Robert Quine, 1943-2004

Robert Quine - old-school guitarist extraordinaire is dead of a heroin overdose.

He played with - and as far as I'm concerned, outshone and defined - Richard Hell, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, John Zorn, Marianne Faithful, and an assortment of other pre-punk alternative rock icons.

Lou Reed - who was to Quine as Ian Hunter was to Mick Ronson (i.e. - just another singer without his defining, inspiring foil on the guitar) said:

"Robert Quine was a magnificent guitar player -- an original and innovative tyro of the vintage beast," Reed said in a statement released to Billboard.com. "He was an extraordinary mixture of taste, intelligence and rock'n'roll abilities coupled with major technique and a scholar's memory for every decent guitar lick ever played under the musical son. He made tapes for me for which I am eternally grateful -- tapes of the juiciest parts of solos from players long gone.

"Quine was smarter than them all. And the proof is in the recordings, some of which happily are mine. If you can find more interesting sounds and musical clusters than Quine on 'Waves of Fear' (from Reed's 1982 album "The Blue Mask"), well, it's probably something else by Robert."

Even Reed gets it right once in a while.

Posted by Mitch at June 14, 2004 04:37 AM