Richie was a guitar god, he had that unique feel and touch that made almost every note count...maybe nowdays he is just a shadow of his former self but back in the day he was the real deal. there were faster more technical players and all but he had a whole package, tone,feel, good songs, stage charisma that made him the king of swing.
phil is a good session player, i dont wanna come back to the subject richie vs phil x cause thats not the subject here after all but to say that phil x plays the songs different is false imo, he just cant play them as good as richie does and is partially logical because richie wrote, recorded and performed these songs countless times, its his style and his songs, bobby as a lead player is just poor and phil x imo is a glorified average session guitarist, with good technique but nth extraordinary or special, if he was that good i dlike to listen to a couple of his songs...not what do you got please...
anyway, once again, this whole situation is sad, a band, even if the frontman is jbj, has certain members who are responsible for the sound, richie, tico and david make this sound along with jon and hugh of course.
ps. richie may lost most of his magic but i still hope he ll be back and write a couple more killer songs before the band is done. actually bj always thrived when they were the underdog, when noone was expecting them to deliver...wishful thinking probably