Cairobill

Any generation that sees this stale musical fart as the definitive recording of this song deserves armageddon

It's one of my favourite songs begin rant... I watched this BBC auto-tribute earlier...Thankfully, lining up these blink and you'll miss them popstars alongside the venerable greats and getting them to sp**k up the odd line against a horrific, fat headed abortion of a backing track is so anathema to what makes the original a beautiful, delicate, artful thing, it thankfully hasn't tarnished my love of Beach Boys version. But f***ing hell…this is so horrifically overproduced, over thought, over peer-group-researched and broadly inoffensive it makes me ill. And I get the point - It's [i]meant[/i] to be a tribute to music and specifically the music that is recorded for and by the BBC, but really, the deficiencies of this recording are so stark when you compare this banal, please-everyone, rendition against the stellar original. I mean…. how can a song so gloriously personal and affecting be sung by different people, line after line…it's such a STUPID idea. Arrrrgh!!! And really, there are hundreds of other songs that would have been more suitable and less annoying. God Only Knows is one of the few songs that never needs to be recorded ever, ever, repeat ever again because the original is PERFECT. rant over Saying that, it's a very pretty visual treatment. But that doesn't make the choice of song any less ball-achingly annoying...

How weird, I've found myself suddenly looking with interest at early Thumb neck-thru 4 strings. Is it the case that an 89/90 Thumb neck thru is a very different beast from later models? I recall liking them as a kid playing basses in the Wapping bass centre but really hating any that I tried in the 90s and 00s. What happened to the brand? Are the early ones better? Also, is there a rule of thumb regarding neck dive on thumb basses or is it the case that yo iuhave to try it on first. Neck dive is a criminal fault in any bass in my opinion.

Woweee that bass is amazingly kitsch!

77p sounds much better than the others. Not surprised at the similarity in sound between the US and Mex P - I find US standard Js and Ps pretty uninspiring after going through a few. It's a shame really...

It's interesting - I've been playing for decades and have never used a Gibson bass apart from once on a weird SG shaped thing (an EBO?) which was a bit odd if I remember correctly. What are the attractions? The Thunderbird is a great shape - what's it like to play?

Holy crap that's amazing. A brilliant practical guide to how the fantastic Lalah Hathaway does the following on 'Something' by Snarky Puppy The big moment where Lalah goes polyphonic is about 6.10 into the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SJIgTLe0hc

I've a soft spot for It Bites - I bought their first album and saw them a couple of times as a kid. I thought they were really exciting and yes, I was a total muso In retrospect I think it was pretty experimental stuff, not in their prog references (which were pretty classic) but in the way they mixed the prog with the pop and ended up on Saturday morning kids shows and TOTP. But given that they were going for a pop bid with a pretty chunky Virgin advance it didn't really work out I think. Despite that they were a hybrid band and pretty interesting. But re: Dirty Loops, I think there are bands lacing their pop with adventurous musicianship in a less naff way... [quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1412346804' post='2568102'] Completely agree with your first sentence and disagree with your second. Music is music, you either like it or you don't. [/quote]

It's an odd style clash. They're all clearly fusion heads who are having a go at splicing chop fuelled performances in to a pop song. But the chop display can't make up for the fact that the song is not strong enough and is really banal. But I wouldn't call it dross, I would call it an experiment that doesn't work. Pop on the whole is either really, really simple, or there is complexity that is hidden - these guys wear their virtuosity on their sleeve. I'm not sure there is any pop that works that has musicians working at the edge of their ability? It's an interesting thing really... What it strongly reminds me of in a number of ways is It Bites (although they had better songs). I recall Francis Dunnery lacing their pop/schmaltz rock with Holdsworth-esque virtuosity and the band launching into odd time signatures to remind the audience that they were essentially a prog band. It didn't work then and this doesn't work now really. Apart from appealing to a small number of musos who wait for the bit in the song where there's an odd time signature or a shred fest. This is music for musos fundamentally, which does't mean that it's dross…it's just …erm…niche…

i have a 20xl but picked up a new gold coloured ditto the other day. A lovely pedal. Very simple to use for straightforward stuff...

I've used 3eq and 2eq in loud, live bands. 2eq wins big time for me. It thumps...

A great deal - esp if its in good nick

That's a beautiful thing! Congratulations...

between songs I centre my treb and bass knobs by turning them full rotation then back a set distance (it's a muscle memory thing now) and plus/minus a touch of either as needed. I tend to go centre most of the time, and I play with pick and fingers. It's an amazing sounding preamp.

If any bass chat bods have a spare for some reason, let me know!

Also - Omar Hakim, Mino Cinelu and John Giblin made up the rhythm section. Stellar...

Playing the ninth wave in the middle of the set is just so totally brilliant. She did it on her own terms which is cool.

Blimey - some fantastic musicians there...