P A O L O G I L B E R T O...!! First time I heard that debut Racer X in the record store all I can remember is my head exploding. Yngwie was already on the scene since '83 and had already made a name for himself but this was the period I discovered first Vinnie Moore, then Tony Macalpine (both '85) and Paul Gilbert (early '86). A year later Joey Tafolla would join and finally two years later Greg Howe completed the list of Shrapnel Shred Supermen...Amazing times !!
The 'Second heat' album was a logical progression from the first. You could hear Paul had been brought up on Van Halen and how he mixed it with the Yngwie stuff. Paul always joked how he had two speed licks which he used on all the songs of the debut Racer X album but by the time of that sophomore album he clearly had evolved into a more mature player both melodically and technically (including some innovative licks like the string skipping arpeggios used in this solo).
What a great band and they sure gave this Bowie song the Racer X treatment !
I'd have given just about anything to be able to see Racer X on the L.A. club circuit around that time...man, what a treat that must have been !! I've seen live footage on Youtube and these guys totally eviscerated every guitarist in attendance :-))
I lost interest in Gilbert after Racer X disbanded because he lost his edge. Still a great player of course and also a guy who can really craft a tune and has written some classic rock guitar riffs.
Also, let's not forget Bruce Bouillet who Gilbert met while teaching at GIT (if memory serves me correctly). So how did this go down then ? Paul showed him some frenzied Racer X licks and he could er, just play them...what the fuck, dude !?
Paul Gilbert - best albums (in order of preference) :
1. Racer X - Second heat
2. Racer X - Street lethal
3. Racer X - Extreme volume live
4. Racer X - Extreme volume live vol.2
