Michael Landau

I don't like some of his tunes either, but as a guitarist I love his solos and improvisation. He has a great feel for blues rock, just listen to "elevator" by Burning Water.
Also his session works are amazing as far as coming with parts that'll enhance and lift the song: "Angelia" by Richard Marx, Michael Bolton "How Am I supposed To live without You". Both to me are cheesy pop shit, but Landau's solos on them are amazing lyrical solos that also cut the changes.
 
Sick Squid":21aubhsa said:
AFAIK, the only guitarist to play on a Pink Floyd record who wasn't in the band.
Such a talent that in sessions he would be given the time available for a solo and then told, 'just do what you do'. On a solo, he could write a song within a song, bursting with emotion.
His list of sessions is so long it fills ten sides of A4 in small print.
His solo disc 'Tales From the Bulge' is a seminal work in tone and touch and hailed by many guitarists as their favourite disc of all time.
A major influence on many session players that followed, especially his much copied clean tones: use of the Tri-Stereo chorus in conjunction with pitch shift, reverb and delay a signature sound that graced umpteen records in the 80s & 90s and is the cause of continued interest in the TSC that Fulltone has painstakingly recently recreated in his TERC (That 80s Rack Chorus).
As mentioned, his Burning Water and Raging Honkies projects were stupid good. Vintage gear with a modern attitude.

He changed tack around 15years ago and followed his own wants away from sessions. I'm sure he cares not what we think of that. Been there, done that.
A signature Fender Strat model last year was a deserved reward for his contribution to the guitar world.
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:thumbsup: don't forget the ever sought after Maxon boost, and the Arion Chorus (my personal favorite, got one in my pedalboard, that's one pedal that'll always be there)
 
se7en":1irxx7qk said:
Love Michael's playing. Very talented dude that is one of the most emotive players I've heard...up there with Beck and Hendrix in many ways.
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Yup, great player. He kind of takes all of his influences and makes a 'best of' song.
Landau knows his neck as far as where to go over chord changes. I can listen to him solo for 5 minutes sometimes, but honestly other times, it can get to be too much if it's droning on, not feeling it sometimes, but that's art...maybe somebody else is feeling it. Lately he's been quite moody and laid back. I prefer his older stuff, a little more livelier.
It's like how Steely Dan was kind of an introduction to jazz playing for rock guitar players. Landau is scary good, but if your ear doesn't go there, no biggie. Music is personal.
I actually find Landau's note choices very tame compared to some of the heavy jazzers. Michael's playing is a nice combination of jazz and rock type feels. Actually, I've never heard a guitar player sit in the middle so well of these genres.
 
im really bummed i missed him with guest wayne krantz at the baked potato this past weekend

that would have been the place to see those two go off, and i have been waiting for that exact scenario for a few years now, even moreso than the ringers trio, but i had a huge concert to work friday, was playing/mixing and had too long a weekend to make the drive....

he has influenced so many guitar players and their choices of effects and gear it's insane.
bonnie raitt and james taylor and scott henderson and luke and robben ford have all called him one of their favorite guitar players.

my rig is directly influenced by mike from the arion chorus to the single rack fx unit to the tyler to the peacemaker plexi half stack to the wet/dry rig. hear him play live in person on a good night and it's pretty hard not to be affected by the guy's tone and playing.
 
mentoneman":g36qhdfh said:
im really bummed i missed him with guest wayne krantz at the baked potato this past weekend

that would have been the place to see those two go off, and i have been waiting for that exact scenario for a few years now, even moreso than the ringers trio, but i had a huge concert to work friday, was playing/mixing and had too long a weekend to make the drive....

he has influenced so many guitar players and their choices of effects and gear it's insane.
bonnie raitt and james taylor and scott henderson and luke and robben ford have all called him one of their favorite guitar players.

my rig is directly influenced by mike from the arion chorus to the single rack fx unit to the tyler to the peacemaker plexi half stack to the wet/dry rig. hear him play live in person on a good night and it's pretty hard not to be affected by the guy's tone and playing.
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Krantz is awesome to. You are lucky to live near enough to see them when they come around. :thumbsup:
 
If CAN'T BUY MY WAY HOME and I HERJA doesn't get you, then move along.
He's in the Hendrix-on-steroids camp; not a shredding metal man.
FYI he's one of my all-time favorite guitarists.
 
