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Favourite Prog Bassist?
- Thread starter N4860
- Start date
Indeed, and glad that I can chat about Curved Air with somebody on here.
My girlfriend's father saw them in concert, opening for the Groundhogs, back in the early '70s. Wherever it was (somewhere in central Scotland) the crowd was so big that people ended up sitting on the stage. Apparently the Groundhogs were terrible that night and Curved Air outdid themselves.
Phantasmagoria seems the most dated. The common theory is that Darryl Way and Francis Monkman simply couldn't write music together, and had to split the albums down into each camp. However I think they simply couldn't get all their ideas down on the page, and reconcile their love of Terry Riley, Stockhausen, Beatles or whoever else. I really like their debut album the most, as it seems so precious and precocious. It is their proof-of-concept record; like the Roxy Music debut. I have the newly reissued version with the bonus tracks, and honestly I didn't need four versions of 'It Happened Today' and two or three of 'Vivaldi'.
I saw Magma in Edinburgh in 2016. I never thought I would see them live! They played Theusz Hamtaahk, MDK and an encore of Zombies (the longer version found on Emehntehtt-Re).
Bussonnet was playing a custom '51 style P bass with two pickups, into a couple of generic Boss pedals and an Ernie Ball volume pedal, into a rented SVT and 810. A basic signal chain, but he commanded it and got all sorts of textures and tones out of it. What was impressive was his stamina. In Theusz Hamtaahk there were sections where he had to play this one ostinato groove for minutes at a time.
Part of why I love Bussonnet, Topp and Paganotti is their ability to get a really grinding, cello-like tone and attack out of their basses. Those Zeuhl bassists were into controlled overdrive as an effect long before the metal crowd were into that concept.
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
Indeed, and glad that I can chat about Curved Air with somebody on here.
My girlfriend's father saw them in concert, opening for the Groundhogs, back in the early '70s. Wherever it was (somewhere in central Scotland) the crowd was so big that people ended up sitting on the stage. Apparently the Groundhogs were terrible that night and Curved Air outdid themselves.
Phantasmagoria seems the most dated. The common theory is that Darryl Way and Francis Monkman simply couldn't write music together, and had to split the albums down into each camp. However I think they simply couldn't get all their ideas down on the page, and reconcile their love of Terry Riley, Stockhausen, Beatles or whoever else. I really like their debut album the most, as it seems so precious and precocious. It is their proof-of-concept record; like the Roxy Music debut. I have the newly reissued version with the bonus tracks, and honestly I didn't need four versions of 'It Happened Today' and two or three of 'Vivaldi'.
I like to buy early issues of albums on vinyl to avoid those "bonus tracks", must add Curved Air first two albums to my vinyl shopping list.
Francis Monkman himself did the remastering. It is worth it as the 2nd and 3rd albums have DVDs rather than bonus audio disks, though each CD has a couple of bonus tracks tacked on.
I just saw Brand X perform 2 nights ago. Percy was amazing.
- Dec 21, 2007
- 15,222
- 45,010
- Disclosures
- Lark in the Morning Instructional Videos; Audix Microphones
They don't seem to be coming to the Left Coast of the USA. I'm bummed.
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
Percy Jones and John Goodsall, I am extremely jealous. Who is on drums?
I never thought I would be able to see them live either, but I saw them twice in Osaka, Japan in 2005, and twice in San Francisco - 2015 & 2016, the second one being the same as the one you saw. That double-single-coil-P bass pickup bass was cool!
Another interesting thing about the bassists of Magma is that most of them tuned to cello tuning (5ths instead of 4ths), I think starting with Jannik Top, so the "cello-like tone" is interesting!
They played the west coast in 2017 - hope they come back!
When the reunion started it was Kenwood Dennard, but now it's Kenny Grohowski - monster drummer!
I am so happy that so many Magma fans are here - I’ve never met another in real life.
