RIP the great guitarist Dick Wagner

Something about the sound and style with those early live albums with Cooper. The lineups that followed never had that same organic touch since the Wagner days. Though they been performed well, that feel is just missing when Alice does those older numbers live.

 

R.I.P. Dick... :-(

I mostly know him from the Alice Cooper connection, and also, being a fan of the Detriot rock scene, I am aware of The Frost. He was Cooper's main collaborator through that whole stretch of late 70's album, from Goes To Hell trough Da Da, and I assume he wrote much of the music. They are neither the most commercialy successfull perhaps, nor most recognized, but I think they are very underrated. Then there is the guitar playing of course, particularly in tandem with Steve Hunter, but also all the session work.

Playing "Mystery Man" by The Frost right now in tribute.

 

Great guitarist. RIP.

Is there an easy way to tell who is who on Intro/Sweet Jane?

 

REST IN PEACE GUITARMAN....

 

Too bad. I heard he had health problems.

 

So eerie, I got my turntable today and decided to listen to Welcome to my Nightmare. Then I just found right now that Dick Wagner died. What a strange coincidence.

 

What a loss! I loved his work on KISS' Destroyer.

 

From this thread at the Gear Page: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=562351

The guitars:

The gear list for 'Rock'n'Roll Animal' and 'Lou Reed Live' (the other half of the same concert) is as follows:
Dick Wagner: Gibson Melody Maker (sunburst, doublecut), MXR phase 90, Marshall 100 watt stack, an acoustic guitar with a magnetic pickup (heard on 'Lou Reed Live' on 'Walk on the wild side'.)
Steve Hunter: Gibson Les Paul Junior (TV, doublecut), Fender Strat (sunburst), MXR phase 90, volume pedal, Hiwatt 100watt stack
I exchanged emails with Steve a couple of years back, discussing the above and also his work on Jack Bruce's sublime 'Out of the storm'. Dick was apparently never happy with his MM, and spent the money earned with Reed on a BC Rich, which became his main guitar for the next 20 years. I have to say, the Melody Maker with its little SC pickup sounds fine to me on the Lou Reed stuff....

And Sweet Jane (I believe this is absolutely correct, despite the "I may be wrong..." qualifier):

I may be wrong but I've always pictured Hunter doing the main long intro lead on Sweet Jane, with Wagner outlining the chords and counter punching here and there. Then when you get to end of the intro and the verse chords begin, right there I'm thinking that's Wagner, the lead sound is different and panned the other way, soloing over the verse changes right before the vocal. That particular wonderful couple of bars is rock lead, state of the art.

I think Wagner is the dirtier (in a very good way) presence throughout.

Hunter and Wagner also played the guitar parts on Aerosmith's "Train Kept A-Rollin' as described here in the Wikipedia entry for the song (Hunter solos first, Dick is second):

The song was an early feature of Aerosmith's concerts and a frequent show closer, including for their first gig in 1970.[34] They wanted to record a live version of the song, but producer Jack Douglas persuaded them to record a studio version, which actually consisted of two different versions of the song. The first part was slower, "more groove-oriented", while the second was a spirited rocker.[41] To give the second part more of a live sound, Douglas overdubbed crowd noise from The Concert for Bangladesh, the 1971 benefit organized by George Harrison. Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner, who worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, were brought in to record the guitar parts. According to Hunter, "We [Wagner and I] wanted to keep the solos equal so we'd sit down ... and go through the material so it was totally even ... We didn't want it to look like there was a rhythm guitar player and a lead guitar player, because that's what we both did".

 

I recently spent a month at a care facility in Scottsdale, recuperating from major surgery.

The medical center where Dick Wagner died is literally across the street from where I was.

There's no reason for this to freak me out as much as it does.

Godspeed Dick Wagner. You were one of the all-time greats, and you were loved.

 

He is an unsung hero of rock guitar. RIP

 

His playing with Alice was such a part of my childhood... Welcome To My Nightmare, Goes to Hell, Lace and Whiskey, From The Inside... RIP.

 

I knew of him through his work on KISS DESTROYER. I'll have to check out some of the stuff you guy's posted. He must of been an incredibly talented guitarist to be able to play with just about any band around.

 

I loved when Alice went back to their songwriting partnership and did the track 'Might As Well Be On Mars' on 1991's Hey Stupid... love that song!
He was also a big part of the underrated 'DaDa' lp.
'Pass The Gun Around' is one of my favorite Alice songs of all time... haunting, real and honest knowing what Alice was going through at the time.

 

Sorry to hear this. That work on Sweet Jane with Hunter was incredible, some of the best live guitar playing anywhere anytime.

 

Sad news, I was listening to Welcome To My Nightmare the other week. Such a great album.

 

RIP.

Dick Wagner (along with Steve Hunter) is the only reason Rock N Roll Animal is one of my all time favorite albums. Other than a song or two, I am not really a Lou Reed fan, but those 2 live LP's. Oh my GOD!!! If there is a guitar heaven, the intro to Sweet Jane is the theme song.

Rick G

 

I remember Lester Bangs reviewing Rock And Roll Animal and he made this comment about Hunter/Wagner, something to the effect of, "Do these guys know every riff ever invented on the Les Paul?"

 

Very sad to hear this....love Frost

 

RIP Dick. Such a great guitarist. Last year I made a needledrop of his solo LP.

 

R.I.P.

 

What a great guitarist. A pure sound that is copied often to this day. RIP

 

rest in peace

 

RIP

 

Awesome live guitar player. Seen him on the blond skull tour ( my description) The V.U. singer had stealth musicians on that tour S Hunter included. Their machine gun ricochet lead dualplay was astonishing.
Respect and R.I P.

 

I heard that its Hunter/Wagner on some of Alice Coopers Billion Dollar Babies, most notably No More Mister Nice Guy.