THE BURNS SOUND

[HAIRY]

The list of Burns players shown on http://www.burnsguitars.com/players.php is a reminder of the contribution that Burns guitars have made to popular music, both before and after the American guitar invasion in the early 1960s. With this in mind, has anyone ever taken the trouble to compiled a definative list of recordings that feature the Burns brand and the model of guitar that was used in the recording, either on this site or elsewhere?

[cockroach]

Blimey! That would take a LOT of time and research!

On older recordings, I would guess that outside of the Shadows, who used them for quite a few years on records and stage, there might be more recordings featuring the 12 string than the six string models...Searchers, Troggs, some Mark Knopfler etc

In Australia, the Bison is heard on Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs early records (Vince Malouney- later lead guitar with the Bee Gees) and in the USA Chris Stein of Blondie often used a Burns Scorpion, and Jeff Baxter used a Burns for the wild solo on Donna Summer's 'Hot Stuff'...

[RayL]

Almost certainly the earliest recording that a) featured a Burns and b) grazed the UK charts (No.50, 1 week) was The Moontrekkers' instro Night Of The Vampire (1961) in which the composer, Gary Leport, played a Burns Vibra Artist. The record would have gone higher but for a ban by the BBC (too scary) which robbed it of airplay.

You can see Gary playing Vampire on a (different) Vibra Artist in a YouTube video whcih I recorded a few years ago. Do a search using my name and look down the list for The Moontrekkers Last Gig.

Ray

[HAIRY]

George Geddes's interesting booklet The Shadows The Burns Connection lists Flingel Bunt, Genie With The Light Brown Lamp, Don't Make My Baby Blue, War Lord & Maroc 7 as tracks that were recorded on a Burns Marvin (while suggesting other possibilities such as Dance On, Atlantis, Geronimo, and Theme For Young Lovers). And The Honeycombs can be seen on Youtube playing their Joe Meek hit Have I The Right on assorted Burns Bison guitars and bass that include models from 1963 & 1964 (though it is not clear which guitars were used for the recording). It is interesting to see and hear The Moontrekkers and The Aztecs. However, there must be more identifiable tracks from other artists that feature Burns.........? Any further suggestions?

[BrianD]

Of course one problem with trying to identify what records were recorded with Burns guitars is that so many sessions were actaully recorded by session players including Big Jim, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones etc. We know the Shads recorded all their own material but many other well known groups material was actually recorded by session players - so what were they playing? J P Jones is pictured in Mo Fosters book playing a Burns bass in session - a 6 string bass if I recall.

Brian

[cockroach]

Didn't Wout Steenhuis(spelling may not be right there..) make a number of guitar instrumental recordings with a Bison?

From what I've read and seen in photos, I don't think there were a lot of session players using Burns back in the '60's..

Another couple of Burns players I've just remembered include Eric Haydock and the bass player with Them, who both used Burns Double Six 12 string jobs (with six guitar strings and a six string bass set as doubles) as bass guitars.

The Troggs original version of Love is All Around had both a Burns bass and Burns electric 12 string on it, I think...

Elvis mimed with a 12 string in one of his movies, but that hardly counts, eh?!

[cockroach]

And I've just remembered that Unit 4+2 used Virginians or GB 65 or somesuch types, and a Bison bass..

And also, lots of amateur and semi-pro UK groups who might have made recordings, and who couldn't afford Fenders but used red Burns instead! Which were probably better than red Hofners etc

...and last of all, I recorded a few things with my first group(including some tunes I wrote) with my red Burns Vibra Artiste back in the '60's!

[HAIRY]

The mention of session players is a valid point, and one of the drivers behind the initial posting. However, there are many able guitarists on Barry's list see /www.burnsguitars.com/players.php that did not rely on session men. And you will note, Per Gjorde's book claims the great Charlie Byrd played a Burns!

It would be interesting to know if Cockroach can identify the Searchers, Troggs, and Mark Knopfler tracks?

There would be no challenge if the topic was about listing tracks and artists that feature guitar brands such as Gibson, Fender, Martin, Hofner and Rickenbacker or amps such as Selmer, Marshall and Vox etc.

Why is the Burns brand such an enigma?

[cockroach]

I've only seen a picture of Mark Knopfler playing a Burns 12 string on stage.

The Searchers used the Burns 12 string and Bison bass in the mid '60's on things like When You Walk in the Room- at least they did when I saw them play here in Adelaide, South Australia in 1964...

The Troggs Love is All Around had a Burns 12 string and probably a Burns bass featured.

[HAIRY]

The Searchers' site www.the-searchers.co.uk/guitars.htm shows them with a Burns Split Sound, Marvin and Bison Bass but no indication is given of their use on recordings, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rOa6kZH ... re=related shows the Burns Double Six. Another web reference claims Sounds Like The Searchers featured Burns guitars.