Two words for you: Dream Theater. John Pettrucci kills 99% of the guitarists mentioned on this thread. They are as progressive as Yes and as heavy as Savatage. "Images and Words", "Falling Into Infinity", and "Octavarium" are probably the best. Love the side project, The Liquid Tension Experiment too. No singer, and Tony Levin comes in to play fretless bass, but it's basically a D.T. project.
Good to see props to Gary Moore. I've had to do "Still Got The Blues" live, and I think it may be the most impressive blues solo ever. I still do "Since I've Been Loving You" by Page without much trouble, but I have a hard time with the Gary Moore. That tells me a lot about him.
As for Yngwie, I was awed by his mastery of the instrument 25 years ago, but songwriting has always been his downfall. Pretty dumb stuff for the most part. Seen him four times though, most recently on the G3 '03 tour with Satriani and Vai. That was a great showcase for him: mostly instrumental, and an opportunity to prove that he can still out-blaze two of the best. DVD of the tour is out and it is great.
All the animosity directed at Ritchie Blackmore puzzles me. I saw him on the '79 tour too, and he was brilliant. Never liked Joe Lynn Turner singing, but RB was amazing, as he was when I caught him on the '81, '85, and '93 tours.
Dream Theater rocks. I'm quite familiar with them.
In other news, this article from The Onion was funny:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41915
No argument from me. Petrucci is unbelievable. "Pull Me Under" is what first grabbed my attention. Jaw-dropping musicianship.
Yes, "Still Got the Blues" is such a fabulous song (not to mention a fabulous album). In fact, it is one of the very few songs that literally stopped me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it (on a car radio; I actually pulled over to listen). I had read about this guy Gary Moore, had never heard him, and to this day I have NO idea how I knew that was him. They didn't even say until after the song was over........really weird, but absolutely true.
I play that song pretty well, if I do say so......:)......but it took a few dozen times to get it down. That is THE song I point people to when I turn them on to Gary's work; from there, they're hooked. His prior work? He even sort of puts a lot of it down now, but truth is, NO one could do a power ballad like Gary Moore (I offer up "The Loner" as proof).
Have never seen Yngwie perform in person, and despite my jabs at him, I truly admire his mastery of the instrument.
For a real hoot..........have you heard The Great Cat?? She's a loon; classically trained, virtuoso violinist who took up shred guitar. Built like a Playboy bunny, dresses in uber-dominatrix garb, spits blood, swears like a sailor........and can out-shred any two men. Just unbelievable. She spends months transcribing classical pieces (not interpretations; literal transcriptions) to guitar, learns them, and plays them with a heavy metal band and orchestra.
Really something to hear. Not as "pretty" as Trans Siberian Orchestra, to be sure........but amazing talent.