Sometimes I'm amazed at some singer/songwriters who seemingly have a great love for the bass, while others seem to just ignore it (lame basslines and/or low in the mix).
For example, I'm always impressed by Elton John, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, Van Morrison, James Taylor, and Ray Lamontagne, to name a few. One of the reasons I like their stuff so much is because the bass work is fantastic, and it is usually prominent in the mix (even though they aren't bass players themselves).
Yet comparatively, even though Billy Joel had a great bass player back in his prime days (Doug Stegmeyer), the bass work seems to be buried in the mix, and it seems the bass was intentionally "held back." I think that happens a lot with the singer/songwriter crowd.
What do you all think? Am I crazy, or do you notice the same thing? Any other singer/songwriters you really like because they give bass its props?
