When it comes to classic guitar riffs, among my faves, ‘Stay’ from the 1976 David Bowie album Station to Station.   Credit all over the record for the guitar of both Carlos Alomar and the great Earl Slick.

Bowie recalls “I got some quite extraordinary things out of Earl Slick.  I think it captured his imagination to make noises on guitar, rasher than playing the right notes”.   Alomar recalled, “It was one of the most glorious albums that I’ve ever done … we experimented so much on it.”

Not unlike Bowie, Slick would have vague memories of the recording, largely due to the fact it was done in Los Angeles in the mid-seventies, a time when cocaine was all the rage amidst a lot of very late nights.

Earl Slick was just twenty-two when he got the gig, replacing Mick Ronson in David’s band.  He startd by joinig Bowie on the Diamond Dogs tour, before going on to play on Young Americans and Station to Station.  

Later, Slick did one better, by teaming up with John Lennon for the recording of his comeback album Double Fantasy.

Check out  the interview with Earl Slick, by clicking through to Gibson.com