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05-14-2007, 05:57 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Berkeley, CA | | | Great bassist, Lousy solo album
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I'm sure this has happened to many of you.. You see a new solo album by one of your bass heroes. You buy it, take it home and slap on on your player, and ...  . Yuck!
Pointless chop fest, or ill-advised attempts to sing. Maybe they just lack writing skills. Best to stay a sideman!
Here's my list of particularly bad CDs by great bass players:
Stanley Clarke "Let Me Know You"
Greg Lake "Manoeuvres"
Brian Bromberg "Metal" (or any other, as far as I've heard)
John Wetton "Voice Mail"
Feel free to contribute your own clunkers...
(on the flip side, I'd have to list Jaco's "Word of Mouth" as the best CDs ever made by an electric bass player, and one of the top 5 CDs I own) |
05-14-2007, 06:20 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Woodlands, Texas | | | Any Wooten solo album besides "A Show of Hands". There is something cool on all of them, but I think as far as his solo albums go he should stick to solo bass playing |
05-15-2007, 07:24 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Marathon Man | | | Kai Eckhardt's "Honour Simplicty, Respect The Flow".
It had promise, Kai is a great player. Hell, it even has a track dedicated to Billy Cobham, so you would at least hope that that one was good! No such luck! I don't know where to start when I'm talking about this album. First of all, the mix isn't fabulous, and you have to turn your speakers up a fair bit just to get it to the same volume as you would your other records. This is particularly annoying when one of his tracks pops up in the middle of a shuffled play list.
The songs themselves are dreary affairs, often going on completely without one meldodic hook. Kai himself is a very proficient player and the album features all manner of slap, fingerstyle and fretless playing, with Kai playing both supporting and lead lines. However, given this premise, the album should be texturally very rich, which it isn't. The songs seem to blur together, and his bass tones aren't very good either. His chops are fine, as "The Queen of Cups" proves, he can certainly handle a fretless, but his songwriting skills just aren't up to the standard they should be. Not even a guest spot from Zakir Hussain can fix things!
Overall, just a very dreary, dull little album. I expected so much more from Kai, especially given the inspired and vibrant performances he gave on John McLaughlin's "Que Alegria".
I would really advise everyone to stay away from that record, even if you have been impressed with Kai's other work (though his playing on Billy Cobham's "Mississippi Knights Live" record isn't great either). |
05-15-2007, 08:01 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | | | Geddy Lee-My Favorite Headache.
Les Claypool-Just about anything outside Primus.
Doug Wimbish-Trippy Notes for Bass
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05-15-2007, 09:17 AM
|  | Wanna buy some mandies, Bob? | | Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Longmont, Colorado | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Vorse  Les Claypool-Just about anything outside Primus. | Oh man - I LOVE C2B3 and LCFFFB. Personal preference, though.
Hate to say it, but I don't care for any of Vic Wooten's solo CDs and he's probably my favorite bassist, all things considered.
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05-15-2007, 10:22 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Newcastle/England | | | is it just me, or am i finding out more and more that the most advanced musicians, like basicly knowing everything about everything, dont seem to be very good song writers, take victor wooten for example, he is an amazing bass player, i like most things about his playing style exept i dont really like the fast double thumbing, the way he thinks about music and playing instruments is just on the ball i think, but his solo material just doesnt do anything for me.
just goes to show, knowing everything about theory and having the best chops doesnt mean you can write a good song to save your life.
actually, on the Victor wooten thing, i think sex in a pan is awsome, but i've only ever heard it on youtube where he's sitting on a chair playing through loads of stuff
Last edited by Chili : 05-15-2007 at 04:43 PM.
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05-15-2007, 10:35 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Metro Atlanta, GA | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Chili is it just me, or am i finding out more and more that the most advanced musicians, like basicly knowing everything about everything, dont seem to be very good song writers | It's just you.
Edit: That was tongue-in-cheek BTW.
Last edited by stretchcat : 05-15-2007 at 07:41 PM.
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05-15-2007, 11:04 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Planet Boulder Oh man - I LOVE C2B3 and LCFFFB. Personal preference, though.
| I did say "just about." 
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05-15-2007, 11:15 AM
|  | Registered User
Endorsing artist: Brubaker Guitars | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Gaithersburg, Md | | Quote:
Originally Posted by stretchcat It's just you. | No, it's not. |
05-15-2007, 11:24 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York, NY | | | I strongly dislike (I'm apprehensive to say "hate") most bass players solo albums.
I've found that being an awesome technician does not necessarily give you a right of passage to being a songwriter. |
05-15-2007, 11:25 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York, NY | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Chili just goes to show, knowing everything about theory and having the best chops doesnt mean you can write a good song to save your life. | +100
Exactly. |
05-15-2007, 03:09 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Metro NYC | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Chili is it just me, or am i finding out more and more that the most advanced musicians, like basicly knowing everything about everything, dont seem to be very good song writers, | Well, no, that's not really true as a general statement. Think about people like Ellington, Bach, Beethoven, and Wayne Shorter, for starters. Highly advanced musicians and great composers, all of them. But it is definitely true that you don't have to be an incredibly advanced musician to write a good piece of music.
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05-15-2007, 07:01 PM
|  | - that dog won't hunt, Monsignor. Moderator | | | | | Don't forget, "good music" is subjective.
There are some virtuoso types whose solo efforts I really like, and some; not so much.
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05-15-2007, 07:06 PM
|  | I took the one less traveled by | | Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Reims, Champagne, France | | | It would be much easier to quote good solo bassist albums.
It is a difficult art and most fail at it, even the best of us.
M. Manring is very good at it, I can't think of a single bad album.
Eberhard Weber usually comes with wonderful solo albums. |
05-15-2007, 07:13 PM
|  | D. Snutz | | Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN | | Quote:
Originally Posted by stretchcat It's just you. | No. It's me too.
I will say that one of my favorite bassists (musicians) is also one of my favorite songwriters:
Paul McCartney |
05-15-2007, 07:34 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: New York | | | the only bass player solo album i can listen anytime is marcus miller's "the ozeil tapes". i love richard bona and oteil burbridge as well, but i see them more as musicians than just bass players.
as for just listening to for bass playing, i like jaco's self titled album and a show of hands from vic. i cant really listen to eithe rof them unless i am listening to be inspired...."the ozeil tapes" is just great music and composing from mr. miller.
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05-16-2007, 08:46 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Madison WI | | | You want a Worst, Bill Wyman and his LP(dont know if it ever graced a cd) called Stone alone!!!! |
05-16-2007, 08:55 PM
|  | The Bizarro JimmyM. | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Coeur d'Alene | | | I'd like to add any John Entwistle stuff. His solo albums really suck.
I would lump myself into the "pretty good bass player/crappy songwriter" category for sure. |
05-16-2007, 09:22 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: WI | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Vorse Les Claypool-Just about anything outside Primus. | I really grooved on Oysterhead.
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05-16-2007, 09:31 PM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Wethersfield, CT | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Vorse Les Claypool-Just about anything outside Primus. | Well, technically, Les doesn't do any actual solo work. He's always playing with other people. It's always a whole 'nother band, I don't know why people say its a solo album, i.e. Of Whales and Woe. He's more of the main player.
I guess my point is, there is no album where its just Les playin bass.
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