Jellyfish spilt milk

[jeff_bass28]

That was Eric Dover, he originally joined Jellyfish as a touring guitarist for the Spilt Milk tour. After they split up, he sang in Snakepit and then ID.

Roger Manning was keyboard player in Jellyfish and ID.

Eric Dover is now guitarist with Alice Cooper, talk about a varied career!

Eric Dover and Roger Joseph Manning started Imperial Drag. Manning did all the keyboards and Dover handled guitar and vocals.
Manning's also involved in The Moog Cookbook; they do really weirded-out covers on nothing but Moogs an other old analog synths. They did "Are You Gonna Go My Way" as a synth-polka! Interesting...
I remember a friend of mine in high school had a Jellyfish promo disk of one of their CD's, it might have been Spilt Milk, but I'm not sure-whatever was put out around '94/'95. It came in this really cool kinda psychedelic-looking water filled sleeve. I wanted that thing so bad! He just wouldn't give it up.


Somewhat similar to Jellyfish--anyone know of Seed? I think they only had 1 disk ("Ling" ha ha), but wow! Some of the songs weren't really the greatest, but everything else was great. Awesome bassist, Chad Salls; he played about half the album on fretless, and also sung lead on half. Don't know if they did anything after that, but I know Salls started up a band called Color (or Colour). Never heard them though.

 

[Basshole]

One of the best bands ever. So sad only two albums. Wow, what talent. Incredible recordings, awesome sounds, phenominal playing, brilliant writing. Astounding.

 

[MixBass]

Glad you "discovered" Jellyfish!

Seems like they were run over by the Grunge Rollercoaster and never made the impact they should have. Most of my musician friends love Spilt Milk, which is an incredible piece of work from start to finish. The production is amazing.

Sadly, I didn't hear about the band until after they were long gone as well....

Sums it up. Incredible band and record at the absolute most wrong time.

 

[Mr. Gone]

And apparently the bassist on spilt milk never played bass in his life till that album if this is true he must be fastest learner of all time

I believe Jason Falkner played most of the bass lines on the recording. I could be wrong though...

 

[PhR]

Falkner played most of the bass on "Bellybutton", Pattitucci plays the upright and Steve McDonald of Redd Kross plays on one track ("All I Want Is Everything"). Roger's brother Chris Manning joined for the tour (and cover shoot) and he had played very little bass before.

On "Spilt Milk" bass is played by Tim Smith. T-Bone Wolk is credited for "additional bass".

I agree, one of the best pop albums ever.

Check out Roger Manning's good website.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Murf]

I believe Jason Falkner played most of the bass lines on the recording. I could be wrong though...

Jason Falkner was LOOONG Gone before the spilt milk recordings..I've found out since that there were a lot of session musicians on Spilt Milk (I'd swear thats Pattitucci playing on " Russian hill") having said that I have live versions of "joining a fan club" ( full band and acoustic for a radio show..astounding harmonies) The Ghost at number one, Sabrina, Paste and Plato, The Glutton of Sympathy and a cover of BadFingers "No Matter What"...If you want 'em drop me a pm

(these are "board recordings" and as such were never released,the quality is variable..also I checked and they're in the public domain so I'm not infringing any copyrights)

cheers

Murf

 

[jeff_bass28]

I just pulled a bunch of "Spilt Milk' songs off of LimeWire...anyone have the song order handy???

 

[Mr. Gone]

Jason Falkner was LOOONG Gone before the spilt milk recordings..

You're absolutely correct. I was actually talking about the Bellybutton album, which I didn't make clear in my post.

 

[iamthebassman]

I saw Jellyfish when they toured with World Party in '90(?), it was a great show and I chatted with them after their set. Andy Sturmer, the drummer/singer does the theme song for the cartoon "Teen Titans".

 

[chris4001asat]

Song order......
Hush
Joining a fan club
Sebrina, paste and Plato
New mistake
Glutton of sympathy
Ghost at #1
Bye, bye, bye
all is forgiven
Russian Hill
He's my best friend
Too much, too little, too late
Brighter day


Smash...try to find Bellybutton...I actually prefer that over Spilt Milk. Production wise, Split milk rules, but I also think it's a little more "artsy". Bellybutton is a little more staright ahead pop.

 

[jeff_bass28]

A bit o/t, but also in the 'killer quirky pop/rock bands that should've been huge', does anyone else dig a band called Shudder To Think?

Don't remember much about them, other than the bald guy.

New Model Army?

 

[matrok]

If anyone else thinks "The King Is Half Undressed" to be a great song, what other tunes of their do you dig?

I really like the whole Bellybutton CD, but my favorites are "That is Why","Baby's Coming Back", and "The Man I Used To Be".

