Old Man Riva

I got this at the weekend that I absolutely love to bits, and just wanted to share. A huge thank you to @walshy for his patience and good nature over the past weeks, as I’ve bombarded him with various questions, requests for excruciatingly detailed dimensions and pics galore. “Walshy, if the neck was an 80s pop act, who would it be? Which discontinued item of confectionery is the bass most like?” Prefab Sprout, and a Texan Bar, since you ask! I’ve been after a ‘68 to ‘73 period P Bass for a while now. I tried some lovely basses, but they weren’t quite for me, as I was after a specific neck profile. As soon as I picked this up I knew it was what I was after. Virginia Plain, Metal Guru, In a Broken Dream, All The Young Dudes, Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west), and this bass: 1972 was a good year…

Aw, stop it, you old softie! And you’re not too bad yourself! Really enjoyed the show overall (though I did have a “Hello Cleveland” moment when trying to find my way out of the guitar hall. In the end a security guard took pity and escorted me all of twenty yards to the clearly marked exit!). It was especially lovely to spend some quality time with yourself and Walshy. It’s little wonder you and Walshy were so busy/popular - the way you were engaging with everyone that approached Vintage Bass Room, whatever the query, was fantastic. Encouraging people to dive and play whatever they wanted to, in their own sweet way, is not always something that is done these days. There was a young lad there with his dad. He was a bit shy/reluctant, but after a bit of encouragement picked up one of the Stingrays and brilliantly put it through its paces. Lovely to see. It’s the quiet ones you have to keep your eye on! Same time next year, then…

I went to that, it was a great evening. Walthamstow Trades Hall host some really good events - check out their website. It’s like a lovely step back in time to a typical old WMC (for those of a certain age!) - very Phoenix Nights! Anyway… Derek Forbes was on excellent form. He covered the early days of him playing guitar in a covers band in Lloret de Mar in the 70s, to his sacking from Simple Minds and career afterwards. The interview was bookended by a terrific DJ set (can’t recall who it was), with a lovely smattering of early Roxy Music, The Associates, early Simple Minds, and Can, to name but a few. If I’m being totally honest, I found the book to be a bit of a let down, but the event itself was wonderful…

Personally speaking, I think that’s a real shame. I have found your contributions, experience and insight to be incredibly helpful and always interesting. Be great if you were to reconsider at some point!!

Excellent topic! Two of my current favourite (fun) lines to play are: Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield, with bass by Tommy Cogbill (Fallin’ Like) Dominoes by Donald Byrd, with bass by Chuck Rainey A nice mix of straightforward and tricky; there’s plenty to get your teeth into. Easy to lose yourself for hours in both of those!

It’s apparently now a requirement of the professional YouTubers to present their content in this way. I watched a Rhett Schull video recently, who explained how it all works, and that those dopey/angry/bewildered looks in the thumbnails, along with easy-to-digest, simplistic titles (“Is this the WORST pedal EVER for a Libran to use IN THE SHOWER?!?!!!!) are all there to ensure Mr/Mrs YouTube treats the videos kindly, and in a way that the money flows in more readily for the creator… I’m not particularly a fan of his (and aware that I’ve fallen into the cunning trap set by Mr Schull!), but here goes…

Perfectly described, though sounding like a nearby village in Midsomer Murders!

The lollipops ‘fitted from factory’ on the Bass Bros bass are the Mustang type - presumably smaller than the lollipops fitted to Precision or Jazz basses of the era? @dodgnofski I’ve got serious bass envy after seeing that ‘68!

From Spotify. Roxy Music David Bowie Rolling Stones XTC The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Not sure whether to feel reassured, or appalled, that I’m still listening to the same stuff I did 40+ years ago…

… and with Spectre basses.

Really enjoyable, thanks for sharing!

Might not fall into the lesser known category, but Muscle Shoals is well worth watching…

Great stuff! I’ll have a listen to that - I hadn’t realised Townsend had done any versions previously with the band… That was the album I bought with my first wages from my first proper Saturday job! Worked in the storeroom at the local Woolies (was too young to be on the shop floor) and at the end of the shift promptly spent most of my hard-earned on that LP. Sat on the bus going home feeling like king of the world. I was dying to get it out of the bag, but didn’t have the courage to do so, in case, a. it looked too flash, or b. someone nicked it! The feeling of coming of age independence was soon shattered when I got home for my tea and had to explain why I’d spent most of my wages on an LP!

