how did Patricia Morrison ever manage to play under all that goth bling?

hanx · #1 06-03-2009, 05:06 AM

or maybe the "how" can be ommitted? did Patricia Morrison ever manage to play under all that goth bling?

I've decided that Lucretia My Reflection from Sisters of Mercy is one of the easiest and catchiest riffs out there, but i wanted a look at the way it was originally done since all the tabs i found contradicted each other. (It's only the second riff i've had a stab at, so working it out myself was a bit beyond me.)

Not much out there, a few bootlegs of the band from recent shows, where you can only see the singer, no use. I found a couple of the band on Top of the Pops from around the release date, and i must admit i wouldn't have noticed if not for the comments on the, but it did sound speciciously identical to the CD version . . .

Then a bit of google/wiki tells me they didn't tour with that album, and there's debate about who was playing bass on the album. It seems Patricia Morrison was mainly there for her looks?

She seems to "play" in gloves, how? she plays with a pick i guess, but (to me) it seems you need to feel what you're doing? And there was one comment about her being a goth pin-up with long black nails, i can't play if there's any white at all on the nails of my 6 key fingers.

Maybe playing throgh goth bling is a sign of real tallent? or were they just pulling a Milli Vanilli? . . . but i think a monkey could play this riff, so why not let the hot chick have a go?

GearHeadBassMan · #2 06-03-2009, 05:17 AM

in the same vein, how the hell does Gwar do it?

lorenk · #3 06-03-2009, 06:36 AM

All the guys who play instruments in Gwar don't wear gloves or anything.

Not to mention they're intergalactic super-warrior/gods, so they can pretty much do what they want

undeadbass · #4 06-03-2009, 02:00 PM

Well, Top of the Pops and other shows like that usually (if not always) had bands mime to the tracks, so don't base it on that.
I've seen girls play bass with crazy nails and what have you. It takes some tricky maneuvering.
Also, Patricia hasn't been in the band since Floodland - the only original member of the band is Andrew Eldritch (unless you count Dr. Jeep, but even then, it's not the original drum machine!). She played with The Damned for a bit. I saw her play with them and The Misfits. She's no Wooten, but she definitely wasn't miming live.

The Lurker · #5 06-03-2009, 05:05 PM

not always....

http://sistersofmercy.netfirms.com/patry.jpg

hanx · #6 06-04-2009, 01:11 AM

I don't get why she was thought of as hot, she really doesn't do it for me. The teased hair is too dated. I can cope with 80s perms, Sean Yseult (White Zombie) is probably one of the reasons i find bass sexier than guitar, but teased is just yuck. The jaw-line is a bit manyly too. Way too much make up too; i prefer natural girls. I guess it was kind of a neiche apeal?

It is a very well written riff though, AW wrote the track hey? I have a copy of the SoM best-of that a friend burned for me, and a copy of the Floodland version of LMF from iTunes, so i don't have the full credits for it. I think when a good bass player writes a bass riff they often put too much effort into showing off and miss the virtue of simplicity, like a lot of stuff from Steve Harris from Iron Maiden.