What's so special about John Entwistle?

[Rob Martinez]

Quite funny to read comments from people who have had no impact on Rock music history saying how bad members of The Who were musically. A LOT of arrogance in here.

 

[Michedelic]

Geez, is this still going on?

 

[thabassmon]

Okay, so not being the equal of three of the top 10 guitarists means he's terrible. Got it. And his "role" is strictly a guitar player, not the main songwriter, who created demos with drums and bass and keys, and his "demo" synths of Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again are the ones on the record. The record that went to #1 in the US and is universally hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time.

"A couple of hits"? Okay, you're quite clearly trolling.

The Who was not a bass driven band, it was a band of three lead instrumentalists and a front man singer. Each left an indelible mark on rock music, and especially together. You say if you can't do it live, you can't do it, what couldn't they do live? They were widely hailed as the greatest live band of the greatest period in rock history. Check out The Best, the supergroup Entwistle was in with Joe Walsh, Skunk Baxter, Keith Emerson, and Simon Philips. I posted a video of them doing Fanfare For the Common Man for the solo Entwistle does, but check out the rest of the show on youtube and see how he approaches Steely Dan Reelin' in the Years, Bodhisattva (in double time), Joe Walsh Rocky Mountain Way, his own Boris the Spider and Too Late the Hero, which Skunk introduces as his favorite part of the setlist. If you're not trolling and do want to know why he's revered watch that. The guys in that band, if you dismiss them out of hand as subpar musicians, then I don't know what to tell you, but see if Entwistle isn't the best player on that stage.

I'm not trolling at all, just putting some logic behind Enwistle's approach.

What couldn't they do live? Well in the example I suggested, they couldn't play in time, and it is mostly Keith Moon dropping beats, rushing, dragging, coming out of fills out of time.

I did watch that clip that you posted and yes John is the best one, but he has done a lot better than this. In fact I just gave it a second listen properly through the TV with a few others, one being a guitar player who was born in '53 so these era of musicians is definitely his jam. He thought the supergroup had too much posing, and thought only the drummer played well. Not my opinion but it was his.

On the vid you posted.

I wouldn't call any of the others subpar but I wouldn't be especially worried if I hadn't heard them either, they are fine.

I thought the keyboard player was underwhelming, not bad, just there. I have spent a lot of the last 20 years listening to Classical Piano and Jazz Piano greats so this dudes playing is a bit rudimentary compared. He not playing badly, but once you've spent enough time digesting Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum most people are going to sound lame, not his fault at all. Yes I know he has a classical background, none of that is on show here at all.

I have already heard Skunk Baxter and Joe Walsh a bunch. They are fine, but this tune doesn't really let them play much.

The supergroup thing has happened quite a bit, somehow supergroups don't often produce good music people, good entertainment for musicians though. It's music for musicians.

 

[Rob Martinez]

I'm not trolling at all, just putting some logic behind Enwistle's approach.

What couldn't they do live? Well in the example I suggested, they couldn't play in time, and it is mostly Keith Moon dropping beats, rushing, dragging, coming out of fills out of time.

I did watch that clip that you posted and yes John is the best one, but he has done a lot better than this. In fact I just gave it a second listen properly through the TV with a few others, one being a guitar player who was born in '53 so these era of musicians is definitely his jam. He thought the supergroup had too much posing, and thought only the drummer played well. Not my opinion but it was his.

On the vid you posted.

I wouldn't call any of the others subpar but I wouldn't be especially worried if I hadn't heard them either, they are fine.

I thought the keyboard player was underwhelming, not bad, just there. I have spent a lot of the last 20 years listening to Classical Piano and Jazz Piano greats so this dudes playing is a bit rudimentary compared. He not playing badly, but once you've spent enough time digesting Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum most people are going to sound lame, not his fault at all. Yes I know he has a classical background, none of that is on show here at all.

I have already heard Skunk Baxter and Joe Walsh a bunch. They are fine, but this tune doesn't really let them play much.

The supergroup thing has happened quite a bit, somehow supergroups don't often produce good music people, good entertainment for musicians though. It's music for musicians.

What??

 

[thabassmon]

What??

Just responding to the previous quoted post, that's all.

 

[AlvarHanso]

Yeah, Keith Emerson, who was famous for fusing rock and classical and building the greatest modular synth ever put on the road, is a rudimentary keyboardist and you're not trolling. I mean the piece they play is literally a classical piece by Aaron Copland. At least the thread provided many people posting clips of great music you can go on ignoring.

 

[thabassmon]

Yeah, Keith Emerson, who was famous for fusing rock and classical and building the greatest modular synth ever put on the road, is a rudimentary keyboardist and you're not trolling. I mean the piece they play is literally a classical piece by Aaron Copland. At least the thread provided many people posting clips of great music you can go on ignoring.

