Ok, since no one mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughn, then I need to add him next to John Mclaughlin and a few others--I actually liked Birds Of Fire better than Inner Mounting Flame, with speedy Narada Walden on drums replacing the thunderous Cobham.
Ray Vaughn's solo work was other worldly at times, and there were a couple moments on his Austin City tapes that were absolutely on fire-- he even did incredible justice to a Hendrix staple.
I'll never forget the video tribute paid him on PBS where the likes of Clapton said he wished he had half the talent of SRV, and Buddy Guy said his solos were almost beyond possible in terms of intesity and virtuosity. His peers all thought his solos were the best they'd seen.
Not to say Vaughn deserves his own category in terms of 'eruptive solos' but he damn sure belongs on the list with all the others mentioned. Another not mentioned is legend BB King. In his day he could deliver chills with the best of them. I'd put SRV in the Hendix, B.B King, Mclaughlin and George Benson (pre-pop) category as the best "eruption" guitarists I've seen/heard.
Eddie V.? Great guitarist that never had the range or balls to step out of formula to show how good he might have been. He got trapped in cliche' laden pop-rock. Sure you saw glimpses of the incredible raw talent and "explosion" but none of it sustained like J Mac, Stevie, Hendrix or BB. Fripp too.
Phenomonal Jazz guitarist George Benson sold his talent out to sugar coated million dollar pop in the same way, but at least he made his mark as an explosive solo guitarist in Jazz before cashing in--and played with legendary side-men on the Rudy Van Gelder label to boot. Eddie never got the chance, or didn't take the opportunity when it came--he was having too much fun counting $. Too bad. With Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth as frontmen, VH music was totally unlistenable IMO.