 

[chris4001asat]

I really like the whole Bellybutton CD, but my favorites are "That is Why","Baby's Coming Back", and "The Man I Used To Be".

Big ditto on those three. Anyone know how they got that bass sound on That Is why? I'm thinking flatwounds and then compressed to smithereens....But it's just a guess.

 

[matrok]

Anyone know how they got that bass sound on That Is why?.

I'd love to know, that is a really great tone. I've gotta get a P clone to put my spare Reverend pups in and string it up with flats.

 

[dfp]

another log on this old fire... first, a little off topic b/c i wanna talk about Bellybutton...

from the liner notes of Jellyfish Fan Club box set:

"Jason [Falkner] and Redd Kross's Steve McDonald had played most of the [bass] parts on the [Bellybutton] album."

so, Chris Manning became the bass player for the Bellybutton tour, he's quoted in the box set liner notes, referring to the song "Now She Knows She's Wrong": "This was my favorite bass part to play - a creative masterpiece in my book. Thanks Steve!"

so maybe Steve McDonald played on more than just "All I Want Is Everything?" i have no idea, just noting the obvious possibility.

and it seems pretty likely that it's Pattitucci on "Bedspring Kiss", and probably The Man I Used To Be... everything else i'd say it's a toss up, Jason or Steve.

regardless, bass tone and note choice is pretty much uber-awesome on every track. I heard Bellybutton and Spilt Milk both around the time i was getting started on bass, and they both have been touchstones of pop bass excellence for me ever since, mostly for note choice and phrasing...

but more recently i'm going back to their records and really thinking about tones... i sorta rejected the growly-bass paradigm years ago for a more bottom heavy concept... more related to what i want to hear and feel while i'm playing. but as a listener, those growling tones on Bellybutton really grab the ear...

 

[worxforme]

I remember telling people, "These guys are going to be the next Beatles"...just like the time I passed on the opportunity to buy Microsoft stock before they went big, I was wrong.

But they were fantastic.

 

[dfp]

and back to Spilt Milk, perfect bass lines on every track, of course, but a more consistent and very distinctive bass tone, making me wonder if T-Bone Wolk wasn't on every track and Tim Smith just played it all live on tour? anyone in touch w/ Tim Smith these days?

what's got me thinking about this album again, besides the fact that I listen to it now and again, is the bass tone. does anyone have any idea what that tone comes from? i'm thinking, played w/ a pick (T Bone Wolk), flatwounds (T Bone Wolk) and MAYBE played on a hollow body (Hofner violin bass?, which i know T Bone Wolk sometimes played).

I'm really curious if anyone else hears a hollow body type of thud to the tone, or if it might just be the nature of T Bone's pick attack on flatwound or even slightly muted strings? i think flats w/ a foam mute and a pick gets pretty close to this sound, and once you get in that realm it seems to matter less exactly what bass you're using, so does anyone hear anything that sounds really specific to a certain thing?

cheers!

 

[Hoover]

I really like the whole Bellybutton CD, but my favorites are "That is Why","Baby's Coming Back", and "The Man I Used To Be".

One of the bands I've been playing in lately covers "The Man I Used To Be". Wonderful opportunity to explore really big spaces.

And +1 to whoever said Spilt Milk was "one of the best pop albums ever." It really is an astonishingly well-crafted album on every level.

 

[Barkless Dog]

I bought it on I tunes. Nice album, reminds me more Queen & 10CC than Beatles, but really well crafted & performed material.

Could of been the next Queen.

 

[Baleen]

what's got me thinking about this album again, besides the fact that I listen to it now and again, is the bass tone. does anyone have any idea what that tone comes from? i'm thinking, played w/ a pick (T Bone Wolk), flatwounds (T Bone Wolk) and MAYBE played on a hollow body (Hofner violin bass?, which i know T Bone Wolk sometimes played).

I'm really curious if anyone else hears a hollow body type of thud to the tone, or if it might just be the nature of T Bone's pick attack on flatwound or even slightly muted strings? i think flats w/ a foam mute and a pick gets pretty close to this sound, and once you get in that realm it seems to matter less exactly what bass you're using, so does anyone hear anything that sounds really specific to a certain thing?

I saw pictures or a live performance video that had what I’m pretty sure is this bass: Baldwin Burns Jazz Bass
Invalid Link Removed

The cool sound I think is out of phase pickups. This bass has an option with two pickups out of phase, but all the bottom’s gone. So I added the neck pickup to that combo and it has heft with a little out of phase hollowness that feels something like the bass on Spikt Milk.

Regardless, it’s an awesome record with killer bass!