This Bryan Adams deep cut features one of the best guitar solos of all time, according to music journalist
“I think that solo as a guitar player has got everything: taste, melody, style, you name it.”
Image: Stefan M. Prager / Getty
When you think of the “greatest guitar solos ever committed to tape”, what springs to mind? It’s probably one from Van Halen, Slash, or maybe even Nuno Bettencourt with his recent work in Extreme.
Joe Matera – a guitarist, rock journalist and author – thinks that one of the best solos actually comes from one of Bryan Adams’ lesser appreciated tracks, Native Son, and is played by Keith Scott.
The song resides on Adams’ 1987 album, Into The Fire. It marked his fifth album release, and followed on from Reckless, which received huge commercial success and peaked at number 1 in the US Billboard charts.
Speaking on the Booked On Rock podcast, Matera says of Scott’s Native Son solo (via Ultimate Guitar), “I think that guitar solo, and I’ll stake my reputation, that’s one of the greatest guitar solos ever committed to tape.
“Because in all the guitar magazines when I write the top-10 guitar solos of all time, it always mentions Stairway to Heaven, Comfortably Numb, but no one ever mentions Native Son by Keith Scott. And I think that solo as a guitar player has got everything: taste, melody, style, you name it. And I think it’s so overlooked.”
So, why don’t people talk about it more often? Matera believes it may be because the album it sat on marked a shift in Adams’ lyrics and subject matter compared to its successful predecessor.
“He decided to write some songs that were socially aware. I think it’s purely courageous for him to have taken that route to do something totally different subject matter wise. And I think it’s of its time. U2, Peter Gabriel and all those bands were doing socially aware issues. It’s relevant to its time,” he says.
Listen to the podcast below:
You can order Joe Matera’s book, Louder Than Words: Beyond The Backstage Pass, now.