Geoff Whitehorn:
 | Another true favourite of mine! I discovered him in two of his many roles: as
killer guitarist on my beloved Roger
Chapman's albums - and as Elkie Brooks's amazing hired guitar
on a Swedish late night TV show. Elkie was sensously elegant - and was
accompanied by a longhaired gent in a motorcycle jacket, carrying a Strat
shaped guitar painted as a Union Jack. Elkie did "Fool If You Think It's
Over" in a great version - and Geoff's guitar was sensuously elegant...
A touch of Clapton, if you ask me. Ten on a scale of ten. |
His roots?
Quotes from "Guitarist" magazine of August 1994 on his gig with
Bad Company, replacing Mick Ralphs in 1990 for nine months:
"It worked well because Mick and I come from the same school of guitar
- that British 60s blues thing, with the Les Paul fired up..."
and
"I was always a Les Paul player in the 70s, but then who wasn't. That
was the game, the Les Paul and the Marshall and crank it up kind of thing.
I mean that's traditionally where I came from as a kid, that was what I
aspired to..."
From the above interview you can also gather that he played with Maggie
Bell (once with Stone the Crows) around
1975. Apart from that I can only list his recording gigs of the seventies,
all according to my trusty bible, "New Rock Record" of 1981:
Back Street Crawler: "Second Street" ATLANTIC K 50267 (1976)
after untimely death of Paul Kossoff.
Mike Berry: "Rocks In My Head" POLYDOR 2383 392 (1976)
Eric Burdon: "Survivor" POLYDOR 2344 084 (1977)
Roger Chapman - Geoff was his backing group's solo guitarist for ten years. Featured on more or less all of Roger's
post-Family albums, from "Chappo" ARISTA SPART1083
(1979) and onwards.
Crawler: "Crawler" EPIC EPC 82083 (1977)
Peter Doyle: "Skin Deep" RCA PL 25113 (1977) in tough company
with Tony Hymas (keyboards) and Simon Phillips (drums).
Jimmy Hibbert: "Heavy Duty" LOGO 1021 (1980) - a gentleman with
a past in Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias...
If (from 5th Album): "Not Just A Bunch Of Pretty..." GULL GULP
1004 (1974), "Gold Rock" BRAIN 201 103 (1974) and "Waterfall" (197?) as
a successor to Terry Smith.
Manfred Mann: "Chance" BRONZE BRON 529 (1980)
Terry & Gay Woods: "Backwoods" POLYDOR 2383 322 (197?)
and later on Bad Company (stand in for Mick Ralphs in
1990), Procol Harum (1991), Elkie Brooks (charismatic lady,
once of Vinegar Joe with Robert Palmer), Roger Daltrey
(1994) a.o.
In 1998 touring and recording with Paul Rodgers Band.
And in 1999 gigging with Denny Newman's Blues Limited.
Plus two solo albums: "Whitehorn" NOVA (1974) and "Geoff Who?" MUSIC MAKER CD 07 (1994?) - and gigs as writer for "Guitar Techniques" and demonstrator for Marshall amps. A busy gentleman!
The only albums of all these I've really listened to are my
revered Chapman albums plus Eric Burdon's excellent "Survivor". So I haven't heard much of him playing the classic twelvebar blues. Apart from one other album:
The Shortlist: "The Riffburglar Album (Funny Cider Sessions
Vol. 1) LINE RECORDS LLP 5150 AS (German issue) (1982)
As the album cover says: "This Album was recorded to give a small indication
of the music and influences that go to create The Shortlist and is dedicated
to the original artists."
The Shortlist is of course Chapman's backing band. Everybody plays
under fake names: Geoff is called Big George Heartburn.
Covers ranging from Larry Williams' "Slow Down" to The
Cream's "Strange Brew". This is a fun album! Guess they
had lots of cider on tap...
 Paul Bradbeer in the Knights In Blue Denim web forum:
"Geoff covered Koss's place
in Back Street Crawler after Koss died. The band became Crawler and released a
couple of albums but one track always stuck in the head which was "Without
You Babe". Might be worth digging out. Also seen him do a Marshall demo at
a guitar show. Tasteful as ever. Believe he did the blues/rock section of
Guitar Techniques mag in the UK for a few years. Very tasteful, very
accomplished."
|
Links:
"Beyond The Pale" (Procol Harum) Web Site
lots of info on Geoff!!!!!! Special pages on every solo album etc.
Miguel Terol's special page - part of an amazing website!
