Most Underrated Bassists

[grunz7]

Al Slavik is a bass player from vienna that I somehow lost track of after I moved to the US (I am originally also from Vienna) and stumbled again across his music some months ago (new cd out on cdbaby) - he lives now in Australia and seems to be still quite active ... I always liked his songwriting and singing but really liked his bass playing even more - his sense of groove and phrasing is just great - check out:

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also his web site with samples from his cds:

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some gooves in this song
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He also plays the stick:

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Cheers to Al

 

[grunz7]

Oh yeah - I always liked that song and the bass grooves on it a lot - it's already a little bit late 80s and early 90s - but well ...

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[Rockmusician]

Gene Simmons - Kiss
Tom Hamilton - Aerosmith
Craig MacGregor - Foghat
John Deacon - Queen
Mel Schacher - Grand Funk Railroad
Bruce Hall - REO Speedwagon
Bob Raymond - Sugarloaf
Adam Clayton - U2

 

[Thumpking]

Ross Valory of Journey has to have some of the most memorable bass lines of all time!!!!Very underated in my opinion.

M

Yes sir

 

[Steven1207]

Tracy Pew from Nick Cave's old band the Birthday Party is a really solid bass player who is often overlooked. Many of the band's songs are held together by his bassline alone.

 

[4-Bang'er]

Nathan Watts - Stevie Wonder
Verdine White -Earth,Wind & Fire
John Deacon - Queen
Carmine Rojas -circa 1980's w/ David Bowie!
Mo Foster - session man
Anthony Jackson -session man
Sting
Alex Blake -Manhattan Transfer
and that grey haired guy from "Hee Haw" t.v. series! (1970s-80's) what a solid player with a gr8 sense of timing and sound!

 

[cnltb]

Mo Foster is a great call I think!

 

[4-Bang'er]

Mo Foster is a great call I think!

Thx! I practice with Mo's palying on the old 1981 James Bond soundtrack for the film "For Your Eyes Only" track 3-"Take me home" very mellow & beautiful bass work. Fretless of course,is a favorite.

 

[Musiclogic]

Mark Rutherford of Genesis. Fantastic. No Reply At All has a sick bassline.

Mike Rutherford was pretty good with Genesis too

 

[flyingfinbar]

Good call on John Deacon....it's tough being the bass player in a band with Freddie Mercury and Brian May!

 

[saladman]

Aside from those mentioned these guys are as obscure as the bands they are in..

Rainer Landfermann - pavor (also does black metal vocals for bethlehem)

Skoll- Ulver, Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende

Oliver holzwarth- Sieges Even, Session player for blindguardian

Mariousz Duda- bass and vocals for polish prog group riverside

Lars K. Norberg- Spiral Architect

Sean Malone- Cynic,Gordian knot

C.M. Botteri- bassist for the Norwegian avante-garde band In
The Woods...

 

[cnltb]

Thx! I practice with Mo's palying on the old 1981 James Bond soundtrack for the film "For Your Eyes Only" track 3-"Take me home" very mellow & beautiful bass work. Fretless of course,is a favorite.

I didn't know that he did james bond...
He did however recommend an acupuncturist to me once when i had shoulder troubles...
Real nice guy!

 

[steveksux]

No list of underrated bassists is complete without Gene Simmons.

No one has earned the distinction of being underrated as he has.

No one embodies his underratedness as a bass player so thoroughly...

Great performer and businessman though...

Randy

 

[shawn2000]

Roy Ruby (early steve miller band)
Fran Sheehan (early boston recordings)
Dug Pinnick (Kings-X)
Walter Becker (yep....he did play bass on many tracks!)
Graham Maby (can anyone say....sunday papers!)

Love Graham Maby, one of my all time favorites. Excellent!

Hate to burst your bubble on Mr. Sheehan, but the bass work on the early Boston records was done by Tom Scholz! Crazy, eh? And he is quite good.

I'll add one more. Colin Moulding from XTC. Listen to the bassline for Mayor of Simpleton, the guy is super.

 

[4-Bang'er]

I didn't know that he did james bond...
He did however recommend an acupuncturist to me once when i had shoulder troubles...
Real nice guy!

Oh, U actually have known Mo? cool, yea The Bill Conti Orchestra did the soundtrack and Mo did the bass work-even live on t.v. that year('81) on some awards show w/ Bill Conti -playing a song from some film up for an award. Pretty sure that was Mo? I was checkin' out the bass player who had glasses and kind of a curly fro thing like Mo use to have.

 

[BassBob2112]

Greg Lake

Roger Waters

Muzz Skillings (Living Color)

 

[cnltb]

Oh, U actually have known Mo? cool, yea The Bill Conti Orchestra did the soundtrack and Mo did the bass work-even live on t.v. that year('81) on some awards show w/ Bill Conti -playing a song from some film up for an award. Pretty sure that was Mo? I was checkin' out the bass player who had glasses and kind of a curly fro thing like Mo use to have.

Just met him a few times.
"known him" would be overstating it I recon.

He's also on what currently is my favorite jeff beck track-"The Pump"...

 

[Morgueasmic]

Dave Ellefson - Megadeth
Duff McKagan - Guns n' Roses/Velvet Revolver
Steve Harris - Iron Maiden
whoever played bass for The Clash
Frank Bello - Anthrax
Kim Deal - The Pixies
Kim Gordon - Somic Youth

 

[flyingfinbar]

Dave Ellefson - Megadeth
Duff McKagan - Guns n' Roses/Velvet Revolver
Steve Harris - Iron Maiden
whoever played bass for The Clash
Frank Bello - Anthrax
Kim Deal - The Pixies
Kim Gordon - Somic Youth

The coolest part about listening to all The Clash records is that you can actually hear Paul Simonon learning the instrument from album to album. LOVE The Clash, and I love Paul's bass playing.

 

[audiomitch]

Colin Moulding - XTC