I think almost all of my favorite "prog" bassists have already been mentioned:
- Chris Squire
- Jon Camp
- Ray Schulman
- John Wetton
- Tony Levin
- Mick Karn
- Percy Jones
(not sure those last two count as "prog" in the proper-noun-genre sense, aka Prog Rock ...but they're certainly both quite "progressive" in the literal sense.)
Some I haven't seen mentioned (I think) are:
- whoever it was who played with the Quebec band Et Cetera in their 1976 eponymous debut album. Definitely took a cue from Ray Schulman, but just exquisite execution and ideas. (Anybody know his/her name?)
- Matthew Gruenberg played in a band called Life On Earth (along with guitarist Reeves Gabrels) in the mid- to late-1980s after having been a founding member of the "Sarcastic Post Punk No Wave Death Disco" band The Dark (who were also pretty damn awesome). Life On Earth were like what would happen if Michael Manring, Allan Holdsworth, and David Bowie had decided to form a Peter Gabriel cover band. they'd probably be insulted if they heard me refer to them as "Prog" but eff 'em. Matt was badass.
- did anyone mention Hansford Rowe? I first heard him with Pierre Moerlin's Gong, and he's since gotten way into microtonal stuff. He, like Karn & Jones (above) seems to straddle that Prog Rock/Jazz-Fusion divide.
- Chris Squire
- Jon Camp
- Ray Schulman
- John Wetton
- Tony Levin
- Mick Karn
- Percy Jones
(not sure those last two count as "prog" in the proper-noun-genre sense, aka Prog Rock ...but they're certainly both quite "progressive" in the literal sense.)
Some I haven't seen mentioned (I think) are:
- whoever it was who played with the Quebec band Et Cetera in their 1976 eponymous debut album. Definitely took a cue from Ray Schulman, but just exquisite execution and ideas. (Anybody know his/her name?)
- Matthew Gruenberg played in a band called Life On Earth (along with guitarist Reeves Gabrels) in the mid- to late-1980s after having been a founding member of the "Sarcastic Post Punk No Wave Death Disco" band The Dark (who were also pretty damn awesome). Life On Earth were like what would happen if Michael Manring, Allan Holdsworth, and David Bowie had decided to form a Peter Gabriel cover band. they'd probably be insulted if they heard me refer to them as "Prog" but eff 'em. Matt was badass.
- did anyone mention Hansford Rowe? I first heard him with Pierre Moerlin's Gong, and he's since gotten way into microtonal stuff. He, like Karn & Jones (above) seems to straddle that Prog Rock/Jazz-Fusion divide.
The crowd at the gig was interesting. Possibly 90% male, with a lot of obvious metalheads and some jazz guys as well (going by the t-shirts). A good few French expats as well!
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
Anyone speak Kobaïan?
No, but when I went with the kids to a paint an ornament thing, I made this. I am not a skilled painter of ornaments admittedly
I know the part of Theusz Hamtaahk you're talking about. That part is WICKED! I've tried playing that part a few times and found it helps to go jogging three or four times a week for two months before trying it again. Hard to believe he's not so well known.
There's a town in Texas named Zuehl. The U and the E are out of place, but it'd be great to have a Zeuhlfest out there.
Kenny Grohowsky. He was incredible. I actually listened to him more than anyone else on that stage, and you know that’s saying something. He was that good.
Me either - other than the random people at the shows I've been, none of whom I spoke to...
I think I got my first Magma album/CD around 1990 at Newbury Comics in Harvard Sq., Cambridge, Mass. - it was on the second floor in The Garage - it was Attahk, I have no idea why I got it, actually maybe because my keyboardist's friend got his job at a record store/company (not sure which) because he knew Kobaian on some level, which leads to the next quote:
I don't but wish I did and know someone who might!
I had a pin with the Magma symbol on my backpack when I was a grad student in Kyoto sometime around 2004 - closest I got to recognition was when on of the undergrads I was dealing with mistook it for the Star Wars Rebel Alliance symbol. Of course the story was much deeper...
