#We are at the crossroads song plus#

He wrote that whole piece (called 'Eugene's Trick Bag') which Steve Vai is credited with writing and owns the copyright to. I turned it down though, the money was lousy, and Frank Whaley didn't want to bother with learning the guitar for his part of playing Robbie Krieger!'ДЇurther info comes from Bryan Smith: I listened to a radio interview with Steve Vai, when he was asked who it was that played the classical parts for Ralph Macchio, he said it was him. The rest is all me, and the classical is played by Kanengiser (who has also made 2 instructional videos for my company, Hot Licks Video!)ДЄfter coaching Ralph and directing the guitar scenes for Crossroads, I was approached by Oliver Stone to do the same for 'The Doors' movie. Cooder only plays two parts for Ralph in the movie. The end sequence actually features the playing of Vai (sped up sometimes) Bill Kanengiser (classical) Ry Cooder and me. The blues band and bar scene were actual re-creations of what I did in real life while we were on location in Mississippi! Ralph saw me do that, and said he wanted to do that in the film! He also chose 'Landslide', an original piece from my first Rounder album as the piece he plays when standing at the 'Crossroads!' That's why Walter let me sit in the Director's chair when the guitar scenes were shot! We were all dead-set against this musical destruction of the film, but Walter Hill and Tim Zinneman had no idea what they were doing about music. They actively pursued him, it wasn't some receptionist's 'find'. When he found out he'd been dropped by Walter Hill, he really got pissed off! So, in walked Vai, and then we re-recorded the ending.

It was a slide guitar duel between myself and Ry Cooder (made much more sense than this heavy metal nonsense!), it was real blues! Cooder was also supposed to play the evil part on screen. I directed the guitar scenes, and the original 'duel' at the end was musically different. Almost all of his parts were played by me, and improvised on the spot, because I knew the 'vocabulary' I had given him on the guitar, and what he could 'fake' accurately. First of all, I wrote and played all of Macchio's parts right from the beginning, including teaching him 4 days a week, for 2 months even before we started filming. ' I worked on the music for Crossroads from day one. Update- Arlen answers the critics! Read on below for yet more depth to the legend. We were thrilled and thought we'd finally got the real deal when Arlen himself originally wrote us here at the Rewind with the following inside track on the story, but as you'll see, not everyone was impressed - or convinced. Legendary guitarist Arlen Roth (no relation to David) was hired to coach Ralph on convincing guitar fakery. Since the movie's release there has been much speculation and mis-information on the final guitar duel. OK, without delay, lets get straight into the legend. The classical music that he plays to win the head cutting contest (in which the devil's choice fumbles the notes) is actually Paganini's 5th Caprice. This is also not on the soundtrack CD but is available on his ' Rondo alla Turka' CD. The classical piece used at the beginning of 'Crossroads' is 'Turkish March' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arranged for guitar and Performed by William Kanengiser. He says that he couldn't release the duel beacuse the Film company had the rights, but now he finally could.

#We are at the crossroads song plus#

Steve Vai has added in his new solo album ( Elusive Light and Sound 1) the entire guitar duel, plus some extra music that was never released. Beware though, the dazzling Vai guitar solo pieces, including the crowning finale piece 'Eugene's Trick Bag' are not included on the soundtrack release. Neoclassical ahoy! Terrific slide guitar and blues score from Ry Cooder whilst Steve Vai provides all the technical wizardry. Mozart, William Kanengiser Add Missing Score Track