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Ronnie Lane... most underrated bassist ever?

FromTheBassMent

FromTheBassMent

Those who can, play bass.
Jan 19, 2010
1,531
48
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Providence, RI
#1
Okay, so you've heard this track a million times... and why not? This band was on FIRE circa 1971, and I think a cogent argument could be made for early-70's Faces being the greatest rock and roll band ever. But try listening to this and tuning OUT all of the stuff that you normally hook on to (Ronnie Wood's sick guitar tone, Ian's explosive electric piano part, and Rod the Mod turning in one of the best vocal tracks in history), and just focus on what Mr. Lane was up to. Melodic, inventive, groove-a-licious, and with a tone that makes you just want to cry. Check out other stuff form this era, and Rod's early solo career (e.g., Every Picture Tells A Story). Ronnie Lane was a freakin MONSTER. He has been a huge inspiration to me as a bassist for forty years. I often wonder why he's not discussed more when we talk about the all-time greats. What an inspiring player... God rest his soul.

 
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#3
Love Ronny "plonk" Lane. Love just how dirty his tone got with the Faces. I have wondered if he got a few tips from Ronnie Wood who was playing bass with Rod with the Jeff Beck Group before the Faces and also sounded similar (see "Boots of Spanish leather" for the other Ronnie). My faves with Lane are:

I'm losing you


Three button hand me down (if you listen carefully you can hear 2 bass tracks in this)
 
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#5
I was *always* tuned in to this. I credit Ronnie's performance on "Stay With Me" as the reason I became a bass player. Maybe that's overstating it a bit, but that song was an epiphany moment for me. The loopy gallop, the drunken climbs, the rude tone. It was this performance that opened my ears as to how cool and subversive bass could be, how much fun stuff could be going on down below. I knew right then I wanted to THAT! I owe this man a huge dept; thanks Ronnie

:bassist:
 
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#6
Ronnie's playing is as understated as it is underrated. In fact, I think the Faces often get relegated to being a footnote in the Rod Stewart story, but at the time they were as big a touring act as the Who or Led Zeppelin. It's often surprising to me, the lack of acclaim they get. I think they tend to downplay their wonderful, charming musicianship for stories of looning and drinking. In particular, some of the more acoustic moments- songs like "Richmond" or Ronnie's "Debris" are just gorgeous and heartfelt. And then you listen to things like their version of the Temptations "Losing You" and you realize how sad it is that Ronnie Wood became such a caricature of himself for so many years. And poor Kenney Jones took the blame for a pair of subs-standard Who albums and for not being Keith Moon, but he was fantastic in the Faces (Small and otherwise)

I am actually opening up for Mac next week in Boston (which I'm quite excited about) and he did an album of Ronnie Lane songs a few years ago, so I'm hoping to get to hear some of those gems live.
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#18
I think I'm Losing You is Ronnie Wood, that's not the Faces, that's off Rod's solo album Every Picture and Ronnie lane is not on that album.
A lot of the bass on Stewart's first bunch of solo work was Ronnie Wood.
On topic, I dug Ronnie Lane too. He was a big part of the Faces alchemy.
 

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