That's pretty much all there is to it. I mean, it's been discussed in the past, but we all need a constant reminder that we will never be as good as Tony. He can tear it up, but he doesn't. He plays the perfect bassline to every song he's ever played. I just bought Peter Gabriels greatest hits on CD (I have a bunch of his stuff on Vinyl) Whether his playing is barely there, or totally in your face, he rules every song. He, is just... Tony Levin. I wouldn't even call him an influence on me though because I know I'll never be that good. P.S. Aside from those Funk Fingers, how does he get that tone! Besides being the greatest bass player, he has the greatest tone! Is that DI box he has that important?
What about Jaco? What about Chris Squire? What about Flea? There are so many good bassists it's impossible to say that one is definetly the best.
Yeh, right then. Why have I not heard of him if he's so damn good then? And trust me, I know my bassists.
I'm VERY surprised you havn't heard of him then, because that means you probably havn't heard of King Crimson or Liquid Tension Experiment, among other things.
With all due respect, if you "know your bassists" then you will know of Tony Levin, whether you are a fan of his or not... therefore it must be presumed that you DON'T "know your bassists!" However, to address the original post - he is not the best, he is simply one of the "greats"
It's about time someone realises this. Flea is overrated, Tony is underrated. Flea was still wetting his bed when Tony was already a studio man.
I dig flea... but Tony IMO is a much better bassist. I think if you asked Flea directly, he'd agree too
I love Tony Levin. His lines are so graceful and grooving. He was a huge influence on my fingerstyle playing and he was a musical influence even before I started playing bass (I've been listening to King Crimson since 1st grade or so). Matt, Does the greatest hits cd have "Don't Give Up" on it? I have Peter Gabriel's "Secret World Live" both on CD and on video and he's awesome on that. I also have this CD of a Christian artist named Jennifer Knapp that has Tony on bass and Vinnie Cauliuta on drums. It sounds so good...those two guys are basically the reason I bought that CD. Just goes to show that Tony doesn't just deliver the goods on his main gigs such as Crimso, Gabriel and Seal but also on his everyday sessions. brad cook
Let's not get into the "Who's played on more albums?" thing again. We had a whole thread about that before and it just got tedious. Yes, we know that Jamerson, Palladino, Sklar, Levin and whoever else has played on a whole lot of albums. brad cook
lay off the kid... he's on'y 16/17. nonetheless, ask Les Claypool where he got his concept from and i bet he will tell you TONY LEVIN...or just watch the Primus DVD and listen to him playing SATORI IN TANGIER while warming up.
Whoever it was who said I won't have heard of King Crimson, of course I've bloody heard of them! LOL. I've heard of a lot of bassists, seeing as my dad was heavily into music through out the 70s, when some of the best bassists ever like Chris Squire, Jaco, etc... were about. I still think that Geezer Butler is an awesome bassist too.
I guess he doesn't know that the 80's incarnation of crimson had levin on bass / chapman stick. Fact of the matter is that you've prolly heard him on a ton of recordings (IIRC he did A momentary lapse of reason for Pink Floyd, one of John Lennon's solo albums, and a bunch of other stuff)