Bilbo

I love OFTV. One of my favourite Genesis tracks and the one that made me realise that almost all of the tunes I prefer are Tony Banks compositions. I think A Curious Feeling is THE greatest Prog album ever. Have you heard this Genesis B-side?

Yes they bloody well are 😀

It's going to sound better just not £4885 better. I agree with the Swallow comment. It was one of the reasons I wanted to try it on this gig

Not me. The Diamond Dave/Fast Eddie chemistry was all of it, for my money.

Miles who? Miles is a great example of personal marmite. I LOOOOOVE some of what he did and hate a lot of it too. That 70s stuff he did does nothing for me. I have never 'got' what the fuss was about 'beaches Brew'. Love his stuff with Gil Evans, love the classic quintets, ambivalent about the Marcus Miller era and so on. I guess all these bands are the same in that respect. Like 70s Yes, don't like Rabin. Like Genesis pre-Collins, post-Gabriel between this LP and that one and so on. Like the original Soft Machine but not the later versions, hate the orginal Colosseum but love Colosseum II. Love Lord of The Rings films, hate The Hobbit movies. Love Stephen King's Dark Tower series, hate the latest novel. Such is life.

It has to resonate and things resonate with different people in different ways. For some, it is the dance, for others the song. For me it was always the notes, the chords, the harmony, the sounds. Prog does that for me in a way that other genres don't. I don't like Floyd because the rhythms are generally unsophisticated, that harmonies a little too diatonic and so on. Yes and Genesis had more of that going on, arrangements that went somewhere unpredictable, glorious range of instruments, solo guitar to massive soundscapes etc etc. I do think a lot of new Prog lacks that breadth and it can be a little 'formulaic' but the music industry in the 70s let some brilliant stuff through: would CTTE er Relayer be underwritten by record companies today?

Another one that I had been meaning to get to for years. It ended up being a lot less complicated than I thought it would but it remains one of my favourite tracks by the UK Jazz Rock band Colosseum II. The first of their three albums was 'Strange New Flesh' and it was the only album that featured Neil Murray as the bass player. This is their absolutely glorious arrangement of the Joni Mitchell song 'Down To You'. Mike Starrs on vocals, Murray on bass, Jon Hiseman on drums, Gary Moore on guitar and Don Airey on keyboards. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/down-to-you-colosseum-ii/

Pink Floyd do nothing for me whatsoever. Can't see what the fuss was/is about. DSOTM sounds turgid to me. There are odd moments I like but, generally, its all a bit iffy. My loss, I guess.

Another track from the same gig.

The strings that were on it when it came. 😂

I was listening through headphones and it sounds great.

I am impressed that you got that far 😀

I posted at the time that I did the gig how pleased I was with the sound of this bass live. I finally got around to editing the video down so I can post a tune for people to hear. Here is the bass featured in a scaled down version of Charlie Parker's 'Yardbird Suite'. The band had never played together before AND it was the first gig most of us had done in six months so this is a bit raw but I think the bass sounds really interesting. Remember, this bass costs £115.

Music is only valid if you CAN'T dance to it 😀

For the record, I would never have been at the disco in the first place. My idea of Hell.

Groove schmooove. Grooving is the bit where one idea lasts for bloody ages before something happens. It's the bit you dance to and NOBODY DANCES AT A YES GIG. Groove, my hairy Welsh a***.

Is it me or did Rush sing more about Goblins and whatnot than Yes? The Necromancer, ByTor and the Snow Dog, even Rivendell, FFS.

I bought 90125 but never really enjoyed it - the machines had taken over. Up until then, I loved everything and, for a while, listened to them daily, again and again, in the dark, headphones, whilst painting and drawing (Art student). After 90125? Not so much (a lot of the later stuff I haven't even heard as I have never got to it). They also got me into Jazz as I also did the solo albums and eventually got to Bruford. Love the Jon Anderson solo albums Animation, Song Of Seven and Olias of Sunhillow. Love bits of Steve Howe's stuff, Chris Squire's, Rick Wakeman's etc but, for me, it was all Jon. I think the first two albums are massively underrated; Yes and Time And A Word. More song oritentated but the songs have that Yes approach to arrangement. They steal medcilessly and reframe brilliantly. Massively creative. I like The Yes Album but I think it is overrated. I LOVE the long form albums; Close To The Edge, Relayer, Tales of Topgraphic Oceans. Going For The One is a majorly strong album and I think Tormato is underrated but there are a couple of clinkers on there. Best of CDs are risky as they generally feature what is available for cheap (early stuff, poor live bootlegs, obscure radio recordings etc) rather than what is the best of the band. I think there is something great about seeing these longer form tracks performed live. I saw this recently and was blown away. The second video is a 'cover' with Jon Anderson on vocals but is astonishing.

Another one from an early favourite, this is the bass part for the first half (before the drum solo) of the Cozy Powell tune 'Over The Top' (the second half features Powell with am orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (inc. cannons). A weird tension between three against two phrases and syncopated sixteenths but, after a few listens, you will get the gist. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/over-the-top-jack-bruce/

Another Andy West Dregs bass part, tnis is 'Cruise Control' from the 1981 Dregs album 'Unsung Heroes'. Some great unison fills between West and guitarist STeve Morse. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/cruise-control-the-dregs/

I have seen most of the juggler videos referenced here but don't spend any time with them. In short, great to watch but invariably not so great to listen to. I think it is great that people push the envelope but most of this stuff is of no use to me whatsoever. .

That woudl be interesting. Brand X and Bruford toured together in the 1970s (early 80s?). Percy and Jeff are chalk and cheese so it woudl be interesting to see what transpires. I wonder why they don't use John Giblin?

A request from a member of Talkbass, this is David Paton's bass part for the tune 'Sasquatch' from the 1982 Camel album 'The Single Factor'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/sasquatch-camel/

My understanding is that JG has some personal issues that make travelling outside of the US problematic. There have been other complications but, essentially, it seems as if these challenges have made the whole thing untenable. Percy is doing some interesting stuff nevertheless and we haven't seen the last of him.

This one really was a long-awaited effort. I have had it in mind to transcribe this probably since I started playing the bass. I got my first bass, a Hondoo II Precision copy in September 1980. I know that because that was the year I started working for a living and I paid for it with my first pay packet. At that point, I was already listening to the Friday Rock Show and, like every Rock fan who lived through that era, the opening theme from the show promised great things. It wasn't until some years later that I learned that the tune that opened the show was called 'Take It Off The Top' by the Dixie Dregs. What is more, the tune featured a genuine bass solo in the form of Andy West's two bar exchanges with guitarist Steve Morse (both names I would not know for some time yet). Last night, I put the final touches to this transcription and it is now available on my website. We got there in the end! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/take-it-off-the-top-dixie-dregs/