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The Family Man

#21
What I was saying earlier was take away bass and vocals and the songs would sound quite similar due to the style of guitars, percussion and keyboards. Where the vocal melody is flowing and catchy, Familyman's bass melody is quite sparse.
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yes that is very true...
on the same basis you could tell a lot of bmw's tracks by the bass line alone, Jammin' for example, so you're right, he must be grasping the melody firmly with two hands!
 
#23
true.. mind you there's many out thre who do marvelous things with very few notes... Sting for example is another master of the simple bass line... but again i dont think many appreciate what an incredible song writer he is

...despite the fact that he's just andy summers bass player ;)
 
#24
"walking on the moon" was the first thought I had when you mentioned Andy Summer's bassist ;) ....so empty.
Which reminds me, Funk music (when played properly) tends to make masterful use of not playing. One word...... BOOTSY.

Now I like funk in small doses from time to time, I'm no fanatic but I LOVE the fact that the bassist drops out and let's his silence grow so you feel it more when he comes back in.
Something Bootsy did perfectly with P-Funk and James Brown.
 
#25
Familyman was so importent to Bob's music, that's why I will never forgive Rita Marley for taking his name off of songwriting credits, and not paying him his royalties. I heard Familyman won his lawsuit......but I still think Rita is from Babylon;)
 
#26
but I still think Rita is from Babylon
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I asked Mat what he thought about this(who's matt? see previous post) He started talking about How the men treated the women and and such saying that they were masoginistic(sp?)talking about how some of the Lyrics Bob wrote (that he had the I three's singing) were for some other woman that he had had affairs with. then He brought up that the Person who shot Carly was a contracted killer who was paid by Carly's wife!

There is no anger like a woman scorned:hmm:


AJ
 
#29
Which reminds me, Funk music (when played properly) tends to make masterful use of not playing. One word...... BOOTSY.
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It's interesting you should say this, because I think Bootsy is very poor at "playing space". I Have much JB for the early stuff with the Famous Flames all thorugh to the 70's disco era... I avoided the 80-'s stuff like the plague!

There's plenty of space in his mid-to-late 60's material, "Aint It Funky Now" and "Get It Together" etc, but the 70's stuff has, IMO, almost too much bass!
Bootsy only ever seems to let up because JB makes him do so. He was like 18 or summit at the time and was kept under a strict regime by JB - as many of his musicians were.
The tight JB groove of tracks like sex machine and stuff, is in my opinion, mostly down to JB himself being a great arranger - he forced them to hold back and it worked! IMO of course.

Bootsy's solo material, of which I have 5 albums including "live at louisville '74" (brilliant!), I think is a perfect example of Bootsy's style - which in my opinion is overplaying.
The whole show is ALL BOOTSY!!! It's Bootsy on vocals, Bootsy on bass and he just plays the most outrageous, over-the-top basslines you ever heard!

Personally I think the best example of tasteful funk playing is George Porter Junior and Joseph Modeliste (it's always a pair!) from The Meters - the album "Rejuvination" has some amazing pocket playing - SO tight and SO tasteful!

Boosty IMO, was OTT in everything he did - and still does. there are some great groove son there, but much of the time I think he doesn't know when to stop playing!
 
#30
Howard, I'm gonna have to claim ignorance of youth here. I thought I knew what Bootsy was about but obviously not. What I've heard of his playing consists of:

Tear the roof off (and another P-Funk song or 2)
Groove is in the heart :)
The one that goes: C AA D dAA (that just loops for the whole song)
and James Brown ...and i'm sure you're right, James was really the master behind the songs and more than just a mere frontman.

I reckon I'll try and find some of the real Bootsy

......before i go runnin around talking like I know what i'm talking about.;) :D
 
#31
Well me ol' china... my advice would be to go for the following albums:

Bootsy: Player Of The Year
Bootsy: Ahh.. the name is is Bootsy Baby

...and ANY James Brown from the 70's!

Personally I have a few Funkadelic albums too, but the material of theirs I like best is actually that without Bootsy! :eek:

...but that Meters Cd is well worth buying. Brilliant. In fact I might learn some lines from it when I gets me self home :) ...easy to learn, difficult to master!

Groove is in the heart = aint that a great bassline, and a great song. I bought the album off the back of that song... dont make the same mistake!
 
#39
Originally posted by jerry
Ahhhh....Family Man.....the Jamerson of reggae!
Ever notice how guitar players don't dig reggae......they don't seem to appreciate the space in the groove;)
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Its kind of funny, but at every band practice, I can tell when the practice is about to end because everyone breaks out into a Reggae feel. Last week we were playing some Stone Temple Pilots or something. Maybe Plush... And by the end of the song it was like:

Blink. BooBoomBoom... Boom-Blink! "And I'm ah feelin' baby" Blink! BooBoomBoom... "Like ah you wanna go smoke some" Blink!...

;)
 

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