Best Use of Mandolin in Rock

[Rodney Riley]

Not sure if the mando actually gets lost in the mix of some songs or helps to change them from a plain old blanket to a beautiful quilt. The more instruments can add so much more color and warmth to the songs. Don't get me wrong, I love listening to Brad Paisley's instrumental of "What a Friend We have in Jesus". And Kaki King just rocks.
I know, these two not mando related.(head hung in shame)

[MikeEdgerton]

...It's a shame Rod Stewart didn't give Ray his due.

If I recall there was some legal action a while back and now nobody will talk about it, not even Ray. That might indicate Ray got something for that.

[journeybear]

Not sure if the mando actually gets lost in the mix of some songs or helps to change them from a plain old blanket to a beautiful quilt. The more instruments can add so much more color and warmth to the songs.

You make a good point. Sometimes a final mix is all about creating a unified sound out of all the elements available. If one particular instrument doesn't stand out, it may be because the way its level is decided is determined by how it interrelates with the other instruments, and the others in turn. We, as mandolinists, tend to notice how audible the mandolin is in such instances. And wish it were louder.

I happened to hear "Sunny Came Home" today in the supermarket, and I'd forgotten how nicely the mandolin is used in that. And even if it's just during the intro, outro, and interludes, it's nice to hear the instrument that well integrated into the arrangement. I love John Leventhal's production skills.

[Paul Kotapish]

"Ripple" is from the Grateful Dead's folkiest period, but features some dandy--and prominent--mandolin work by David Grisman.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Check out Matt Mundy's work with Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit.

Matt's fine work also graces Widespread Panic's Pickin' up the Pieces -- a wonderful cut, that one.

[Fishmonger]

For mandolin in rock, check out The Tossers. Their frontman is a mandolin player. LOTS of great Irish folk-punk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv8bj...eature=channel

[journeybear]

"Ripple" is from the Grateful Dead's folkiest period, but features some dandy--and prominent--mandolin work by David Grisman.

Same with "Friend Of The Devil," same provenance. Those two are near the top of the list of repertoire for beginning mandolinists, at least they were for those of us of a certain age and/or mindset.

There's also Ry Cooder's work on The Rolling Stones' "Love In Vain," from a couple of years before that. Again, a kind of folky take, this time on a Robert Johnson blues. And his solo take on "Goin' To Brownsville," though that's really more blues than rock.

I'd like to hear about some more rocked-out mandolin use, short of Tempest or Alex Gregory. Not that there's anything wrong with what they do, I just mean more straight-ahead rock 'n' roll. WWCBD?

Here's them Tossers ...

[Jim Broyles]

Yeah it is! "Best use of" does not constitute strumming chords, to my way of thinking. It goes for Jethro Tull, too! And it goes for Led Zeppelin, too!

[Fishmonger]

Here's them Tossers ...

I couldn't get that to work for me. It wouldn't load the video. ???
There are lots more from that band. See "No Loot No Booze No Fun", "Good Mornin' Da" and more... all on YouTube.

[journeybear]

Yeah it is! "Best use of" does not constitute strumming chords, to my way of thinking.

Hey, I'm grateful anytime a mandolin gets used in a rock song - unless it's played badly, of course.

The way I see it, if mandolin is integrated into a song, rather than just tacked on somehow, that's at least getting to where it should be - on an equal footing with the rest of the instruments. In "Maggie May", it comes out of nowhere after the last verse - but then it really drives the coda. In "Sunny Came Home," it provides the main hook for the song, even if it doesn't show up much the rest of the song. In "Fat Man," "Battle Of Evermore," and "Losing My Religion," mandolin is an integral part of the instrumentation and arrangement, like it or not. I'd still like to hear it played in a full-throttle, pedal to the metal way, rather than being relegated to the unplugged section of the set list, as it seems to be most of the time. That's what I go for when I play, and when I put out a record, that's what it's going to be.

[mrmando]

Billy Holmes' playing on the 1992 Vigilantes of Love album Killing Floor gets my vote every time ... check out "Anybody's Guess" or better yet, "Undertow."

[Dan Hoover]

well imho,i like "going to california" better than "battle of evermore"...john paul jones=excellent....i think "maggie may" is thee classic one for a lot of us.."mona lisas and mad hatters" by elton john...very beautiful mando playing by davey johnstone..i've heard "summer breeze" i dunno how many times this week??great one...i think i'm stuck in the 70's???

[journeybear]

Billy Holmes' playing on the 1992 Vigilantes of Love album Killing Floor gets my vote every time ... check out "Anybody's Guess" or better yet, "Undertow."

Now that's what I'm talking about! I never heard of them before, but their being from Athens, hotbed of alternative musical styles, makes perfect sense. The end of "Undertow," when it breaks down to just mandolin, bass, and drums, and then the harmonica starts wailing - that is mando-rock! I really don't care if it's lead or rhythm mandolin, as long as it's the diving force. Good call!

