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Originally Posted by aleuzzi
Bob Weston was a very fine guitar player (musically AND in terms of appearance!). I think the band could have really gone places with him.
Moreover, Bob Welch is criminally underrated as a guitarist. While the HEROES studio album lacks the finesse and vitality of MTM, the live soundboards show Welch to be more than capable of handling the lead and solo duties with a flair that doesn't ever really emerge on the studio albums. His work on the Sausalito soundboard versions of "Believe Me" and "Why" are fantastic--and very different than Weston's.
Lately, as I've been re-listening to MTM, I realize how far ahead of his time Welch really was. With and without Weston he made music that prefigures mid-seventies studio chic. "Miles Away" anticipates the first two albums of Steely Dan; the engaging talk-sing of "Hypnotized" combines jazz chording and timing with what would eventually be hip-hop. I challenge any hip hop artist to do a version of "Hypnotized." "Ebony Eyes" sounds like the kind of guitar-driven pop that became a staple of Rick Springfield's five years later....
It's sad: once his solo career went down the tubes (EYE CONTACT was awful) he never fully recovered and couldn't seem to find a footing. He came out with Avenue M and then did a late boutique album about Bop but by then he was chasing trends, not carving new niches.
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I agree with all that about Welch. But I will take it one step further. Some of the albums had a mystical vibe that Welch was even better at live. You may laugh at this but the live version of Bermuda Triangle used to spook me. I get it when Stevie said before joining the Mac she went out and listened to all the albums and liked the mystical feel. IMHO it was mostly from Welch.