John Taylor!!!!!!

[Psychicpet]

ok, so I'm a late bloomer in regards to Duran Duran, like a 20yr. late bloomer.... BUT!

I just got some Duran Duran and I have to say that John Taylor is a bad , bad man on many levels, not only does this jerk have a GQ look but the wiener also has a tone that amidst all of the 'verbed-out 80s mix absolutely stands out and his lines are great!!!

really, if you have a chance get Rio , just the song or the entire album and you'll see.

sheesh... what a dude.

[arai]

yea he is the man. tone plus . but do a search there is a big thread on here about him

[lunarpollen]

And in all the live recordings I've heard of him playing, I've never heard him even once make the slightest mistake.

[caragel]

Got to agree, very very underrated bassist, in fact not so much underrated as overlooked, solely because he played in a 'teen' band!! Shouldnt detract from his ability - just check him out, if like me you were around in the 80's Duran Durans bass tone was not really much of a topic of conversation!!

[Hipnotic]

Great player and a big influence on why I was so drawn to bass. His lines stood out and made up a huge part of the songs in my opinion. He did some cool stuff with Power Station also.

[Rano Bass]

Great player, one of the best from that era in pop music IMO.

[marcray]

I really like those lines but I was always kinda suspicious if John Taylor actually played on "Rio"... I was around then and I remember clearly reading an article where he remarked that the only reason he always used a pick on "Planet Earth" was because he couldn't finger that fast... well doesn't "Rio" seem much more complicated and intricate with the right hand... it also sounds remarkably like Bernard Edwards style who was pictured in the same article with John Taylor, in the studio, both looking at the fretboard discuss'ing ideas for lines... hhhhmmmmm

Great stuff all the same, and I have seen them live and he pulled it off, as could I when I was 13... just not sure if he did it originally...

[00Funk]

Originally Posted by marcray

I also sounds remarkably like Bernard Edwards style who was pictured in the same article with John Taylor.

MMMMmmmmm...........I was a big fan of both Edwards and Taylor in the day. That was definately Taylor playing Rio. Edwards style was a little different

[marcray]

Originally Posted by 00Funk

MMMMmmmmm...........I was a big fan of both Edwards and Taylor in the day. That was definately Taylor playing Rio. Edwards style was a little different

probably was , however I will never be completely convinced... I was a young teenager, but I had been playing a few years and even I understood what a miraculous improvement in playing that was between the 1st and 2nd album from a guy that claimed to never practice... Edwards, like all of Chic, was a guy that could step out of himself quite easily too... especially at that point in his life... and his relationship with John Taylor was obviously a very, very close friendship until his death...

but "Rio" is great, no matter who played the sucka!!!

[00Funk]

That is something to think about. It is interesting. I was 21 when Rio came out. I had been listening to Chic, for the 4 years before that. Starting at age 17, when they first got big.

Interesting, that Edwards produced Powerstation also. Mmmmmm

[marcray]

Originally Posted by 00Funk

That is something to think about. It is interesting. I was 21 when Rio came out. I had been listening to Chic, for the 4 years before that. Starting at age 17, when they first got big.

Interesting, that Edwards produced Powerstation also. Mmmmmm

I'm tellin' ya!!! Go back and listen, u may be more surprised than u remember...

...did u know that John Taylor got Edward's Stingray in Bernards will? I just read that and I'm stunned.

[00Funk]

If its true, John should just give Benard credit. No big deal now, since Taylor has allready established himself

[Brian D]

JT is the man!

[The Golden Boy]

JT also played in the Neurotic Outsiders

Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols on guitar and vocals
Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum from Guns N Roses on guitar and drums, respectively.
JT on Bass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQoyXlxXq2E

It don't get too much more rock and roll than that...

[davidjbass]

I have been a JT fan since Rio came out. He blew me away.
I bought every DD cd and Power Station that I could find. Then I saw DD live and was flattened. Not only did JT not play the lines the way they were suppose to be played but he down right fudged them. I was shocked. I walked out of the concert ready to throw away all my DD CD's. Then I read the article about him not playing the lines on the early CD's.
And the light went on. Then I saw the Power Station video with Benard and John sitting together in an interview and Benard has a bass on his lap. And Benard plays the solo to Bang a gong while JT looks on. It was right then and there I knew that JT did not play on the early records. Since then in the later albums he has played on them. But you can definately notice the difference in styles. The lines he plays are so much simpler than the early song lines. Don't get me wrong he is still a great bass player and one of my favorites but in my opinion he did not play on the early albums.

[xlows]

Rio's one of my all time favorite lines. Duran Duran is very underappreciated.

[joevcool]

John Taylor is the total package bass player,and he plays a Peavey Cirrus.

[Mon Rominee]

Originally Posted by joevcool

he plays a Peavey Cirrus.

In the US. Abroad, it's Arias and Stingrays.

He's one of my favorite players.

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by 00Funk

Interesting, that Edwards produced Powerstation also. Mmmmmm

I'm not familiar with the Powerstation record but there is apparently a slap solo and some other stuff in there that Bernard played.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

And in all the live recordings I've heard of him playing, I've never heard him even once make the slightest mistake.

I like Taylor...I was just exiting my Jazz-Nazi daze when I heard "Girls On Film" (early '80s?). Wow, kinda "Rock" & kinda "Disco/Dance"...pretty cool for Pop radio.
That said-
IIRC, Taylor doesn't sound so great on the Live Aid DVDs...or is it just me?
(Same, too, for Marcus Miller on Live Aid...Pino, though, sounded great).