Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Do talk back
User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Jeff K » 28 Aug 2010, 23:34

Some interesting discussion on the Head Heritage website over who was responsible for the scorching solo on Eno's Baby's On Fire. It's often considered one of Fripp's finest moments but a case was made for Paul Rudolph right here...

http://www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohea ... c/1193/#18

Both are credited on the album and I must admit it sounds more like Rudolph's doings than something Fripp would normally play. Has Paul Rudolph been written out of history?
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

User avatar
Beno
Posts: 6582
Joined: 04 Nov 2004, 22:05
Location: Gasoline Alley

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Beno » 29 Aug 2010, 00:10

Fantastic solo. Like most others I'd always assumed it was Fripp. It's a criminal injustice if the real player hasn't been given the due credit.

User avatar
dang65
Posts: 5231
Joined: 20 Jan 2004, 14:48

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby dang65 » 29 Aug 2010, 00:11

Just listening to the Pink Fairies' Neverneverland album on Spotify, as it's recommended on that thread, and it sounds splendid. Yet another tasty 1971 album I have missed out on till now. I'm pretty sure that's the year I'll be pointing my time machine at actually, just as soon as Argos deliver it. Been on pre-order for ages now. (Can you pre-order a time machine, or would that be a paradox?)

Poor old Robert Fripp though. I was convinced for years that it was Fripp playing that snakey, Frippertronicked guitar on the brilliant Regiment off of My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, only to find out that it's actually Eno playing a synth. :?

The man's a damned charlatan. By proxy.

meetthesonics
Posts: 5975
Joined: 07 Sep 2003, 20:50

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby meetthesonics » 29 Aug 2010, 00:18

Image
Sweet potato ya got it, apple ya ain't.

Image

User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Jeff K » 29 Aug 2010, 00:18

Beno wrote:Fantastic solo. Like most others I'd always assumed it was Fripp. It's a criminal injustice if the real player hasn't been given the due credit.


As someone already mentioned on the thread I linked, I think it was a combination of both of them with Eno tweaking the results. But the core solo sounds definitely Rudolph.
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

Hugh
Posts: 16158
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:43

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Hugh » 29 Aug 2010, 00:19

I have long proclaimed it to be one of my favourite Fripp solos. It better had be.

User avatar
dang65
Posts: 5231
Joined: 20 Jan 2004, 14:48

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby dang65 » 29 Aug 2010, 00:37

Hugh wrote:I have long proclaimed it to be one of my favourite Fripp solos. It better had be.

Towards the end of the original thread there is a reference to the allegation being an April Fool's joke? Bit of an obscure joke, but still...

You are mistaken in crediting Paul with the more upfront solo guitar.

Paul is responsible for the bass and the less intense solo guitar(with similar fuzz tone) which is heard just under the louder of the two lead guitars. The low lurching part you are crediting to Fripp is Brians 'snake guitar'.

...

This thread was mentioned as part of an april fools joke on an eno site. Upon reading the first post here Fripp commented in his own diary...

Baby's On Fire solo?
:: Posted by mipoch on April 01, 2010
So, that’s NOT RF soloing on "Baby’s On Fire"?
http://headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/un ... eaded/7804
Thoughts on this?

It is April the First, after all. And Sid fooled me, too.

The bold bit is Fripp's comment in his diary. Not a clear claim to have played the solo, but I think that's what he means.

User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Jeff K » 29 Aug 2010, 01:07

dang65 wrote:
Hugh wrote:I have long proclaimed it to be one of my favourite Fripp solos. It better had be.

Towards the end of the original thread there is a reference to the allegation being an April Fool's joke? Bit of an obscure joke, but still...

You are mistaken in crediting Paul with the more upfront solo guitar.

Paul is responsible for the bass and the less intense solo guitar(with similar fuzz tone) which is heard just under the louder of the two lead guitars. The low lurching part you are crediting to Fripp is Brians 'snake guitar'.

...

This thread was mentioned as part of an april fools joke on an eno site. Upon reading the first post here Fripp commented in his own diary...

Baby's On Fire solo?
:: Posted by mipoch on April 01, 2010
So, that’s NOT RF soloing on "Baby’s On Fire"?
http://headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/un ... eaded/7804
Thoughts on this?

It is April the First, after all. And Sid fooled me, too.

The bold bit is Fripp's comment in his diary. Not a clear claim to have played the solo, but I think that's what he means.


According to that very same thread, Rudolph was interviewed and claimed the solo was his. Either he's lying or telling the truth. If you go back and listen to any of the earlier stuff from the Pink Fairies and then play Baby's On Fire, he seems to have a solid case.
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

User avatar
The Slider
Self-Aggrandising Cock
Posts: 48262
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:05
Location: I'm only here for the sneer
Contact:

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby The Slider » 29 Aug 2010, 01:16

It doesn't sound particularly typically Fripp.
Especially at that time.
Complete Ramones Mp3 set on its way

Hugh
Posts: 16158
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:43

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Hugh » 29 Aug 2010, 01:46

The Slider wrote:It doesn't sound particularly typically Fripp.
Especially at that time.


You think? (Well obviously you do or you wouldn't have posted that). I've just listened to it and now I'm not sure. Bits of it sound very much like Fripp to me (around 2.20 onwards) but I haven't heard anything else of Mr Rudolph's to compare it to.

User avatar
Snarfyguy
Dominated by the Obscure
Posts: 53502
Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:04
Location: New York

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Snarfyguy » 29 Aug 2010, 08:02

The Slider wrote:It doesn't sound particularly typically Fripp.
Especially at that time.

That sort of super-sustain-y, attack-y approach (on some parts of the instrumental passages) is a lot of what I associate with Fripp. Not really about the choice of notes so much, but the technique.

Why now, anyway? Who cares anymore?
GoogaMooga wrote: The further away from home you go, the greater the risk of getting stuck there.

User avatar
The Slider
Self-Aggrandising Cock
Posts: 48262
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:05
Location: I'm only here for the sneer
Contact:

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby The Slider » 29 Aug 2010, 09:12

The notes he is playing and the tone of them.
But then he deliberately played in odd styles quite often.
He didn't always just copy Steve Hackett

;)
Complete Ramones Mp3 set on its way

User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby Jeff K » 29 Aug 2010, 11:36

Snarfyguy wrote:Why now, anyway? Who cares anymore?


Actually if you look at the date when it was first brought up you'll see it's 2000 so this has been a decade long discussion over on that site. A great solo is a great solo, no matter who plays it. I just find it humorous that the one solo that many will point to as Fripp's best may not have been played by him.
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

User avatar
jimboo
Posts: 7316
Joined: 29 Dec 2005, 17:43
Location: taking a foxy kind of stand

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby jimboo » 29 Aug 2010, 15:24

If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The h-team. I bet the Hoffs would love this one.
If I jerk- the handle jerk- the handle you'll thrill me and thrill me

User avatar
der nister
Posts: 15564
Joined: 30 Sep 2008, 18:42

Re: Who really played the guitar solo on Baby's On Fire?

Postby der nister » 29 Aug 2010, 15:38

jimboo wrote:If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can hire...The h-team. I bet the Hoffs would love this one.


they have thread on this and i think they are also unsure

eno is probably the only one who knows for sure, it's his treatment
It's kinda depressing for a music forum to be proud of not knowing musicians.


Return to “Yakety Yak”