By the way, their wikipedia page desperately needs to be updated. It mentions a reunion in 2008 and "talk of a new album coming out in 2009."

[thejamdolinplayer]

That's some interesting work by The Tossers...

[Dave Gumbart]

"Matt's fine work also graces Widespread Panic's Pickin' up the Pieces -- a wonderful cut, that one."

Drat - here I was thinking I was going to hear a new version of the Poco song of the same name. Ah well - still liked what I heard on the preview of that cut. Having said Poco, though, they were known to use some mando in their repertoire. Fools Gold and Rocky Mountain Breakdown are a few, for sure, and there must be others. Might just be a good time to spin some old albums, and turn 'em into digital in the process.

No, probably not the best use of mando in rock, but a great band. Wish I could have seen them in their glory days - at least I can listen to DeLIVErin'.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Billy Holmes' playing on the 1992 Vigilantes of Love album Killing Floor gets my vote every time ... check out "Anybody's Guess" or better yet, "Undertow."

I forgot about them. 1999's "Audible Sigh" had a great mando track on it to: She Walks on Roses. (I couldn't find it in full length on YT, but you toward the end of the sample I linked at Amazon is a repeat of the mandolin lead in at the top of the song -- I love that track.)

[journeybear]

Gosh, yes, Poco ... So glad I got to see them back then in the Deliverin' days, right there at New Haven's Woolsey Hall (I must add) and did they ever deliver! Odd but nice that for the past year or so their much later single "Crazy Love" has been getting a lot of airplay at my local supermarket.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress ...

[eadg145]

Nice catch on the Steve Winwood on "Back In The High Life". The mandolin really makes that song.

So, is "Battle of Evermore" really verboten? I, uh, kinda really like that tune. Always did. I guess I'm a little out from under the bell curve. While most kids were digging "Stairway to Heaven", I was more into "Battle of Evermore" and "When The Levee Breaks". Still, it's good to know that BoE drives lots of folks nuts. I wouldn't have guessed.

...but really, when you see Ann and Nancy Wilson perform that tune live, can you really not like it?

cheers,

David

[journeybear]

So, is "Battle of Evermore" really verboten? I, uh, kinda really like that tune.

Um, no ... why would it be? Your opinion is as valid as anyone's, since it's all subjective.

Of course, that's just my opinion ...

[Ronny]

And what about Grinderman ? Warren Ellis uses his mandocaster very well. (and their second album will be issued on september...)

[ald]

On a slightly different note, I seem to have known what a mandolin was all my life. I say this because the 14-year-old girl next door once asked me what sort of instrument my mandolin was. And we mandolin freaks are obviously being asked all the time whether we play a ukelele (I've known all my life was a ukulele is because my grandmother's old music sheets for songs played on the piano had little chord diagrams on the top for the uke)
Over in England, Rod Stewart with Gasoline Alley and then Maggie May really impressed the instrument on the public mind. But I seem to remember it being on various "pop" recordings throughout the 50s and 60s. For years and years and years, I thought Baby don't go by Sonny and Sher had a mandolin but went to Youtube yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciQkRJdIwAc and I now I think it sounds more like an electric guitar being tremeloed. The thing is this was 1965 and even as a kid I knew what a mandolin was supposed to sound like.
While I was on Youtube I discovered PETER SELLERS & SOPHIA LOREN - 'Bangers And Mash' This might sound strange to American ears but there is what sounds like a mandolin halfway through the tune.
Then was quite a bit of mandolin on Leonard Cohen's records. I first heard Songs from a room in 1969 (released in 1967 apparently) so one year before Gasoline Alley and two years before Maggie May.

[Fishmonger]

Just wanted to see if I've got this video posting figured out now.

[Ed Goist]

...snip...So, is "Battle of Evermore" really verboten? ...snip...but really, when you see Ann and Nancy Wilson perform that tune live, can you really not like it?
cheers, David

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...IMO, this performance by Plant & Krauss (with Stuart Duncan on mandolin) is one of the all-time high points for the instrument's use in rock!



BTW, David, I really like the Wilson sisters' version also!



-Ed

[John Uhrig]

Well just my opinion (we all have one) My favorite is Jethro Tulls Fatman. Especially the newer version on Live at Montreaux.

[Alex Orr]

Ooh, I forgot about "Ripple" and "FOTD". Yeah, those are some really good songs with prominent mando, from one seriously prominent mando player. "Going to California"...yeah...well, I can stomach it better than "Battle of Evermore" I guess in terms of Zep, "Hey, Hey What Can I Do" would be one of the few songs that I still like by them, and it features a mandolin prominently in the mix.