You've probably heard some of his playing and didn't even know it was him. He played on a ton of albums in the 90's. Not to the extent of Lukathur but he played on a lot of stuff. Very tasty player.
 
for most landau fans tales from the bulge is the record to get and "i'm buzzed" is the song that suggests he was THE king of the golden era of bradshaw rack tones and helped (along with dann huff and luke) make the tri stereo chorus sound on clean tracks so sought after;

so much so that fulltone just released the TERC (that eighties rack chorus) which is an identical clone to the dyno my piano version tristereo chorus unit with some component improvements, and shiva audio just released the wave whcih is an identical clone of the dytronics version of the tri stereo chorus

https://youtu.be/cS0D0j1hOqk


"...on the coversleeve, indeed you see a Marshall head, but it's on top of a huge rack, stuffed with two Soldano poweramps, a Lexicon, an Eventide and something else....(no X88 indeed on that pic, so for a preamp....don't know)

31a4b1d538ed5300c6cfe1d38d19cafb_zpsd0598bee.jpg


The Soldano was used on a few tunes
But it was mostly the Marshalls

**Tales info...*

"I'm Buzzed":
The Intro, crunch & solo was a Jose mod '70 100 watt Marshall through a vintage late '60's Marshall cab with 25 Greenbacks. No juice extractor on this one, I had it up pretty loud...
Floyd Rose Schector Strat with '60's Humbucker (not a PAF) "Judy": Same as above but a different Strat, I think it was a Tyler Humbucker in the bridge...

"Chynna":
I'm old, I cant remember...

"Johnny Swing":
This was definitely the purple Soldano pre amp with the VHT power amp through newer Marshall cabs w/vintage 30's...

"Big Bulge":
Same as "I'm Buzzed"

"Roodis Tones":
Same as "Johnny Swing"

"Eater":
Definitely the Jose Marshall, vintage cab, I used the Juice Extractor on the solo and into a Eventide 910 harmonizer (after the Juice Extractor) Schector Strat again...

"I Don't Care": ??? Probably the Jose Marshall again...

"My Bulbous Meathead"
This was definitely the Jose Marshall through the Vintage 4x12 with the juice extractor, I used a PCM 42 for delay after the Juice Extractor...

I used a "Rat" pedal back then too, sometimes a "Tube Screamer"...
I guess it was mostly that Jose Marshall, cool...

Mike


it should also be noted that the clean sound was a combo of compressor, tri stereo, yamaha spx 90 symphonic pitch shifting/detune and lexicon reverb and delay and rack or board eq.

over the years he has changed devices but that rack tone remained incredible
 
Well, I saw Landau last night with James Taylor. His tone is amazing, it's what I would describe as "new vintage" meaning part of the pedal boutique amp great guitar combination of cool. Not a hint of dated '80's too much chorus and delay/reverb or cheesy "I don't know how to set up an amp with cool drive, so I'll buy some triple rectifier crap and run a humbucker into and turn it all up so you can't hear any of the guitar's tone or note character".
His phrasing is completely musical, tasteful and extremely bad to the bone.

He does "fake steel" as good as anyone I've ever heard.

He's so good I took the time to register for a forum I wasn't a member of to give my two cents worth. His solo material might be out of your (or my) comfort zone, but there is no denying the man is a studio musician/chameleon that can do whatever he's tasked to do. Well.

Just my thoughts.
 
The Fulltone looks to be about 1299.00, wave 1299.00 euros? Wow...

Is the vertex Aerion Chorus a one off or are they available?
 
I must agree with the OP. Guy is a killer player but I guess I just don't dig his music too much. I also do not understand teh tone chasing they do on Huge Racks over this guy. He has great tones but it is nothing exceptional to me.
 
he had more sass back in the 90's
guess everyone and everything ages to some degree....

Oh yeah, Jeff Beck was ridiculous last night, I guess he doesn't get old, he gets better...how the hell..I don't get it 8*)
 
i'm a huge fan landau's. so much so that i got one of the jason smith masterbuilt landau hh strat's- only 16 made.
he's a large part of the reason i want to get into rack stuff, so i've been chasing after some of the pieces he's been known to use, mainly the 618 (not cs5) tsc. can any of you guys perhaps comment on the tonal differences between the two? there's not much info out there re: why landau preferred the 618. my rack won't be a direct copy like some guys do-- people really seem to get fanatical about replicating mike's tone/rig--; it'll sort of be more of a "greatest hits" rack featuring some units used by other favourites of mine as well.
 
IntenseJim":2x2884db said:
If CAN'T BUY MY WAY HOME and I HERJA doesn't get you, then move along.
He's in the Hendrix-on-steroids camp; not a shredding metal man.
FYI he's one of my all-time favorite guitarists.
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ML is incredibly laid back and soft spoken. He was picking up some speakers here
last year about this time, and having me look at some Fanes he bought that turned
out to be recones. We hung out for about an hour or so, shooting the breeze, then
he loaded up his old four door car and went to his next place to get gear & service.

Obviously a huge talent, I saw him a few times at the Boogaloo Cafe in Hermosa Beach.
 
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