Big Country's Tony Butler/ Simple Minds' Derek Forbes

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

ps. I'm also now discovering how different Simple minds looked as well in their early days (and the videos for "sweat in bullet" and "lovesong" are similarly bizarre in sheer contrast to their later AOR phase)-
Derek Forbes here with a fretless P bass;

[volker]

Originally posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator
..."Alive and kicking" was from Once upon a time with John Giblin on bass.
I'm not that keen on that period on- I like the piano break in that song, but the production is so sugary and US FM-radio-friendly.

Thanks for the correction! So that was John Giblin on bass when they were performing for "Live Aid" in '85?

I reckon their stuff got a lot worse after "Once Upon A Time", but then again I don't really know too many of the songs from their albums before this one, only "Promised You A Miracle", "Up On The Catwalk", "Waterfront", "Glittering Prize" and a few more.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

yep, I think Live aid was john giblin's first live appearance with the band. IIRC he was using a Musicman Cutlass. "all the things she said" on the album sounds like a stingray or sabre of some kind.

[volker]

Originally posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator
yep, I think Live aid was john giblin's first live appearance with the band. IIRC he was using a Musicman Cutlass. "all the things she said" on the album sounds like a stingray or sabre of some kind.

I only remember he was playing a black bass at "Live Aid" and that he was dressed all in black himself.

Wow, that's almost 18 years ago!

[Hategear]

Originally posted by Winston TK
...Stuart Adamson. (He was found hanged to death in a hotel room in Hawaii. Strange indeed.)

Why is that strange?

[volker]

I was surprised about his suicide too back then - I had always thought he was a happy person, having a family and kids he was raving about in interviews.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

Originally posted by volker
I was surprised about his suicide too back then - I had always thought he was a happy person, having a family and kids he was raving about in interviews.

in the UK Big Country have been critically reviled ever since the 90's (probably even the mid 80's), and their record sales tailed off badly.
it was fashionable to slate BC- in UK Pop quiz "never mind the Buzzcocks", cynical host Mark Lamarr quipped after a clip of The Skids- "guitarist Stuart Adamson went on to become a Big country member........and we do remember" (cue much laughter from studio audience and quiz panellists). ouch. I think that was around '98.

the last TV appearance I saw of Big country they were on breakfast television playing of all things a terrible cover of the Monkees' "daydream believer"

[volker]

Now that you mention that Monkees cover, I remember in the mid '90s they had released an album entitled "Electic" which is a live one with mainly covers of old classics on it...and the guys really got flamed by all the critics for that one. So yeah, I can imagine now how things like that must've been the beginning of Stuart Adamson's end.

By the way it's very interesting to read the band members' comments to each of their albums on their official website.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

here's an article in today's Guardian about the current 80's revival trend-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/frida...970853,00.html

[David Wilson]

Wow, this thread is so old it could vote.

Can't believe I missed this one before.

Theme For Great Cities
Someone Somewhere In Summertime
New Gold Dream
Promised You A Miracle

Great bass playing. Generally not that difficult to play, but very inventive and driving. Theme For Great Cities is a good warm up tune I usually do when practicing.

Sounds like a Ric on a lot of those tunes?

I had stopped listening to Simple Minds before I started playing the bass back in '87. The whole 'Once Upon A Time' and onwards stuff just left me cold.

Once I started playing bass, and picking it out in recordings, I realized Derek Forbes bass lines was one of the main reasons I liked the earlier Simple Minds stuff so much. They were pretty cutting edge at the start of the 80's, integrating dance elements into rock music.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

Originally posted by davidmwilson
Sounds like a Ric on a lot of those tunes?

it sounds a lot like a Rick on "theme for great cities".

I think all of the New gold dream album was fretted and fretless P basses.

but he was using a Guild B302 on an Old Grey whistle test rerun I saw from 1978, and got a vaguely Rick-like tone out of it.

he also used a fretted Wal 84-onwards - on the Sparkle in the rain album.

[David Wilson]

Originally posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator


it sounds a lot like a Rick on "theme for great cities".

I think all of the New gold dream album was fretted and fretless P basses.

but he was using a Guild B302 on an Old Grey whistle test rerun I saw from 1978, and got a vaguely Rick-like tone out of it.

he also used a fretted Wal 84-onwards - on the Sparkle in the rain album.

thanks for the info! as I wasn't playing bass at the time I was really into them, I had no idea what he was playing.

After Simple Minds, he played on the second Propaganda album (1-2-3-4), nothing too interesting happening on the bass there if I remember correctly.

[volker]

Originally posted by davidmwilson
...After Simple Minds, he played on the second Propaganda album (1-2-3-4), nothing too interesting happening on the bass there if I remember correctly.

*laughs* Nothing too interesting happening there, full stop!
That album had absolutely nothing in common with the debut one.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

I downloaded a live recording of Propaganda's "Duel" and he was doing some triplet slap. although 1234 sounds very bland, judging from what little I could stand downloading.

he also played on "India", a 1985 track by Ultravox's Billy Currie- on Currie's site he says they were planning a band called "World service" with Ray McVeigh of the Professionals who plays guitar on the track, but Currie returned to Ultravox.
the bassline is interesting, but overall the track sounds like 80's advert music

[volker]

A live version of "Duel"? Where did you get that one from, if I may curiously ask? @ Mock The Turtle Regulator

I remember seeing Propaganda Mark II on German TV, performing the song "Heaven Give Me Words",
and Derek Forbes was playing a white Vigier bass - Yum! (the bass, I mean )

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

Originally posted by volker
A live version of "Duel"? Where did you get that one from, if I may curiously ask?

on WinMX.

re. the Vigier, he was also using a Vigier 4 and a 5 (I think the Arpege model), when he rejoined Simple minds 1996-98.

apparently Forbes and ex-Simple Minds keyboard player Mick MacNeil were backing three scots tenors ("The caledon tenors", I think the name is) at saturday's Scotland vs. Germany football match at Hampden.
Macneil was playing accordion, I don't know if Forbes was playing bass.

[MKS]

Never mind *what* he was playing... Three tenors and an accordion??? Oh, the humanity!

[David Wilson]

Originally posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator


on WinMX.

re. the Vigier, he was also using a Vigier 4 and a 5 (I think the Arpege model), when he rejoined Simple minds 1996-98.

I found that one on winmx, waited in line all last night to download it and then the person logged off. aarrrgghhhhh.

I didn't even realise until yesterday that DF played on P:Machinery.

Here's an interview with DF I found on http://www.p-fan.de

Also, here's a nice text article about propaganda.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

Originally posted by davidmwilson

I didn't even realise until yesterday that DF played on P:Machinery.

yeah, i found that interview a while ago- there's also one on that site with original SM drummer Brian McGee.

he says it's the 12in mix version of P machinery that he played on, but i downloaded that and it sounds like synth bass only- if there is bass guitar it's very low in the mix.


over on www.simpleminds.com the "journals" section has thoughts from Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill- some interesting stuff about record company pressure-
JK says Gary Numan wanted to produce their second album "life in a day", but they didn't go with that to preserve their artistic integrity....
he says Brian McGee quit after the fourth album as he felt they'd never be successful with their low record sales so far....

[volker]

...interesting stuff! @ Mock The Turtle Regulator

I quite like some of Gary Numan's work and I wonder what they would've sounded like being produced by him?!

And I didn't know Brian McGee was Simple Minds' original drummer! Amazing that two of their former members later were in Propaganda, an originally all-german band!