Famous Flubs

Joe Nerve · #1 07-20-2002, 11:24 AM

This has probably been done before but I haven't seen it. I was listening to a 70's tape yesterday and noticed some major mistakes that bass players made in the recordings. I'll post them as soon as I remember where they were. Wanted to start a thread of all bass blunders that you know about. I'll start with one of the most famous....

Noel Redding - the end of "Fire" during the fade he mistakedly goes back into a verse. He wanted to fix it but they liked it and convinced him to leave it in. I either saw him talk about that in a video, or read it in a bass magazine.

McCartney's got lots of em I know, can't quote any at the moment though....

Come on, rat everyone out!

alexssandro · #2 07-20-2002, 11:39 AM

This isn't a bass flub, but it's a comping flub behind a Jaco solo so it should be close enough. On the last chorus of Jaco's solo on "Used to Be a Cha-cha," you can notice that Herbie Hancock isn't comping. I heard that that was actually a mistake on Herbie's part. But it sounds cool as hell with just the bass and drums!

LiquidMidnight · #3 07-20-2002, 12:22 PM

I think that Noel flubbing Fire sounds really cool.

If you listen closley to the beginning of Bob's Party Time Lounge by Primus, during the part when Les is playing the chords, you can here in one part that he lets off the strings just a tad bit (like when your hand gets tired) that the string isn't completely pressed against the fretboard, and he gets that real abrasive, quick dying sound of the string.

Fuzzbass · #4 07-20-2002, 03:49 PM

I don't know about famous, but Gary Thain makes a flub in Uriah Heep's "Stealin'" (their one radio hit in the U.S.). IIRC, it's in the outro, he goes to the finale too early but corrects himself after one note.

Fuzzbass · #5 07-20-2002, 03:51 PM

Also, you can catch a few flubs by Entwistle on "Live at Leeds". A couple examples: he misses the first V chord in "Can't Explain", and hits an open A instead of D in "Summertime Blues". But really, it's a freakin' live album... and even Ox' flubs are cool.

JimK · #6 07-20-2002, 04:18 PM

I've mentioned this one before-

Miles Davis' Tribute To Jack Johnson, the first cut...John McLaughlin kicks off the jam with a boogie in "E". Bassist Michael Henderson follows along with an R&B-ish figure.
At about 2:08(?), McLaughlin modulates to "Bb"...Henderson misses it & stays in "E"!
Miles does not cut the take but allows it to proceed.
Eventually, Miles blows a "C#/Db" on his horn & nudges Henserson into "Bb".
Freakin' genius!

Bassline1414 · #7 07-21-2002, 12:44 PM

Sting sitting on a piano during the recording of Roxanne and then laughing about it (a couple of seconds into the song). Also you'll notice that the guitar part sounds out of tune at the beginning and then becomes in tune, meaning that the tape was probably sped up.

jazzbo · #8 07-21-2002, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JimK
Eventually, Miles blows a "C#/Db" on his horn & nudges Henserson into "Bb".

Which is it? C# or Db?

The Ben Folds Five recording of "Steven's Last Night in Town." Before the outro, Ben sings, "Cause everyone knows know that every night now will be -" then a phone rings. They left the ringing phone in because they thought it sounded cool, but truly, it was just a ringing phone that was caught on tape.

Woodchuck · #9 07-21-2002, 06:30 PM

At the every end of the 45 single of the Gap Band's "Burn Rubber On Me", the song fades out, and there's some weird drunk sounding guy rambling on about his music over a nice funky beat, and he says, "Where my horn parts at?", and then he start mouthing the horn sounds, then it ends abruptly with him screaming, "Miami, Miami, Miami!". To this day, I'm not sure if it was accidental or not.

Stephen S · #10 07-21-2002, 06:33 PM

this isn't a bass flub but i got a laugh out of it, i was listening to Sublime-self titled album and during one of the songs (i don't remember what one) he gets the hiccups and i guess they just left it in

Fuzzbass · #11 07-21-2002, 06:50 PM

Shoot... what's the Led Zeppelin song... at the end of the song you can hear a hummmm and Robert Plant laughing and saying "No, leave it, yeah". The album was recorded in a small house in the countryside (Wales), and the buzz was an airplane... they'd just had a good take and decided to leave it in.

Dang, it's been too long since I've listened to Zep.

DanNowhere · #12 07-21-2002, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jazzbo

Which is it? C# or Db?

The Ben Folds Five recording of "Steven's Last Night in Town." Before the outro, Ben sings, "Cause everyone knows know that every night now will be -" then a phone rings. They left the ringing phone in because they thought it sounded cool, but truly, it was just a ringing phone that was caught on tape.

Really. I've listened to this song many times, and never even noticed that before. I'm going to have to pull this CD out again.

DanNowhere · #13 07-21-2002, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Fuzzbass
Shoot... what's the Led Zeppelin song... at the end of the song you can hear a hummmm and Robert Plant laughing and saying "No, leave it, yeah". The album was recorded in a small house in the countryside (Wales), and the buzz was an airplane... they'd just had a good take and decided to leave it in.

Dang, it's been too long since I've listened to Zep.

I think I know which one you're thinking of. I can't think of the name, but I think it's on "Houses of the Holy", one of the acoustic songs.