I am fully aware of the composer, but it's not like it's written by one of the greats like Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy, Grieg, Schumann, Liszt, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn now is it.

 

[Briton]

Who's Next was a Gibson Thunderbird. WGFA might have been a Precision but the recording is inferior to the rest of the album and it's difficult to tell.

On Who's Next John used his Frankenstein Precision Bass,he only started using Thunderbirds in the studio from 1973 obviously starting with Quadrophenia.

 

[7615]

I know it's off topic for this thread, so I apologize to the staff. Have you heard how DIFFICULT it is to play some of the metal stuff ? I can't think of any band names in general because it's not my scene but Thundertips is on point. Some of that stuff is humanly impossible, but they not only do it, but the band sounds like one instrument, they're SO tight. Metal has always been compared to classical because unlike jazz, it takes precision.

Classical with very little counterpoint. Metal and Fusion jazz have more in common.

 

[Rob Martinez]

I am fully aware of the composer, but it's not like it's written by one of the greats like Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy, Grieg, Schumann, Liszt, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn now is it.

Neither have you.

 

[thabassmon]

Neither have you.

Absolutely right, I'm not one of the great classical composers.

If that's what you meant.

 

[Rob Martinez]

Absolutely right, I'm not one of the great classical composers.

If that's what you meant.

I meant that, and you are not in the same league as anyone in The Who.

 

[AlvarHanso]

Awe C'mon. He's Tha bass Mon. We should all bow down and honor him.

We should be eternally grateful he deigned to slum it with the likes of us mere mortals, and tried to disabuse us of any notion that John Entwistle was a bass player that any of us might learn from, or be influenced by.

 

[Pauly 4001]

I am fully aware of the composer, but it's not like it's written by one of the greats like Chopin, Beethoven, Debussy, Grieg, Schumann, Liszt, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn now is it.

Okay, sure if you say so.

 

[Pauly 4001]

It sort of seems like this...

 

[4001]

You'll probably get your answers here......
Authorized Biography Of THE Who Bassist JOHN ENTWISTLE To Arrive This Week

 

[Kink Rimson]

On Who's Next John used his Frankenstein Precision Bass,he only started using Thunderbirds in the studio from 1973 obviously starting with Quadrophenia.

Who's Next - of the majority of it - is the Thunderbird. It's definitely not a Precision as you can clearly hear the sound of two pickups working together.
John was also using Thunderbirds prior to the release of Who's Next as live recordings and photographs clearly show.

 

[Briton]

Who's Next - of the majority of it - is the Thunderbird. It's definitely not a Precision as you can clearly hear the sound of two pickups working together.
John was also using Thunderbirds prior to the release of Who's Next as live recordings and photographs clearly show.

Sorry mate you are wrong, he started using TB's in the studio from Quadrophenia onwards. Who's Next was his famous Frankenstein P Bass though he did use TB's live around the time of Lifehouse where he used a TB at the Old Vic shows that was part of the Lifehouse project.

 

[Kink Rimson]

Sorry mate you are wrong, he started using TB's in the studio from Quadrophenia onwards. Who's Next was his famous Frankenstein P Bass though he did use TB's live around the time of Lifehouse where he used a TB at the Old Vic shows that was part of the Lifehouse project.

We'll have to agree to disagree. My ears tell me otherwise. Listen to the clip I posted - not a Precision.

 

[Briton]

We'll have to agree to disagree. My ears tell me otherwise. Listen to the clip I posted - not a Precision.

I would get them tested mate!

Quote from April 1994 Bassist interview
Which sound was responsible for that amazing sound on Won't Get Fooled Again?
"That was Frankenstein, which I made from dead parts. I had a day off in San Francisco once and spent it screwing a bass together from five smashed Precisions including a couple of slab ones of which they only made about 20. I took the pickup and scratch plate from one of the slab Precisions, the neck from another, machineheads from a Jazz Bass, the body off a sunburst Precision and the tailpiece from another. The slab Precisions were like white, squared-off Telecasters, with a split pickup, a maple neck, black scratch plate and what looked like blue veins coming through the white paintwork. I don't know what they used on them but those basses had a sound of their own, really raunchy with more of a growl than a regular Precision. I have about 35 Precisions, all with different colours and from different eras, but I always go back to Frankenstein.

"I used Frankenstein through Hiwatts for the whole of 'Tommy', 'Live At Leeds' and 'Who's Next' but by 'Quadrophenia' and Who By Numbers I was playing Gibson Thunderbirds. I felt I was getting stuck in a rut, using all the treble.