I assume you're familiar with the Jason Becker story. If not, he was partners with Marty in the band Cacophony when they were still high schoolers. After they split, he went on to replace Vai in David Lee Roth's band. He recorded one album before being diagnosed with ALS. He was told he didn't have long to live but he's still around and he composes music with his eyes, the only part of his body that still works. There's a great documentary called Not Dead Yet about him that I highly recommend. It was on netflix, but apparently isn't anymore. It's worth finding if you can.