AWB cut the cake - bass sound

Coelho · #1 09-30-2008, 04:32 PM

Is it a P bass w/ flats played with a pick?

Coelho · #2 09-30-2008, 04:44 PM

Ok, but I mean in the original recording. Is that a P bass with flats played with a pick? Sounds like...

cb56 · #3 09-30-2008, 04:49 PM

I saw them back in the day and thought I remember him playing a musicman bass. This video seems to confirm that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBWQZ6tvT-E
of course he may have played a different bass in the studio.
and yes I realize this isn't the same song but it's the right era. I also don't tremember him switching off basses when I saw them.

Dr. Cheese · #4 09-30-2008, 05:12 PM

They definitely used picks, and original was most likely a P-bass, but CB56 is not the only person who remembers them using Stingrays back in the Seventies.

JimK · #5 09-30-2008, 07:58 PM

AWB began using Sting Rays about the time when the Soul Searching tour came about...I recall seeing them perform "Love Your Life" in 1976 with both Gorrie & Stuart playing MM Sting Rays on that tune. IIRC, Stuart had a sunburst & Gorrie had a natural finish.

"Cut The Cake" is Hamish Stuart on bass...meaning a pick & a P-bass.
Cut The Cake (the album) was pre-MM Sting Rays.
"School Boy Crush" is another Hamish bass tune.

I have always liked both guys on bass. I would say Gorrie's lines were a little more sophisticated (more lines over figures) vs. Stuart's (more figures than lines).

EDIT-
I also recall seeing AWB do "Cut The Cake" on American Bandstand on a Saturday afternoon...probably in 1975. It was a Fender bass with a pick, pretty sure it was a P-bass.

JimK · #6 09-30-2008, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cb56

...of course he may have played a different bass in the studio.

The Soul Searching album sleeve shows Stuart playing a red/white stripe Fender Mustang in the studio.

JimK · #7 09-30-2008, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stumbo

Still picture from 2008, bass player is using a Jazz Bass, looks like fingerstyle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:A..._Edinburgh.jpg

Here's an older video (no year). You can see the bass in the video being played with a pick.
Maybe some TB'r will recognize the bass manuf./model.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFzNXUUSFF0

Another bass player with a Jazz Bass finger style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcniP...eature=related

All those vids are recent...the older one you posted is, at best, only 10 years ago.

Coelho · #8 10-01-2008, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimK

"Cut The Cake" is Hamish Stuart on bass...meaning a pick & a P-bass.
Cut The Cake (the album) was pre-MM Sting Rays.
.

Thank you!!!
And it does sound like flats (strings) is this right? Faster decay, etc...

mrniceguy715 · #9 10-01-2008, 12:28 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8wEuqhf_8

p bass there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZzQ3QPqpAM
and here fingerstyle

Coelho · #10 10-01-2008, 12:38 AM

I am just talking about the original recording of cut the cake, not interested in anything else!

kevteop · #11 10-01-2008, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrniceguy715

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZzQ3QPqpAM
and here fingerstyle

Who goes on TV with hair like that? Must have nuts the size of beach balls.

JimK · #12 10-01-2008, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coelho

Thank you!!!
And it does sound like flats (strings) is this right? Faster decay, etc...

Yes, I would say flatwounds/"dead" groundwounds (which were roundwounds 'ground' down to an almost flatwound feel).

JimK · #13 10-01-2008, 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevteop

Who goes on TV with hair like that? Must have nuts the size of beach balls.

I cannot open youtube links...here.
Is it Hamish Stuart's 'fro?

Is it The Old Grey Whistle or Soul Train footage?

DWBass · #14 10-01-2008, 05:51 AM

The hair I could deal with but those beards had to go! AWB was a really good band and it was odd seeing a foreign based band doing it better than many of the US native bands! It was also the first time I saw a band with the guitarist and bassist switching off instruments on the regular!

JimK · #15 10-01-2008, 05:10 PM

Hmmmm...the below link is definitely in the time frame when "Cut The Cake" was on the charts.
Hamish is playing a Mustang bass.
Maybe that was his bass of choice back in that day (guitar is his primary instrument).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96syG4-Li8

Sorry, Coelho...

JimK · #16 10-01-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrniceguy715

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8wEuqhf_8

p bass there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZzQ3QPqpAM
and here fingerstyle

Another thing about your video links-
Both have Hamish Stuart playing guitar (w/ Alan Gorrie on bass)...it is Stuart that played bass on "Cut The Cake" & "School Boy Crush" from the album Cut The Cake.

The 2nd link is "Put It Where You Want It" from England's Old Grey Whistle Test.
Note Robbie McIntosh on drums.
...and yes, I would say they are faking it in that video. No way McIntosh played that softly.

Coelho · #17 10-01-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimK

Hmmmm...the below link is definitely in the time frame when "Cut The Cake" was on the charts.
Hamish is playing a Mustang bass.
Maybe that was his bass of choice back in that day (guitar is his primary instrument).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t96syG4-Li8

Sorry, Coelho...

No problem, actually I think it would even make more sense to be a mustang.

jerry · #18 10-01-2008, 10:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimK

Another thing about your video links-
Both have Hamish Stuart playing guitar (w/ Alan Gorrie on bass)...it is Stuart that played bass on "Cut The Cake" & "School Boy Crush" from the album Cut The Cake.

I dug the way both of those guys played bass & guitar, I wish more guitar players had their concept on the instrument!

*side note/ For another another recording with excellent bass grooves, check out bassist Steve Pierce's work on the 'Sooner Or Later' album by Hamish Stuart.

JimK · #19 10-02-2008, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry

*side note/ For another another recording with excellent bass grooves, check out bassist Steve Pierce's work on the 'Sooner Or Later' album by Hamish Stuart.

See...I thought I was the only one here with that album!

I also have Gorrie's Sleepless Night on LP. IIRC, it did not do much for me...though it's been awhile since I last played it.

While digging around youtube, I did see some nice Hamish Stuart Band things goin' on.

Also, at AWB's Official site, there is an alert about an imposter posing as Alan Gorrie (in Florida)...they say this guy has been at this act for years & that he knows a lot about AWB.

The new version of AWB is not that bad.
For me, they'll never be like the band from the '70s...the current verion, though, is way above a couple of the previous versions of the band.