Well, regardless of your opinion, Mark King is going to be remembered as being funkier and more influential than every one of us in this thread. Hail to the king.
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I just cant help myself...Mark King
- Thread starter manbass
- Start date
Well, regardless of your opinion, Mark King is going to be remembered as being funkier and more influential than every one of us in this thread. Hail to the king.
Well, there is so much that's different between Mark King and Larry Graham/Louis Johnson - in terms of the musical role they play in their bands - that it's difficult to rate them comparatively. All three are thumb guys, but that's where the similarities end.
IMO, Mark King is not exactly a bass player. His job in Level 42 is to sing, and as a soloist playing the bass. Most of his bass lines are ornamental, percussive, and as such (as you say) his bass EQ is done in such a way that it does not serve the normal purpose of a bass, at least not well. In most cases, the "bass" role in Level 42 music is served by synth lines, and Mark doubles those synth lines sometimes. Perhaps a comparison with Stanley Clarke or someone who records and tours with a second bass player playing underneath them would be more apt.
All that said, what I have liked most about Mark King is that there is really nobody out there like him in the sense that there's nobody contributing to their music on the bass in the same way he does and has done.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
wow, i am surprised at the number of folks slagging him for the tone of a live gig posted on youtube. hardly a definitive gauge of someone's actual tone - there's no telling where that feed for the recording came from - what is going to the board is not necessarily what is going to be heard by the audience, and jeeze, converted into an flv file? not exactly hifi.
I hate to say it, but having seen a couple of the more recent live DVDs, including the 'Retroglide' tour, his tone really is like that! Very much an aquired taste. The Stanly Clarke comparison was spot on - Stanley plays a tenor bass for a lot of his stuff, allowing him to solo in a higher register with another bassist, usually standard tuned, handling the low end. Instead, Mark King uses standard tuned basses EQ'd to give him that 'higher register' vibe and the keys handle some of the bottom end. That's another reason to check out his earlier work - he still had a similar approach but not quite as extreme.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
i hear ya, but it just sounds 80's to me - nothing wrong with that. if folks want larry graham, they should patronize his recordings 
. personally i enjoyed this stuff when it came out, even before i played bass, and i enjoy it now. it's like mcdonalds - you don't go expecting sushi.
. personally i enjoyed this stuff when it came out, even before i played bass, and i enjoy it now. it's like mcdonalds - you don't go expecting sushi. Hail indeed. But I think you are missing the point of these comments that claim that Mark isn't funky. It's not to put him down or diminish his influence on music - it's just that some of us *really* can't hear any funk in his playing. And I'm talking about his slap playing in particular. It's a matter of opinion, I know, but so's the question of whether Yngwie is funky or not. I happen to think he's not.
I have been playing bass for more than 20 years, and one of the reasons I started was Mark King's playing. I've studied music and played in bands in Europe, Australia and the States, but never once have I heard anyone around me - not even guitarists
- mention the word "funky" in connection with Mark King or Level 42. I'm afraid Mark won't be remembered as funky around these parts. But influential - hell yeah!As for the people who aren't fond of his tone, it definitely is an acquired taste. Though if you see him live, you'll not it is still snappy and cuts right through. It works in a live mix and you can clearly hear everything he does, so I guess he doesn't mind not having a whole deal of low end.
The only time I ever heard Mark with bad tone was at Irvine Meadows Ampitheater opening for Steve Winwood. Level 42's sound that evening was atrocious- absolutely nothing clear or snappy about his bass tone, until you got near the stage. From my lawn seat, he may as well have been playing an old Gibson EBO with tapewound strings with a rubber pick. Total, classic "Sea of Mud" bass tone. I was pi55ed that I couldn't hear him, so I walked down and found a seat about 5 rows back, directly in front of the bass rig. I still FELT the rumble'o'mud, but it kicked like a mule where I was.
The first time I saw them was at the Coach House on their "World Machine" tour- they actually blew the house mains, and turned their monitors around to face the audience for the last two songs of the nite. Got to hang with Mark a little bit, and he showed me how to do his triplets. Invited me to the next nite's show at the Bacchanal in San Diego. Had I not had a gig to play the next nite, I would have been there!
The last time I saw them was at The Palace in Hollyweird, October 1st, 1987. The bass felt like you were being punched in the chest really hard, but you could hear the string windings! We hung out after the show, Mark bought me and my GF at the time a bottle of champagne for her b-day. Great guy, he was very humble, and remembered me from the Coach House three years ago.
On his tone- it does indeed cut through the dense mix that is Level 42. It's not for everyone, and it's not totally supportive. It is the ultimate "RIGHT UP IN YO FACE!" tone, but to their credit, they do supplement the bottom end with synth bass where needed. He is the focus of the band, and his tone reflects that.
