• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Tony Levin - No 'stache, P and Tort

Gully Foyle

Gully Foyle

Sep 28, 2014
1,401
2,332
56
Near Boston
#1
Never seen Tony with a P, or lacking the 'stache.

Interested in this bass if anyone knows anything about it - looks like maybe there is a hidden neck pickup with poles visible through the pickguard?

tony with a p.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Craig T Vector, tindrum, Crackle and 3 others
#12
One of my favourite Levin bass sounds is on Robert Fripp's "Exposure" album. Precision bass with overdrive. Very Wetton-esque (who actually played on demo sessions for the album using a Fender Jazz).
On Gabriel's second album he has got a very similar tone but of course the album was produced by Fripp.
 
#14
PhR75 said:
Here with a very early fretless Steinberger:
levin801_580x.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah, Tony was a very early adopter of the Steinberger L-2...but it didn't seem to last long. My ex-girlfriend from 40-something years ago confirmed for me that Tony used that fretless Steinberger during the Gabriel III tour to play John Giblin's part from "Family Snapshot". I have also long suspected that the Steinberger was the fretless bass he played on the original studio recording of "Lay Your Hands On Me" from Gabriel's Security album, but I don't know for certain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PhR75
#15
Bob_Ross said:
Yeah, Tony was a very early adopter of the Steinberger L-2...but it didn't seem to last long. My ex-girlfriend from 40-something years ago confirmed for me that Tony used that fretless Steinberger during the Gabriel III tour to play John Giblin's part from "Family Snapshot". I have also long suspected that the Steinberger was the fretless bass he played on the original studio recording of "Lay Your Hands On Me" from Gabriel's Security album, but I don't know for certain.
Click to expand...

He had to play a lot of Giblin's parts live apart from "I Don't Remember" which is the only song featuring Levin on the third album (a rarity in Gabriel's catalog). I can't recall a fretless on "Plays Live" but I have to check. A later tour recordings anyway.
Of course Giblin had to tackle Levin's parts when he toured with Gabriel during the earlier (European?) leg of Gabriel III tour. I wonder how he played the Stick riff to "I Don't Remember" with a four string Wal fretless?
 
#16
On his website, in the "Road Diary" section, he had put up a post called "Pictures from Way Back" and I remember seeing all these (and more) in that post. Some pretty cool shots, including some of him with hair and with his upright from his student days. The link doesn't seem to work any more (and the last post he made to the site was in late 2022).
 
  • Like
Reactions: PhR75

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back