Old Man Riva

Well they both certainly had their own unique and distinctive ‘voice’ on the instrument, which I always think isn’t that common - a lot of really good players can sound like a lot of really good players, but don’t have their own distinctive voice. Of the two, musically, Mick Karn appeals to me much more. A genuinely unique musician, and also cool as f**k. It’s a winning combination!

… a brief appraisal of the wonderful Mr Karn from the excellent PDBass.

I love the bass part on Boston Tea Party. One of the things I tried to learn when I first started. It was a real struggle getting all of the cool runs he does…

In an attempt to list every bass player ever recorded, see below. I love them all, in their own unique way! In no particular order… JPJ Pino James Eller Derek Forbes Norman Watt-Roy Segs Trevor Bolder Chuck Rainey Tom Hamilton John Gustafson Charlie Tumahai Horace Panter Max Bennett Wilton Felder Jim Lea Herbie Flowers Willie Weeks Pete Way Fred Thomas Pete Farndon Sting Bobby Vega Mick Karn edited to also add; Paul Jackson Colin Moulding Kev Hopper Alan Spenner

Old Superlungs himself. Even gets a smile out of Whisperin’ Bob…

… a bit more on the Christmas Wrapping track and bass part.

Been listening to the first two Roxy albums today. This particular track got more than one listen …

This has a fabulous Tracy Wormworth bass line, which I always think is dead cool when I hear it. Really fun to play, too …

Go on, admit it, you’ve been out and spent a load of cash on basses that you didn’t need and a coffee you didn’t want just to use that excellent thread title! It was money well spent, sir!

It’s an interesting sound, isn’t it! If you dig that then there’s a more recent artist, Dan Snaith, whose album, Up In Flames, is worth a listen. The artist is sometimes listed as Manitoba, and sometimes Caribou, depending where you look. Here’s a taster…

Went to see triple harpist Cerys Hafana at Kings Place (on York Way) in London. Wasn’t sure what to expect but am always happy to shuffle along and have a look at something that may not be an obvious choice, when it comes to my usual listening habits. I was thoroughly blown away. Cerys covers a mixture of classic (predominantly Welsh) folk pieces along with original compositions. She switched to guitar at one point, with an interesting non-standard tuning, which felt a little odd compared to the rest of the set. Still enjoyable, mind. The venue was cool too - she was in the smaller room at the venue, which held around 200 people. Nice and intimate. The sound was excellent and the playing other-worldly. I’d imagine in years to come on Harpchat there’ll be folk saying, “Yeah, but Cerys only needed 90 strings”! To give a little taster, here’s a clip of her set from a few months ago. She gives an interesting insight at 8mins 16secs into how a triple harp works.

… if that’s the case then young Burns-bass can only play this using a sixpence as a pick whilst wearing clogs. Them’s the rules!

German art rock from 1972. Having a 1970s comprehensive school education we didn’t do German as a language subject, but, if pushed, I’d hazard a guess this translates as, “you’ll not be seeing this in Smash Hits”. Anyway … On a similar theme: From 1979, a groovy little number by the excellent Can. Bass was supplied by Rosko Gee at this point…

Should be a good evening... https://allevents.in/london/a-very-simple-mind-an-evening-with-derek-forbes/10000729633622807?ref=eventlist-cat

… the old curmudgeon actually looks like he’s enjoying himself!

The London Cast of ‘Hair’ followed by Chris Barber was a nice touch!

JPJ, with an honourable mention for Bobby Vega …

That’s great, thanks for the heads up! I love this track and bass part. Ron Carter on electric bass…

More guitars (and guitar changes) in a 60 minute set than you can shake a stick at - and if you ever want to see a guitarist wear three guitars at once then now’s your chance! A terrific (and often overlooked) rock ‘n’ roll band. Oh, and Bun E Carlos. What a performance…

Sorry Dad, just not a fan of talk shows. Especially the US ones…

That’s rotten behaviour from the seller, and good on you for calling them out on it. Who knows, maybe they’ll have a think about it in their quieter moments and do the right thing and list it correctly? What’s the story with the bass, how did the neck and body meet?!

XTC. This is a BBC session of a track from the Oranges & Lemons LP. Colin Moulding on vocals and (wonderful) Wal bass. I really dig this version as I think it sounds more airy than the album version, and the overall band performances feel slightly looser… That said, both are fabulous!

I pretty much recorded it all (inc US stuff) on VHS video. There may be a few bits towards the end that got missed, but most of it is recorded for posterity on a large number of TDK 180 tapes! Re. Zeppelin. There’s been recriminations over the years… https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/jimmy-page-regrets-led-zeppelins-reunion-phil-collins/