The first time I saw them was at the Coach House on their "World Machine" tour- they actually blew the house mains, and turned their monitors around to face the audience for the last two songs of the nite. Got to hang with Mark a little bit, and he showed me how to do his triplets. Invited me to the next nite's show at the Bacchanal in San Diego. Had I not had a gig to play the next nite, I would have been there!
The last time I saw them was at The Palace in Hollyweird, October 1st, 1987. The bass felt like you were being punched in the chest really hard, but you could hear the string windings! We hung out after the show, Mark bought me and my GF at the time a bottle of champagne for her b-day. Great guy, he was very humble, and remembered me from the Coach House three years ago.
On his tone- it does indeed cut through the dense mix that is Level 42. It's not for everyone, and it's not totally supportive. It is the ultimate "RIGHT UP IN YO FACE!" tone, but to their credit, they do supplement the bottom end with synth bass where needed. He is the focus of the band, and his tone reflects that.
Two more reasons for the thin tone which haven't been mentioned yet:
1) Mark uses ridiculously light gauge strings: .030-.090
2) Since 2001 (the year of the OP's video), he's been using the new Status "Kingbass", which has a short scale, tiny body, low-mass single string bridges, and no headstock. I really wish he would go back to any of his older basses, they all sounded better IMHO.
Having said that, I actually saw Mark on this very tour, only 2 nights after that concert was filmed, and the bass sounded HUGE in the club! It was the loudest, most clear and articulate bass sound I've ever heard at a concert. The lack of sustain on the Kingbass still bugs me, but Mark's FOH sound engineer definitely knows how to mix bass!
1) Mark uses ridiculously light gauge strings: .030-.090
2) Since 2001 (the year of the OP's video), he's been using the new Status "Kingbass", which has a short scale, tiny body, low-mass single string bridges, and no headstock. I really wish he would go back to any of his older basses, they all sounded better IMHO.
Having said that, I actually saw Mark on this very tour, only 2 nights after that concert was filmed, and the bass sounded HUGE in the club! It was the loudest, most clear and articulate bass sound I've ever heard at a concert. The lack of sustain on the Kingbass still bugs me, but Mark's FOH sound engineer definitely knows how to mix bass!
I used to use his signature Superwound Funkmasters back in the late '80s. They had tapers on all the strings and were available in that gauge. I had some on my Fender P-bass, no wonder I could never get a good tone out of it. But I could just about bend the G string up a minor third at the 10th fret!
+1. If there is a bass out there that sounds strictly like its electronics, that is it. Almost Steinberger-ish.
He'll be remembered as funky, only by those who automatically equate slapping a bass (no matter how its done) with being funky. Ive never heard him do anything that even approaches 'funky'.
Having said that...I love his voice and greatly admire his monumental ability to play complex parts while he is singing.
john turner
You don't want to do that. Trust me.
geddy lee used to use superwound funkmasters of that gauge on his old wals - i think the active instruments made the difference there, with the super light gauges. i tried em on the ric and jazz that i was playing back then and they just didn't work at all lol.
Yeah, it's weird, there really *are* are people out there who genuinely do equate slap/pop exclusively with funk. Despite his rep, King is not limited to slap/pop - but he's also clearly not a funk player. However, he is funk *influenced*.
I don't know about that. I'm certainly not in with that crowd-for instance, you could hardly call some on Jonas Hellborg's slap stuff "funky". But then I don't know how anyone could listen to say, Micro Kid and not say that Mark King has the funk.
Can you blame them? I absolutely hate it when a bassist sounds and plays different than everyone else. Conform n00b!!!!!
Eh, that tone seems to be what he has on every live clip I've heard of him... and actually, on the studio recordings as well. It just seems to be upper mids with almost no bass. I'm all for doing something different... I just don't enjoy it.
... the lyrics too... my god.
Big Mark King fan here, have been since I first picked up the bass in 1984. Having seen Level 42 live twice (and again this October!) there's more to the band than MK, a great and extremely tight band.
As for MK's tone, I guess it's an acquired taste. Personally, I think his later Alembic tone was to die for (Live at the Isle of Wight DVD for example), but I don't like the early Jaydee stuff much, to upper middy.
I saw them in the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, and think Mark had fantastic tone then.
As for MK's tone, I guess it's an acquired taste. Personally, I think his later Alembic tone was to die for (Live at the Isle of Wight DVD for example), but I don't like the early Jaydee stuff much, to upper middy.
I saw them in the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, and think Mark had fantastic tone then.
