John Wetton

Dr. Cheese · #1 01-11-2005, 03:06 PM

I was looking through my old cassettes and found a John Wetton Best of with a lot of material from groups like UK. I always loved his sound and I admired the fact that he could play what he didi while singing lead. I think he is an underrated great rock bassist.

James Hart · #2 01-11-2005, 05:30 PM

I dig his playing... but I think mostly because I love his voice! He's always been one of my favorite singers.

hieronymous · #3 01-11-2005, 06:14 PM

Some of my favorite John Wetton stuff is on the live King Crimson album USA. It was unavailable on CD for a while there but fortunately Mr. Fripp decided to release it. Distorted bass everywhere - what an incredible sound! "Exiles" is beautiful, "Larks' Tongues in Aspic Pt. II" is better than the studio version (IMO), and "Asbury Park" has got to be one of my favorite all-time tunes ever...

SubEndSorcerer · #4 01-11-2005, 09:11 PM

Pan American Nightmare
Ten thousand feet funfair
Convinced that I don't care
Safe as houses, I swear
I was just sitting musing
The virtues of cruising
When altitude dropping
My ears starting popping
One more red nightmare....

yes John Wetton rulith thy P-bass and thy microphone

jerry · #5 01-11-2005, 09:28 PM

I buy almost all the old Crimson live & studio stuff because of Wetton!

jenderfazz · #6 01-11-2005, 09:53 PM

My favorite Crimson era is the 70s, John Wetton period. Red is an awesome album. Wetton is a great singer and has some cool basslines with a great distorted tone.

Benjamin Strange · #7 01-12-2005, 12:21 AM

I think Wetton always sounded better live than in the studio. Some of the live KC that I have has got some unbelievably inventive bass stuff going on. I think many rock bands bassists owe their tone to Wetton (Tool for instance). HUGE sound!

James Hart · #8 12-04-2005, 12:47 PM

I'm sitting here listening to the first "Asia" release... my first exposer to John's bass and vocs back when it was released.

What a killer pop album! It got shoved in with the rest of the Synth pop of the day... but John was as slick a singer as ever and his signiture crunchy bass tones give it all a touch of darkness. They whole band is smoking but John just kills.

It's so true about bands today needing to pay respects to John's bass work in regards to tone.

Petary791 · #9 12-04-2005, 02:19 PM

Ironically, i'm listening to Red right now. Good stuff!

jerry · #10 12-05-2005, 02:40 AM

It's funny....a lot of times when I sit down to listen to something, I come to Talkbass to prod me into what to pick out. Listening to the live UK right now because of this thread in my mailbox.....James is right......I often overlook what a great singer Wetton is!

rulyøngo · #11 12-05-2005, 05:16 AM

Great bassist with a great voice!!! "Red" and "Starless and Bible Black"... amazing albums with great basslines!!!

JimmyM · #12 12-05-2005, 07:02 AM

Wetton's work with UK was also pretty smokin', although UK left a little bit to be desired in the way of songs. I got see Wetton live once, when he played with Uriah Heep opening for KISS.

ProgressiveFan · #13 12-05-2005, 10:54 AM

I love his work with KC. USA live is really good. Red IMO shows his songwritting abilities more than his bass abilities, which is a cool thing- Fallen Angel is one of my favorite melodic tracks!

ProgressiveFan · #14 12-05-2005, 10:55 AM

Also, what did he regularly play? In the Red sleeve it shows him with a cheapo looking P-bass. He must have had good technique to get those rich sounds out of that!

Kink Rimson · #15 12-05-2005, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProgressiveFan

Also, what did he regularly play? In the Red sleeve it shows him with a cheapo looking P-bass. He must have had good technique to get those rich sounds out of that!

Never mmind the bass, check out the amazing coiffure!

James Hart · #16 12-05-2005, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProgressiveFan

Also, what did he regularly play? In the Red sleeve it shows him with a cheapo looking P-bass. He must have had good technique to get those rich sounds out of that!

simple, all he needed...

P bass
Rotosounds
Pick (usually)
Hiwatt amps.

and just about any good player can get rich sounds from a P bass

Dr. Cheese · #17 12-05-2005, 11:08 AM

Wetton's P-bass never looked cheap to me! I thought the removed pickguard gave it a good look.

Kink Rimson · #18 12-05-2005, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Hart

simple, all he needed...

P bass
Rotosounds
Pick (usually)
Hiwatt amps.

and just about any good player can get rich sounds from a P bass

I don't think he ever used a pick with Crimson.

lucas vigor · #19 12-05-2005, 05:21 PM

I have to say, that when I was a teenager, Wetton's tone on "starless and bible black" was the most awesome bass I had ever heard. I liked it even more then Geddy and Chris Squire! "lament" being one of my favorite tones of all!

Matt Till · #20 12-05-2005, 05:36 PM

My hero... swoon. I'm actually diggin KC more vocally driven tunes during the Wetton era... (Easy Money, Night Watch, One More Red Nightmare).

I shouldn't have bought all the Wetton albums first, now my urge to by "all king crimson ever" is fading away. I use to buy a new KC album every month, now it's been a while since I bought Larks.