Pop, Power pop with cool solos

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

I like the lead break on Dancing on the ceiling, and practically all the playing on anything by Huey Lewis and the news.. Forexample...

I like the blue superstrat on this one!

Huey Lewis' guitarist is an absolute monster. And of course Dancing on the Ceiling was Steve Lukather. He played on at least a couple Lionel Ritchie albums and pretty much everything else in the 80's that required a cool guitar solo as well.

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Austin

Didn't Dan Huff do a large number of the cool 80s solos/licks, too?

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

But absolute agreement that Huey Lewis' guitarist is/was a monster.

Even as a non-guitarist high-schooler, I noticed that he had at least one cool lick/guitar trick on every single song of the Sports album.

Neal Schon has some great solos and guitar work. My favorites are in Stone In Love and Dead or Alive.

Both JY and Tommy Shaw had some good solo work on Styx albums. JY's guitar work was better on the albums up to and including Equinox, but he stopped doing lead work as much after Tommy Shaw joined. Tommy was much more melodic, and his solos had more taste and structure.

I thought Bryan Adams' guitarist had some good solos and decent rhythm work, too. Always liked his stuff, especially on Reckless.

[atquinn]

I was really disappointed when I found out Roland didn't do the outro in that song. Not that the in-song solo is bad, but the outro is masterful.

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Austin

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

All right, here's one I bet no one would ever think of:

There's actually some damn fine guitar work (and song-writing) from the one-hit wonder After The Fire, known only for the English version of Der Kommissar.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Good solo work on Rick Springfield's Working Class Dog. I think that was mostly Robben Ford, but also Neil Giraldo (of Pat Benatar fame). Not sure what the mix was.

[burningyen]

I was really disappointed when I found out Roland didn't do the outro in that song. Not that the in-song solo is bad, but the outro is masterful.

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Austin

Interesting, I always assumed it was Roland, but a quick google search reveals it was Neil Taylor:

[cmatthes]

Giraldo did the "Jesse's Girl" solo.

You can tell just by listening to it - masterful stuff in a fluffy pop song.

[Ting Ho Dung]

Once again, I got nothin'.

[veatch]

One from the Chicago area.

http://youtu.be/_T3H72_HSi4

[rj2858]

Veatch nails it, (inadvertently?), by mentioning Off Broadways' 'Full Moon Turn My Head Around'

Talk about the 'song within a song', John Ivan comes at you early and often, right up until the end.

Best of all? I think it was played on a Hamer Sunburst.

[Rodan]

Does 38 Special qualify? I always heard Jeff Carlisi as a kind of lesser Buck Dharma, who dignified the pop-country proceedings with playing that was clever, at least. Sometimes, they had songs that were cool, but to their credit, they gave him plenty of room.

Come to think of it, the guys in Atlanta Rhythm Section - JR Cobb & Barry Bailey - played some tasty bits, too.

[Hamerhack]

How 'bout Sir Paul in "Maybe I'm Amazed". I think he played all the instruments on the studio version.

[LefThanDed]

Connells: Stone Cold Yesterday

Flock of Seagulls: Space Age Love Song

Guided By Voices: Everyone Thinks I’m a Raincloud

M83: Kim and Jessie

Real Life: Catch Me I’m Falling

Replacements: Alex Chilton

Ten Ten: One Life

The Cure: Push

and… dishonorable mentions with tasteful guitar solos:

Bryan Adams: Everything I Do

Supertramp: Lover Boy (flame away!)

[cmatthes]

Ah...Connells.

I also played "Push" for my son last week while visiting him at school. Great song.

Going back to that general era, I'll add Let's Active in there too.

[Hamersaur]

Not sure if any of these would be considered pop but Billy Duffy of The Cult has some great licks in many of their songs. Also April Wine, Better Than Ezra, and Kim Mitchell. I have one CD I am not sure what genre to classify as but it has some really cool guitar work. The album (CD) is Rocket by the Primitive Radio Gods.

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

Good instrumental by After The Fire:

http://youtu.be/0QREd5C2dXM

[cmatthes]

I would NEVER consider the Cult "Pop", nor "Power Pop" - they are 100% RAWK!

The solo and outro in the Tubes' "She's A Beauty" and "Talk To Ya Later" should qualify. It was certainly cool to hear that kind of stuff in a pop song as a kid.

[sonic1974]

Connells: Stone Cold Yesterday

Flock of Seagulls: Space Age Love Song

Guided By Voices: Everyone Thinks I’m a Raincloud

M83: Kim and Jessie

Real Life: Catch Me I’m Falling

Replacements: Alex Chilton

Ten Ten: One Life

The Cure: Push

and… dishonorable mentions with tasteful guitar solos:

Bryan Adams: Everything I Do

Supertramp: Lover Boy (flame away!)

Love Guided by Voices!! And Alex Chilton is an amazing song, one of the first that made me pick up some Replacements.

[sonic1974]

I would NEVER consider the Cult "Pop", nor "Power Pop" - they are 100% RAWK!

The solo and outro in the Tubes' "She's A Beauty" and "Talk To Ya Later" should qualify. It was certainly cool to hear that kind of stuff in a pop song as a kid.

I wouldn't consider the Cult pop either, but I really like them a lot! I saw them in concert, great show!!! I really loved Sonic Temple when I was in high school.

[Hamersaur]

I do have a hard time trying to categorize music. Do not want to derail the OP but I agree The Cult rocks.

[mathman]

Don't know if this fits in multiple ways but love this solo from this one of their Power pop songs. Video cuts the solo off though. :-(

[burningyen]

http://vimeo.com/38296751

[Jakeboy]

Robbed Ford on the Springfield stuff? I hear Spyder all over the Working Class Dog album but whoever played lead on that and all the others was indeed great. crunchy, tasty solos and fills.

[jwhitcomb3]

I also played "Push" for my son last week while visiting him at school. Great song.

Going back to that general era, I'll add Let's Active in there too.

Great Let's Active video! Mitch Easter's playing always fits the song, and he is great at capturing guitar tone on tape. I still crack up remembering him walking up to the mic stand at the start of a set in 1986, and it was set up about a foot over his head. He pulled it down and quipped, "who do they think I am, Robert Plant?" I still like playing "Last Chance Town" from "Big Plans for Everybody."

Love the Cure's "Push" too. Great use of open strings.

[dragan]

elliot easton "shake it up " solo is a very nice piece of work , hes in gtr player w/ a blue 335 this month must have a new release coming out