“you get the sense that at times they're on the edge of it completely falling apart, but that it's held together by their complete absorption”, is the perfect description of the Who live! The way Keith Moon approached drumming really shouldn’t have worked, but for the most part it produced stunning results, and became part of the band’s sound and identity. I think a lot is made of Moon’s ‘antics’, but he was an exceptional drummer, though hugely unorthodox: for a large part of his time with the Who he didn’t use hi-hats live - I mean, come on!?! Funnily enough one of my favourite Moon performances is his drumming on the non-Who track, Beck’s Bolero (the story behind the track is an interesting read!). It showcases his talents brilliantly. Tight, restrained, loose, manic all in one take. I went to see the Who at Brum NEC in 1981 and it was probably the most disappointed I’ve ever felt after a gig. They were rotten. Of course, Moon wasn’t there, and it was left to Kenney Jones to try and fill the void. Jones was fine with The Faces, but I felt his playing was too leaden with the Who. It lacked the skip and general wonderful floppy looseness of Moon. Townsend obviously didn’t want to be there - he stood stock still for large portions of the gig, and Entwistle just overplayed. Daltrey wasn’t bad, mind! I think the first tours post Moon aren’t looked back at with particular fondness by the band, based on various interviews over the years. Townsend had released a really interesting solo record, Empty Glass, the previous year (which had caused friction within the band, but is definitely worth checking out) so perhaps that’s where his heart was at that time? It certainly wasn’t In Birmingham!!

The audio was on The Kids Are Alright soundtrack album (released in ‘79). It’s almost like a f**ked up ‘Best of…’ record (typical Who!), with some stunning live versions of Who faves up to that point. The film itself was a cinema release - there was a cinema in Cov that used to show music films after the pubs closed on a Friday (Song Remains the Same, Pink Floyd in Pompeii, No Nukes ets.) and TKAA was shown there. I think any commercial release (video, DVD etc.) was some years later? To this day, from my perspective, the version Beedster has posted is one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll performances ever - a band right at the top of their game, breezing through, what was - it has to be said - essentially a pretty odd piece of music, and blowing everything and everyone else away. Townsend is one of my favourite guitar players. The variety of tones he gets from his SG just by simply adjusting the volume control on the guitar, and his wonderful feel and dynamic playing is out of this world. Apropos of nowt, he was Eddie Van Halen’s favourite rhythm player, and it’s easy to see why…

A different side to QJ…

I’m sure I recall Johnnie Walker doing the charts in the early 70s on a Tuesday lunchtime on Radio 1 (247MW), with the number one announced at 1pm. He was someone I loved listening to - he seemed cooler than the likes of, say, Tony Blackburn and/or Jimmy Young - even as a kid I thought their props a bit naff (anyone remember Blackburn’s barking dog, Arnold, and or Jimmy Young’s “what’s the recipe today, Jim?”, on his ‘JY Prog’?). There were also Emperor Rosko and Stuart Henry (“alright, m’friends”) who both stood out as being a bit different. I didn’t really catch much of Johnnie Walker’s more recent time on the airwaves, but when I did hear him he still had that fabulously cool radio delivery, and not a barking Alsatian anywhere to be heard!

Marco did Weller’s first iteration of his solo stuff including the Wild Wood album. Yolanda Charles took over the bass stuff in Weller’s band after Marco, I think. Re. Eddie Piller. I often think he gets overlooked and doesn’t get the credit for all he’s done, music-wise, especially on the London scene in the late 80s/90s. Label founder, manager, DJ, archivist, curator, club owner, presenter, writer etc. The guy lives and breathes music…

Some cracking stuff has been released on Acid Jazz, though worth noting that Acid Jazz records was founded by Gilles Peterson and Eddie Piller, and not James Taylor. Eddie Piller helped Jay Kay in the early years, and (a version of) this track was originally released on Acid Jazz before being re-released on Sony…

Wilton Felder on bass…