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Question about a fretless tone on Kate Bush's "Dreaming"

ishouldbeking

ishouldbeking

Feb 5, 2007
2,090
32
#1
Let me preface this thread by saying I know very little about fretless basses or playing them, only what i've picked up from seeing them around, and from the minimal time i've messed around on them at stores. Anyway, there's a part of one of my band's songs where I play a high melodic lead line unaccompanied, and it leads into a full band instrumental section (we play indie rock, this is basically the bridge of the song). I mainly play with a pick, but i tend to play this part fingerstyle, but even still I was looking for a way to get this part to sound more interesting, and to gel with the vibe of the rest of the song more.

So i had this song on my brain, and i had some free time at work, and for whatever reason i started watching youtube vids of early Kate Bush stuff. Anyway, when i got to the song "Breathing" (edit: not "dreaming", ignore the title of this thread), i heard high lyrical stuff being played on a fretless and I immediately was struck by how cool it'd be to record this song and use a fretless for this section, in a similar fashion to the kate bush song.

Anyway, i don't care about doing a dead on impersonation of the tone or playing, but i thought I'd ask you guys what type of bass/amp/fx/settings this guy was using, or at least help point me in the right direction. My instinct says its some kind of 80s active bass, with chorus, but i don't really know if that's even right.

Here's the clip. You can specifically hear the 'good bits' at 1:10-1:23, 1:35-1:45, 2:36-2:55, and 3:48-4:15... but the whole song is pretty cool.
 
#2
A bit of heavy googling and poring over interviews leads me to believe it was John Giblin who played on this particular track, rather than Kate Bush's mainstay/boyfriend-at-the-time Del Palmer. I found a picture of Giblin with an Ampeg AUB... i wonder if that's what he used?
 
#3
I think that the key to that sound is a fretless bass (obviously), some chorus and a light touch with your picking hand anchored up on the neck. That's where you get maximum mwah.
I'd also lean more towards the bridge pickup.
 
#6
Ah Kate Bush !
The focus point of my toughts while in my teens !:D:p
...and a one of the main reason I'm a fretless player now!

That tone is mostly neck pickup with a whole lotta chorus.
I'd say it's a Wal bass. Hip in those days, but pure speculation.
 
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#8
fokof said:
I'd say it's a Wal bass. Hip in those days, but pure speculation.
Click to expand...

Good guess; John Giblin did indeed play a Wal in the 80s.
He subsequently played a Zon in the latter part of that decade.

And (here's speculation on my part) since I've never heard of a bassist whose first instrument was a Wal, I'll bet he had something else before he acquired that instrument.

None of this answers the OPs question definitively...
 
#11
BassBod said:
Thats Alan Thompson playing on the Youtube clip - a JM longtimer...
Click to expand...

Yes, Giblin played only on the album. It's Alan Thomson, 'though.
allan.jpg


"Breathing" is a love song. I especially like the end where Roy Harper sings the backing vocals.
 

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