Albums that make you rethink bass

[Marial]

Originally Posted by foq1978

All Morphine albums.Like Swimming, in particular.

Definitely. Many of the albums listed in the thread were influential to me in one way or another, but none made me think about the bass differently. The first Morphine record I heard, Cure for Pain, flipped my wig completely. Two string slide bass? That was something completely new that I'd never heard before, not to mention the make up of the band in general.

[Plantbrain]

Stu Hamm's, Stanley Clarke's, anything by Manring. Flea also, as well as Les Claypool. These guys can all sit back and groove if they want.

[I am Soma]

Originally Posted by jdfarrell81

SunnO))) definitely made me rethink the creation, use, and manipulation of bass frequencies, but not bass as an instrument.

Totally agree with SunnO)))!

Russian Circles - Geneva
Isis - Wavering Radiant
Zozobra - Bird of Prey
Cult of Luna - The Beyond

[Exxcell]

Originally Posted by Figjam

Tool - Lateralus, etc

Aye.

[spacebassed]

Burnin'/Catch a Fire - The Wailers

American Beauty - The Grateful Dead

[CauliColin]

You Could Have It So Much Better and Tonight by Franz Ferdinand
Also, Primus stuff. Lateralus too. Muse's discography too.

[biobass]

I have to concur with a lot of the posts: Abbey Road, Romantic Warrior, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Jaco, Heavy Weather, Naturally, Headhunters, etc. I think, though, the album that really first changed my thinking about bass was Zappa's Hot Rats. Max Bennett's playing on Little Umbrellas opened my ears to what could be done melodically while playing just chord tones. Not an album, but before that it was both sides of the 45, Paperback Writer and Rain!

[chiron_griffin]

Hugh Hopper of Soft Machine opened the world of bass up for me and helped me decide it was the instrument I wanted to play. So definitely Soft Machine volumes 1-3. National Health reaffirmed the decision and both of their albums are killer.

[thedudebrah]

Any album by The Ergs. Joe Keller on bass always has busy bass lines and I think he's miles better than any other bass player in the punk/pop punk genre. I'm striving to be this quick and clean. Here's a video example.

http://youtu.be/DkJNQTcHDDM

[JoeWPgh]

Too many to single out. If you aren't willing to constantly 'rethink', something's off.

[chiron_griffin]

Originally Posted by thedudebrah

Any album by The Ergs. Joe Keller on bass always has busy bass lines and I think he's miles better than any other bass player in the punk/pop punk genre. I'm striving to be this quick and clean. Here's a video example.

http://youtu.be/DkJNQTcHDDM

dude, I haven't heard The Ergs since I saw them a number of years back, thanks for the memories.

[P. Aaron]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

For me it was Foxtrot, but I bought the album after seeing Genesis on their first US tour as an opening act for It's A Beautiful Day in April 1972. Hearing Watcher Of The Skies (and seeing Peter's silhouetted bat-winged and caped figure bathed in black light) for the first time was a religious experience! Mike Rutherford's RM1999 and playing was a turning point in my musical life.

Watcher of the Skies...absolute genius!

[Trayster2]

The 1982 Who tour. Watching John Entwistle play was just awesome.

[daddy like]

Rush - Test for Echo, Hemispheres and Yes- Close to the edge (studio version)

[AllFourths]

Well technically all the bass parts on it are from other pieces (mostly 70's funk and jazz), but all the bass samples on MF Doom's "Mmm... Food" album are unbelievable. Usually I think his recontextualizations suit the parts even better, much like Tribe's sampling of Red Clay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxh4NQ8Fb3g - great high register slippery stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZwQSbpOU_k - it's all just roots and fifth, but dang I love that rhythm, and that progression is classy as hell

[4Mal]

Lot's of influences on me in this thread. Graceland for sure, Discipline & Beat, not mentioned Starless & Bible Black. Wetton was a monster... Sting and The Police natch. Talking Heads in the African period... Burning Down The House, etc... Songs in the key of life from Stevie Wonder - most anything from him actually... The Giants - Oscar Petersen, Ray Brown, Joe Pass - I think it was the middle of side two when I realized there was no kit and I didn't miss it- man those guys could swing!

The last few years, Conrad Lozano of Los Lobos reminds me that it's OK to play sparse and distinct even in R&B rock setting. He is way, way under rated IMO. I need to listen to more of him and lose some of the busy I've built up lately...

[Clef_de_fa]

Talking to classical musician and one of my jazz teacher ... otherwise John Patitucci "Line By Line".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnDLxM4dbU


Beyond Creation "The Aura" is something to listen to, they really do many things that most people wouldn't even dare to think about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U16hXRMqJw

I was also floored by Blotted Science "The Animation of Entomology" ... the bass isn't so special but you can hear him perfectly in a metal album ... and the most important thing, they wrote music using Dodecaphonism and Serialism ... a serious feat that few people could pull off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVyUHFl0iB8

[SBsoundguy]

Originally Posted by pat5150

L.D. 50 by Mudvayne. Ryan Martinie is awesome.

Same for me.

Killers by Maiden also had me thinking of bass in a different way.

[zachoff]

First time I heard Quicksand - Slip. Sergio Vega has such a percussive tone and style. Up to that point bass was a melodic instrument as far as I was concerned & after that... It wasn't anymore.

[klaus486]

For me it was Jeff Berlin's Pump It. I already liked rock and knew about good bass players but Jeff showed me what was "possible" on the bass. It was an honor to later in life meet him and even get to run sound for him while he played at Thoroughbred Music in Clearwater Fl. where I worked.