MT reader 'Synthetic' was at the NAB show in Las Vegas a couple of weeks back and saw this incredible signed Fairlight CMI keyboard, which will be auctioned for the human rights charity Witness later in the year. The names read like the guest list for the Music Thing summer barbecue: Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Jean Michel Jarre, Jan Hammer, Daryl Hall and, bizarrely but wonderfully, Billy Gibbons. Visually, it's strangely reminiscent of this...UPDATE: More on this at the wonderful DVDBorn Blog here.
It's not really strange that Billy Gibbons signed this Fairlight. If you take a closer listen to some of ZZ Top's classic early 1980s tunes, you'll realize that they were very artfully produced fairlight and synth sequences with grinding guitars.
ReplyDeleteBilly hired Carl Marsh to drive the electronic setup, which featured burbling basslines and an E-mu drumulator (I think later work featured Series III drums) providing the rhythm tracks behind the Eliminator album.
Complete list:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jefflaity.com/misc_pix/fairlight/Fl7.JPG
believe it or not, B. Gibbons was also one of the very first owners of a SidStation
ReplyDeletethe guy is a synth nut, like weez be
hahahahaha, the first that hit the old brain when I saw that pic was the Ministry Fairlight...too damn funny...
ReplyDeleteAnd you can see a video of Peter Vogel (founder of Fairlight) sign this very keyboard on my blog: http://dvdborn.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThere's also lots of other Fairlight stuff on my blog.
It isn't worth jack unless they get Tex Haper to sign it.
ReplyDeleteHmm. For some reason, they forgot to ask *me* to sign it.
ReplyDelete