Cass from Skunk Anansie

Lord Henry · #1 12-14-2006, 11:38 AM

Skunk Anansie, at least as far as I remember, were always a painfully 'uncool' band and I rarely hear them talked about. Peronally I really like their stuff. The balance of the instuments, both in terms of arrangement and production, is spot on. Every player is present and doing something individual, and yet none of them ever overpowers.

Bass-wise I think Cass was a solid player. His lines are always interesting in of themselves, and I would happily listen to just the bass and drums with everything else removed. Yet he never gets in the way of the guitar and/or vocals. This is exactly what I try to do when I write with a band and I think he is one of the greatest proponent, up there with Reading and Entwistle (not so much in terms of shear musical genius but in terms of the individual/band balance).

Am I the only one to hold this opinion or do some of you want to speak up for the man?

Cheers

these_go211 · #2 12-14-2006, 11:42 AM

wow man, a blast from the past! a girlfriend of mine got me into them back around 1996. i only have one of their cds, can't remember which, but i was really impressed with them. i can't speak to the bass playing in particular as i don't recall it at the moment. but now you've motivated me to give this another listen! i remember thinking the music reminded me of if the rollins band was fronted by a female.

jady · #3 12-14-2006, 11:44 AM

I have had 2 cds of thiers at one point or another, I love them, they never really took off though. A bald woman singer kinda limits the sex appeal for most teenagers.

Asaf · #4 12-14-2006, 11:47 AM

cass was a big influence on me, the 1st cd has some great bass lines and it's my favorite.

i know that cass played with gary moore on the scars cd, and you can hear his influence on gary's music on couple of tunes.

besides that i really want to hear some more stuff from him...if you know anything else about him i'll be glad to hear.

marcray · #5 12-14-2006, 11:51 AM

Cass Lewis... excellent work with T.T. Darby!!! I remember seeing ol Terence on TOTP and wondering who's the dreads with the pink bass. Turns out it was my first sighting of the Warwick thumb bass...

jerry · #6 12-14-2006, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcray

Cass Lewis... excellent work with T.T. Darby!!! I remember seeing ol Terence on TOTP and wondering who's the dreads with the pink bass. Turns out it was my first sighting of the Warwick thumb bass...

+1, Way back when I bought a video concert of Darby's and really dug Cass's bass work. That turned me on to his playing with Skunk Anansie and Gary Moore. Nice to see some love for Cass here.

Lord Henry · #7 12-14-2006, 05:38 PM

I didn't know about the Gary Moore stuff. I'll have to check that out. Any recomendations?

It's good to see a lot of love for the Cass man. I think he's one of the really underrated bassist from the 90s and I hope he's still going strong.

Keep the love coming.

Cheers

daffy · #8 12-14-2006, 05:43 PM

Love Skunk Anansie!!!!

Cass bass was cool, but I thought Skin, the bald female lead singer was sex on legs (am I weird??). She had such a presence and such a powerful voice - she could strip skin off your face at 50 feet with that voice.

Weak As I Am and Follow Me Down were faves of mine.

jomahu · #9 12-15-2006, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daffy

Love Skunk Anansie!!!!

Cass bass was cool, but I thought Skin, the bald female lead singer was sex on legs (am I weird??). She had such a presence and such a powerful voice - she could strip skin off your face at 50 feet with that voice.

you're not weird. a lot of women shared that opinion.

agreatheight · #10 12-15-2006, 07:28 AM

I'm a big Skunk fan, have all their albums (CDs, lol), and always thought they were very under-rated / under-appreciated. The same could be said about Cass! He's a great player who never got any props.

Alun · #11 12-15-2006, 03:09 PM

Great player and a great band. One of the few players at that time using loads of interesting effects in reasonably commercial music.

Really made me want to own an ASAT at the time

Alun

Eminentbass · #12 12-16-2006, 05:59 AM

Cass is probably the reason I bought a Stingray... His tone on Stoosh is awesome, along with his playing. Skin also has to be one of the most dynamic vocalists around. I never considered them uncool though, and never realized anybody else did either.

liquid-dream-ex · #13 12-17-2006, 02:23 PM

Skin's Solo Albums are really good. Maybe a bit more conventional BAss-wise, but great songs non the less.