James Byrd thoughts and recommendations?

[fuel0707]

I've been hearing a lot about Byrd and I took a chance and ordered some of his stuff, sort of "sight unseen". Anyways, I ordered the debut Fifth Angel disc, plus "Crimes of Virtuosity" and "Anthem". I was curious if anyone else had recommendations on his stuff, like "Son of Man", "Octoglomerate", etc. I already know that the second Fifth Angel disc does not feature James.

Thanks for the help.

[horns666]

Yes, one of the few Uli Roth Diciples..

Well if your still into 80's music get his two..Fifth Angel releases."s/t" and "time will tell"..

then he broke off and just did his own solos stuff ...quite a few ..I got 'em all..

My faves are "Crimes Of virtuocity" and "flying beyon the 9"..

honorable mentions are James Byrd's Alantis rising "s/t", The "apocalypse chime" and "Octolomerate"..

Very good player indeed..definitely from the Uli School, much like Eric Mattson and Alex Masi "in the name of Bach"..and his latter day material is very good.

Uli is still "God" tho!!

[Venomboy]

My friend interviewed him here:

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/interviews/Byrd.shtml

I think my friend might also be his webmaster. He knows all about Byrd.

[fuel0707]

Did James play on Fifth Angel's "Time Will Tell"? Everything I've read says that James didn't play on "Time Will Tell" and even James' own website doesn't list that album in the discography.

Thanks for the info. I'll keep an eye out for those.

[fuel0707]

My friend interviewed him here:

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/interviews/Byrd.shtml

I think my friend might also be his webmaster. He knows all about Byrd.

That's a very interesting interview. His comments about guitar quality and design issues seem very lucid. Thanks for the link.

[ChickenScratch]

I've got a couple of his albums (Crimes Of Virtuosity, Anthem, Flying Beyond The 9) and I really like them all. It's by no means heavy shit, in fact sometimes he kicks you in the head over and over with the religious references but if you can get past the cover of the song from Jesus Christ Superstar it's actualy pretty good stuff. I think the main draw for me with him is not so much is playing which is great, but his tone.

Man, wouldnt it be cool if he was in Dio?

[horns666]

[quote=ChickenScratch]I've got a couple of his albums (Crimes Of Virtuosity, Anthem, Flying Beyond The 9) and I really like them all. It's by no means heavy shit, in fact sometimes he kicks you in the head over and over with the religious references but if you can get past the cover of the song from Jesus Christ Superstar it's actualy pretty good stuff. I think the main draw for me with him is not so much is playing which is great, but his tone.

+1

I like Goldy in Dio tho..he fits him well..saw him with Yngwie..I thought he smoked Yngwie in feel hands down..the crowd thought so too..when he took his solo..I forgot all about YJM...he was AWESOME that night..."magica" tour" I think!

[Robotechnology]

The CD booklet says he was one of 2 guitarists in the band during Time Will Tell but, he has no songwriting credit on any of the songs. It's a killer CD... I'd be real surprised if that's not him soloing away on it.

[ChickenScratch]

"I like Goldy in Dio tho..he fits him well..saw him with Yngwie..I thought he smoked Yngwie in feel hands down..the crowd thought so too..when he took his solo..I forgot all about YJM...he was AWESOME that night..."magica" tour" I think!"

You know Bill, I really don't dig Goldy at all. Out of all of Dio's guitar players he's never clicked with me. Maybe it's because every album he's played on tends to be slow and plodding, or that I really don't dig his tone much. Frankly I think Doug was the best match Dio could ever find but Byrd would do well also.