Jeff Berlin-Fave Tracks Top five

Blunt · #1 05-09-2007, 07:27 AM

I am a fan of the early Berlin with Bruford when he just had that amazing gritty tone.
The first two solo albums are also great but then hey... what happened

1. Palewell Park- Just an amazing piece of music and inspired intervallic soling from Berlin.

2. Joe Frazier- Perhaps Jeff's signature tune.

3. Gothic 17- A rather bizzare tune with Jeff's vocals but the bass playing is well equally bizzare

4. Fainting In Coils- This progressive modal workout is well brilliant.

5. QED- from the Gradually going Tornado album

Feel free to disagree or mention Tears From Heaven or Dixie. But as a bass player these are some of the best performances on electric bass ever recorded.

Baryonyx · #2 05-09-2007, 02:56 PM

Man, I like this thread! I love Jeff Berlin, he's a wicked player!

1) Tears in Heaven: This one is just so beautiful. Jeff showing off his incredible legato skills, some cheeky blues phrases thrown in, that naughty double-stop slide just after the 1:00 mark...I could go on! His tone is beautiful too, so pure and clean! Just a brilliant re-working of what was at first a passable song. However, the rest of the "Taking Notes" album I found a tad lacklustre.

2) Freight Train Shuffle: The highlight of an excellent album, with a very catchy though innovative chorus. I love how the verse sections snake back and forth and it all seems almost chaotic. Just an incredible song, fusion you can dance to!

3) Hell's Bells: A Bruford track, and yes, not one heavily featuring Jeff's playing (He seems to be envelope filtered, making background noise for the most part), but the opening melody is stunning. A pretty cool solo from Holdsworth too, though the keys and drums make this one for me. The drumming in the intro and the tempo change in the middle of Holdsworth's solo are brilliant.

4) 5G: Imo, Jeff's best playing on the "One of a Kind" album. He really makes this track with his burpy bass tone and unique bassline. I play a lot of slap and even I had to take the intro slowly til I got that odd rhtyhm down!

5) All The Greats: It's dedicated to Rush. What more do I need to say? Great song too!

Chad.mundt · #3 05-09-2007, 07:01 PM

Tears in heaven, wow....

One of the absolutely most virtuoistic (sp?) examples of the electric bass around today. I will say that his highly compressed tone erks me. But, with those "jazz weenie" strings and insane LH articulations, I can't say I blame him. How is the tone on his new CD, Aneurhythms? I know that Brian Bromberg produced it, and I can't see him letting Berlin get away with that tone of his.

KeithPas · #4 05-09-2007, 07:06 PM

Freight Train Shuffle
Five G
Beelzebub
Hell's Bell's
Joe Frazier

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #5 05-09-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chad.mundt

Tears in heaven, wow....

One of the absolutely most virtuoistic (sp?) examples of the electric bass around today. I will say that his highly compressed tone erks me. But, with those "jazz weenie" strings and insane LH articulations, I can't say I blame him. How is the tone on his new CD, Aneurhythms? I know that Brian Bromberg produced it, and I can't see him letting Berlin get away with that tone of his.

I'm not a fan of Berlin's tone on most of his solo albums myself- it's just very plain. I'd like to hear Aneurhythms as well. Funny you mention the LH articulations- it always struck me as a bit *unmusical" for someone who is normally very musical to be pulling off all of those elongated, never-ending trills (or whatever they are) like he does on Taking Notes.

Baryonyx · #6 05-10-2007, 04:33 AM

Jeff Berlin's left hand skills are incredible! Not to mention, his right hand can keep up with it too! That said, I think his tone is pretty cool, it's just so smooth and almost honky at times.

Wilbyman · #7 05-10-2007, 04:55 AM

I've been listening to In Harmony's Way quite a bit and I think the tone is pretty good on that one. I think Jeff's tone may come come, at least partially, from the fact that he plays on his fingertips ... sort of like Eddie Gomez's upright sound. The result is a thinner tone with a tiny bit of fingernail to it. I'm not sure, as I haven't seen him play in person. This is just what it sounds like.

Blunt · #8 05-10-2007, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bryan R. Tyler

I'm not a fan of Berlin's tone on most of his solo albums myself- it's just very plain. I'd like to hear Aneurhythms as well. Funny you mention the LH articulations- it always struck me as a bit *unmusical" for someone who is normally very musical to be pulling off all of those elongated, never-ending trills (or whatever they are) like he does on Taking Notes.

Yeah the whole taking notes thing is well strange. Its as if he had become the Holdsworth of bass guitar. Go legato on us Jeff...

There are some great you tube clips of a very young Jeff Berlin ripping it up with Bruford. Highly recommended.

Well Jeff is nothing if not his own man.

And lets not mention the metronome debate...

Baryonyx · #9 05-10-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blunt

And lets not mention the metronome debate...

Yeah, lets not.

I agree with the "Allan Holdsworth" comment about Taking Notes, he uses some incredible legato on that record. I expected "Imagine" would be a lot better than it turned out to be though!

Mojo-Man · #10 05-10-2007, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeithPas

Freight Train Shuffle
Five G
Beelzebub
Hell's Bell's
Joe Frazier

Can't go wrong with those 5.