| Fred Hammond - Speak Those Things
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I've been listening to Fred Hammond's latest CD, Speak Those Things for the past couple weeks and I have lukewarm feelings about it. It didn't just jump out and grab me the way Purpose By Design and Pages of Life I&II did. (BTW it's subtitled Pages of Life III, so I had great expectations).
I think I've finally figured out what my issue is. Fred's bass playing isn't driving the music as it did in the other CDs I mentioned. It's tucked neatly in the background. At first I thought it was because of differences in mixing and engineering. That very well could be the case. Then I read the liner notes. The liner notes specifically state that Fred Hammond uses Yamaha instruments. On all of the other CDs Fred is using Ken Smith basses. Terrance Palmer, who also plays on Pages of Life I&II used a Tobias. There was no problem hearing and grooving to those driven basslines.
As I continue to listen to Speak Those Things I still hear the fluid passages that I've come to like in Fred's playing. They just seem to be suppressed.
If that is indeed the case, then I gotta say FRED! PUT DOWN THE YAMMER AND PICK UP THE SMITTY!!!
Peace,
James
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Politics PA-luh tiks; from the Greek word Poly , meaning many and the English word Tick , a small bloodsucking pest.
(saw this on a board in an office in Lansing, MI) | 
