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Underappreciated Bassists in famous bands

#384
Bruuucie said:
Not a famous band... but George Michael was a very fine bassist.

Bassline to 'Fast Love' is outstanding. I vaguely recall rumours that Prince actually played this, but evidence has never surfaced. Besides, Michael was the only bassist credited on album 'Older', which has some other decent basslines played by him!

John Siegler from Todd Rundgren's band a fave of mine.
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John Sigler and later Kasim Sulton from Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Todd was quite the bassist himself. And everything he touched was magic.
 
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#386
Wally Waller - The Pretty Things
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#387
Many times, as I listen to songs I need to learn for a gig, I think "this is going to pretty easy." Later, often, I have a different story to tell. Most all of those guys are monster bassists, certainly compared to me. Learning their bass lines has taught me a LOT. Many bassists like to say "I don't play songs the exact same way as the original artist, I prefer to stamp my own creativity on it." Frankly, most of those guys did not learn the original artist's actual bass line. If they had, they would likely make few changes if any. And they would learn something.

I was working with The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars the other night, for fun. Wonderful albumful of music. Trevor Bolder....

Klaus Voorman
Macca
Chris Squier

The list goes on.....
 
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#388
Paul Raven of Killing Joke, Prong
So powerful and so funky at the same time.
Jason Moose Harris of New Model Army
Very melodic approach to bass playing.
Greg Lake - ELP
Monster player. Check out Eruption off of Tarkus or their rearranged Fanfare for the Common Man. Just so solid when needed to be and flashy when given the space.
Michael Anthony - VH, The Circle, Chickenfoot
The man is funky yet a role player. Listen to his work closely in Fair Warning or VHIi or the live bootleg song Down in Flames or Bullet head.
Johnette Napolitano - Concrete Blonde
Listen to the albums Free, Bloodletting, and Mexican Moon. She is tasteful and solid.

Good stuff.
 
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#392
Michedelic said:
Blue Oyster Cult's Joe Bouchard, especially on the first three studio pre-'Reaper' albums(the only ones I really liked), always sneaking in great little fills, and got the spotlight occasionally---check out the breakdown at 1:40 on this one...


And this proto-speed metal cut, the run at 3:03 was always a favorite of mine...


There's so many great moments of Fernando Saunders on fretless with Lou Reed, but his fierce riffing in the middle of all the maelstrom of this track(the chorus particularly)stands out for me...


While Macca, Entwistle, and to a lesser extent Chas Chandler get name-checked in the British Invasion era 'advancing the state of bass' thing, Paul Samwell-Smith often gets forgotten about. Although, yes, he did a lot of root and five stuff, he provided plenty of runs that foreshadowed what Jack Bruce and JPJ did later. Check out the bridge on this...

'Shapes Of Things' as well.
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Glad to see Joe being mentioned. I love BOC! Underrated player, underrated band - they were all great musicians. I always liked his playing. He and his brother, Al the drummer, were a super solid unit, he wrote great stuff, they gave him some bass solos, and his lines were always melodic and perfect. And he has a great voice too. I met him - super funny and warm guy. He now teaches music at a college in NY. And he's doing "Blue Coupe" now. Not playing bass. Dennis Dunaway plays bass. If you like BOC check them out. Their writing definitely shows they contributed massively to those amazing early BOC albums.
 
#394
buldog5151bass said:
Who surprises you when you listen to a tune? Three come to my mind:

Leon Wilkeson - Lynyrd Skynyrd. Listen to Sweet Home Alabama, Gime Three Steps, and Freebird. Stop the gag reflex and really listen to the bass parts. I'll bet 90% of the bassists here miss a LOT from these melodic bass lines.

Garry Tallent - Bruce Springsteen. I disliked Bruce when I was young, but a few years ago I had to learn a few of his hits. These parts are also very melodic, and the entire band was made up of great musicians.

Michael Anthony - Van Halen. This has been discussed here before. His work after leaving the band shows he is capable of a lot more than pounding roots.
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I don't know much about Bruce or Garry Tallent - but I agree with you on the rest! In addition, I gotta say: I never knew much about Van Halen, either. Only what every rock fan knows by casually listening via radio, etc. I had to fill in on bass for a friend's band, recently. It's a cover band and they had a few VH songs on their list and I was completely taken aback by the bass lines I had to learn! Not that they were exceptionally difficult, but there was a ton more going on there than simple root riding. A lot more! It wasn't busy in an unecessary way, either. However, the bass was melodic, full, rhythmic and tasteful, and every bit as involved as any other band's bass lines within this and similar pop genres, if not more so. I'm certainly not arguing or trying to start a nitpicky back-and-forth. I just had to share the experience, because I think many of us believe Anthony played much simpler (like all the sideways jokes about him imply) for that band than he actually did. I was totally one that fell for it! I didn't pick on him, exactly. But, for example, I would totally use his name as a description for a "type" if I was trying to describe something. The discovery just really kinda surprised me, and I've been wanting to tell somebody about it, lol!
 

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