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I'm listening to Michael Anthony live right now...

terribilino

terribilino

Nov 22, 2008
458
66
#1
... from my parents' balcony here in Halifax, N.S. Chickenfoot is kicking off their North American tour here, of all places. Couldn't beliveve it. Listening to it I feel transported back to high school in the 80s.

Satriani is off the hook, of course.

Sammy is quite the showman, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Anthony's mix is mud from where I am sitting - it's got to go through some trees and over the CBC building to get to me. Seems to be holding down his end, though. Is he a respected bassist? I never paid that much attention to him.

Chad Smith - fine, he just has to keep time for Satriani's solos, I guess.

Anyway, fun sounding band. Why the hell not?
 
#4
I've heard some of the Chickenfoot stuff on the Radio (Planet Rock) and MA definitely seems to be stepping out more than with VH. The last track I heard had MA playing some unison stuff with JS, nice. He is a somewhat under rated bassist as with VH he did just what the bass is required to do in a rock setting (no doubt directed by EVH) hopefully with Chickenfoot he will be able to stretch a little more. Great backing singer too.
 
#11
I never thought of Mike as a super star bass player before, but I thought he was a solid player and singer. But, if he can double what Steve Vai does note for note, then it shows he either held back on us or was told to. I wish him continued success with Chickenfoot. Way to go!

FG
 
#12
fretlessguy said:
But, if he can double what Steve Vai does note for note, then it shows he either held back on us or was told to
Click to expand...

I agree- but I think you mean Joe Satriani :) Besides- Eddie is no slouch, either... I would put him right there w/ Joe. I think anyone who really knows Van Halen's complete body of work gives Mad Anthony credit for being an excellent player. No one can boogie better than Mike!
 
#13
I have always liked Mike, been a fan from VH's first record... he isn't a Billy Sheehan type guy, but he never pretended to be, he was playing a more 'classic' role on bass, in line with his influences (Jack Bruce, etc)... and that was fine, Eddie supplied the fretboard pyrotechnics and Mike did his boogie thing.

That said, VH have talked about how during their audition of Mike to join, they threw every weird time signature and change they could think of at him, but he handled it.

You can hear his ability to groove, despite the maelstrom going on around him, on tracks like 'Outta Love', 'Light Up The Sky' (Van Halen II), 'Loss Of Control' (Women And Children First)... there's some really cool playing on Fair Warning ('Dirty Movies', 'Sinner's Swing'), but I think that may be Eddie playing bass (?)
 
#14
I like him. I'm more familiar with his work in Van Halen, I haven't heard much of Chickenfoot but I really like Satch and Chad is cool too. I've always really loved Van Halen and Michael Anthony's background vocals topped it all of for me.
 
#18
Anthony's mix is mud from where I am sitting
Click to expand...

For some reason, even with their early work with producer Ted Templeman, he was always deep in the mix and hard to hear.

I think as far as VH was concerned, he was a great fit. Agree 100% on the vocals, and I don't think VH needed yet another giant ego in the band along with DLR, EVH, and to a lesser extent, Alex. He seems to be the only guy who was never kicked out of the band or that someone wasn't ticked off at. Nor do I think an all over the place bassist would have worked with their very commercial sound. I give Mike props in that context.

As far as being a respect bassist, reviews are pretty mixed. We were just discussing this in another thread not two days ago. I saw him do two solos live, and they were really a joke. I am pretty confident half the players in TB could have done a more meaningful solo. I've never been impressed with him from a technical perspective, but clearly his philosophy on bass as a supporting role helped shaped the VH sound, and how can you criticize his choices with all the success he's enjoyed?
 

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