The Best Fretless Tunes

[BrandonA119]

Besides jazz can anyone recommend some good records with fretless on them?

I've been listening to PSP and Paul Young (Pino) but need some more inspiration.

Thanks!

 

[naruki]

Primus - Tommy the Cat

 

[devilock76]

... and Jerry was a Race Car Driver, which IMO is much easier to tackle than Tommy the Cat.

Ken

 

[BrandonA119]

Hmmmm NOT what I had in mind...

 

[Dr. Love]

Paul Simon - Graceland. Especially "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, Bakithi Kumalo is a monster.

 

[MisterWraith]

Do you like really heavy music at all? If so, Obscura's albums Cosmogenesis and Omnivium have some Very good Fretless bass playing in a technical Death Metal context.

 

[devilock76]

Bill Wyman played fretless I believe so you could look to early Stones tunes. Is there a specific genre you are looking for?

Ken

 

[BrandonA119]

80s or 90s pop I guess, just something simple. Not jazz or hard rock/metal. Definitely no slapping...

 

[OldGtrNovice]

Sunset Grill by Don Henley...

 

[Demon_Hunter]

Tony Franklin plays some killer fretless with Blue Murder and The Firm.

The Firm-Radioactive - YouTube
Blue Murder - Valley of the Kings

 

[SLivinghouse]

Check out Thomas Dolby's bassist Matthew Seligman. Similar to Pino. Check out the Flat Earth album. Songs like Screen Kiss, Mulu the Rain Forrest, I scare myself. The best nobody has ever heard of bassist I know of.

 

[handofseven]

+1 to Seligman on Dolby's Flat Earth... Good stuff.

 

[MisterWraith]

The Police too.

 

[Rock-Bassman]

Most of Pearl Jam's albums VS. and Ten, Jeff Ament is seriously underated as far as bassists go, he's why I play fretless!

 

[bunnykeeper]

Well, I suspect they were recorded with keyboards, but the Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now" and the Commodores' "Night Shift" might sound even better on a real fretless bass.

 

[driftingupward]

The song "St. Teresa" by Joan Osborne". Mark Egan I believe

 

[Josh Pelican]

Any Death songs with Steve DiGiorgio.
Any Cynic song.

 

[SantiagoGT15]

Manu Katche
Casiopea
John coltrane
Gary willis
Weather report

Etc

 

[BassyBill]

Check out Thomas Dolby's bassist Matthew Seligman. Similar to Pino. Check out the Flat Earth album. Songs like Screen Kiss, Mulu the Rain Forrest, I scare myself. The best nobody has ever heard of bassist I know of.

That is a superb album with some great bass playing. A lot of what you hear on the record is little snippets of sampled phrases that Dolby sort of tacked together, but so what? It's still great bass playing.

For the OP, check out Percy Jones in Brand X:

Brand X - Born Ugly - YouTube

And, of course, Jaco. For me, Havona is still the greatest track on fretless BG ever recorded.

 

[Buxtehude]

John Giblin on Kate bush's Babooshka. Great baseline from a great player.