Osiris, first it's good to see you again, buddy. You're not here enough.
Secondly, I'm mad at you for making me listen to some of GX again.
Originally Posted by Osiris12345
Nagoshi is a great guitarist and did some great guitar work on the album but Yayoshi brings good live energy to the setlist.
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Nagoshi only played Kyogenshou, Tsuki ni Makeinu and Honnou so those are the only fair comparisons. I'll take the album versions of Kyogenshou and Tsuki (even over the Dynamite version) while I'll take the Expo '08 version of Honnou. Susumu Nishikawa did most of the guitar work in the MM/SS. If you think Yayoshi brought good energy (I don't), you should listen to Nishikawa during Senkou Ecstasy. Same arrangements, but with an actual guitarist who can carry his weight in the band.
I'm not sure where you can say Yayoshi brings energy. During Zazen Ecstasy? Maybe. GX? I'm not hearing it. He's just a pale imitation of Nishikawa. The mixing is even actively trying to hide him behind Muraishi and Kameda. He doesn't even get a volume boost during his solos! If he can't even get the spotlight during a solo, how can he possibly be bringing anything to the table? Shiina, Muraishi and Kameda are clearly carrying the show with Yayoshi and the keyboardist just being along for the ride.
Ringo herself outplays him on guitar.
Originally Posted by Osiris12345
I think of it kind of like if late 70's - early 80's Johnny Ramone played some Ringo songs. Early Johnny Ramone is a pretty shitty guitarist. He's sloppy and if you give him a song with more than three chords in it he'll look at it like you gave him a note in Chinese. The GX songs are stripped down, given more simple arrangements, the solos are only a few notes/chords, and they're made kind of more "punk". Especially something like Aozora. Kyogenshou suffers a little because the appeal of that song WAS the complex arrangement but I don't look at it like a complete travesty.
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Even if we ignore the simplified arrangements... It's not even just the lack of technical skill during GX; Yayoshi's Les Paul tone is dreadful. It's a weak distortion with no dynamics behind it and he uses it for all but two songs. I've never heard a good guitar sound so... flat. For real, listen to opening riff of Keikoku on GX as one of the most glaring examples. Nishikawa crunches that shit on the album while Yayoshi sounds like he's playing through babby's first distortion pedal.
Johnny Ramone, James Williamson or any other punk rock guitarist would have been embarrassed to be playing with a tone like that. I likely would agree with you if Yayoshi sounded like this during GX:
but he doesn't and doesn't come anywhere close to that. No crunch, no drive. Just bland distortion. It's better when he breaks out the Jazzmaster, but that's only Marunouchi Sadistic during GX.
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(although I can't argue in favor of GX Izonshou, I just.... can't)
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Good because that's the biggest disappointment of the show. Perhaps this will shed a little more light on my opinion or allow some to disregard it completely:
I had already listened to Electric Mole several times before listening to GX. Perhaps disappointment was inevitable after so many GDLK performances on EM? Regardless, this was before the days of Jpopsuki or torrents so I was downloading songs from Napster or eMule or something like that one at a time. My first GX song was Izonshou. I'll never forget the disappointment I felt after the song finished? "That's it? Fuck was that?"
Originally Posted by zeroryouko
I don't think the various instrumental performances are by any means bad (though I'm not really a good judge of that), but the instrumentation is really secondary to Ringo herself.
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I give up. Nothing against you personally as I like your posts. I just don't really know what to say to people who put the woman above the whole of the music without coming off as a giant prick.
I'll never get people projecting their thoughts on how much Ringo is having fun on stage compared to other shows either.
Originally Posted by deadgrandma
I have always struggled to see WHY rearranging things should be seen as a negative
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It's not. You hit it here:
Originally Posted by deadgrandma
OK, sure I get personal taste may stop a person enjoying a new arrangement.
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The fan base loves rearrangements when they're actually good. See Zazen Ecstasy for the best examples in Tsumiki Asobi and Yokushitsu.