Mark King

I'm a HUGE Mark King fan. The man rules!!!!

 

Mark King... writes some nice songs, puts some great lines in them, he's got a nice (although somewhat limited) voice...

Mark King... likes to play bass solos...

WHAM! SMACKETI-SMACKETI-SMACKETI-SMACKETI-RAKATAKAPAKATAKA-FRHRHRHRHRH-CHACKACHACKACHAKA...

BOOOORIIIING!

 

I'm not a fan of Level 42 either but Mark is a fantastic player. His tone is very thin for my tastes but his creativity and chops are great. He has a seemingly endless arsenal of slap licks and riffs he executes with mind numbing accuracy. Emotional? Maybe not the most but always interesting to listen to.

 

...and zero groove.

 

Not true

 

If we think of the same thing, I'm right and you're wrong. Whenever he's had a song to play to, he executes it very well indeed and I have no complaints. I do like many of his lines on his solo albums and the Level 42 songs. But it's when he's entering the spotlight as a improvisational soloist and tries to "give the audience what it wants" I become disturbed. If I wanted to hear a machine gun I would have watched an old war movie, at least those have a consistent rhythm.

 

You got a point there...

But I like him anyway. I grew up on his stuff.

...don't dare to draw certain conclusions - those definitely would not be true....

 

A bassist friend of mine found a JD Supernatural Mark King model 4 at a local pawnshop... for $600. I finally ot a chance to play it.

That is one seriously wicked bass. This was a perfect example of what a "wanker" bass is... and it doesn't have 7 strings. It was so easy to play percussively and quickly it was silly... and fun. It's now on my short list of basses I'm looking for.

BTW I heard he (my friend) traded it for a Czech Spector. No comment.

I like Mark King but will agree his style is pretty linear. He's definitely more in the Stanley Clarke camp than Bootsy

 

600 F'N DOLLARS! What a deal. Never played one. Never seen one in person. Maybe some day.

 

I've seen a few Jaydees in the UK looking pretty beaten up at low prices - I think they are very much out of fashion nowadays. I must say that I always liked the look of them from photos, but the ones I saw looked less impressive close up - they seemed to be poorly made - although it might have been the treatment that had been meted out on them?

 

Yeah, they probably are "old school" but, hey. I'd like to try one out. When were they in production? I'm one of the few Americans I know that actually owns a Status bass. They seem to be quite a rarity over here. No, not graphite. It has a maple neck with RW fretboard. I love the damn thing. Bruce, or anyone else from the U.K. have any idea when this particular style of Status basses went out of production? Mine is a 5 string. I was told it is a 90's model. I'm not sure of the particular model name.

Thanks.

 

"Headless" basses seem to have really gone out of fashion - although Status were famous for being one of the main proponents. I personally don't like then - sort of feels like your left hand is goig to "fall off" the end of the bass - just an illusion!

Bu the value of the headless Statuses has really plummetted and I suppose they all get lumped together - there are still quite a lot of Status basses available in the UK - I must have tried about 30 or 40 in shops in the last 2 -3 years. I like the way they feel and play, but they just don't get the tone I'm looking for.

The Status website has a lot of info on their various models - but I don't know anything about Jaydee

Try the following link :

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Backstage/3883/jaydee.html

 

I used to like his stuff a lot, but lost interest after they got a hit tune ("Something About You") and changed the whole package. The older stuff like "Level 42" ,"Pursuit Of Accidents" and "Standing In The Light" was much better, IMO.

Mark King can't groove? What a laugh.....

 

For all of you nay sayers out there, to each his own. However, no matter how you feel about him, you can't help but give him props for playing the patterns that he plays AND sing lead. If that's not not a big deal to you, I'd like to hear you do it.

 

I feel terribly misunderstood. Have you read what I've written? He DOES hold a groove, he DOES write nice lines, the fact that he sings and plays simultaneously and flawlessly is AMAZING, but then he ruins that beautiful picture with snippets like THIS which hold no groove. Wanker alert!

But the audience loves it.