POP MUSIC REVIEW : Guitar-Hero Pantheon Fails to Pan Out

Presumably to capture an audience that is aging along with him, I.R.S. Records Svengali Miles Copeland has spent the last couple of years signing up seemingly every out-of-work demigod from the guitar-hero pantheon of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The package tour of his recruits--Steve Hunter, Robbie Krieger and Wishbone Ash--proved to be all tuned up with nowhere to go at Bogart’s in Long Beach on Sunday. The same bill plays tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

While a Jeff Beck may have the style and personality to let his strings do the singing, Hunter (who has nimbly backed everyone from Lou Reed to Alice Cooper to Peter Gabriel) and former Doors member Krieger chiefly recalled the extended vamps and intros that precede the real star’s entrance. Aided by Krieger, Hunter’s distinctive, staggered-riff version of “Day Tripper” was the only standout to his set.

Meanwhile, Krieger alternated between faceless fusion romps (briefly elevated by a humorous quote from “My Sharona” after ex-Knack member Bruce Gary’s drum solo) and meandering versions of “The End” and other Doors tunes, displaying only hints of the intuition and originality that marked his playing on the originals.

The British band Wishbone Ash, though rightly all but forgotten in rock history, was considerably more focused and enlivened as it ranged from such macrame-era anthems as “The King Will Come” to the current “Why Don’t We?” which benefited from its unabashed pop melodiousness.

Guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner still turn in sharply honed solos and Allmans-like harmony lines, but their efforts seemed clinical, culminating in little emotional effect.

Wishbone Ash, Robbie Krieger and Steve Hunter play Sunday at 9 p.m. at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano. Tickets: $13.50. Information: (714) 496-8930.