Old Man Riva

This is a nice piece by Tom Bukovac …

Agree, it was a record that I really got into at the time (haven’t heard it in years, mind). For reasons best known to myself, I always associate it with The Christians first album and Song, by It’s Immaterial.

I loved the Strange Kind of Love album when it came out - the title track was great (challenging!) to play along to. Always sounded like a Stingray to my ears… I once worked with a sax player who had done a number of sessions for Gary Katz in the 90s. Demanding, but ended up with stellar performances. It sounded tough, to say the least! Apropos of nowt, I own a t-shirt with Becker, Fagen & Katz on it!

Not all in one go. Okay, all in one go. ”It was an inside job, George. I can smell it…”

Andy does commission sales. He’s sold vintage stuff for me in the past and has always been excellent to deal with…

He was excellent, wasn’t he. I think my favourite Alan Murphy track is (his playing on) Nick Heyward’s Warning Sign. His playing/parts elevate the track to another level, and make the song, for me. And of course, Big Sky!

Some excellent suggestions so far, and I would add... (based on what you've said you've listened to and got something from already) Donny Hathaway 'Live'. A really good live album with Willie Weeks playing some lovely fluid lines; always adding and never detracting from the songs. There's also a section of the set - Voices Inside (Everything is Everything) - where the band are introduced and given solo spots. Willie Weeks' section is sublime - not flashy but wonderfully sing-a-long catchy lines that I always found were really inspiring. I'd also recommend Bowie's 'David Live' for a masterclass in playing-across-a-number-of-styles-in-one-gig, by Herbie Flowers.

Is that an all original bar you’re using?!

The Tubes are a band I really wished I’d seen, I’ve only ever heard great things about them live. My mate (who dictated the lovely message for Mr Waybill to write) is not easily impressed but is unrelenting in his praise for PP, both as a musician and a person…

Not strictly bass-related, but what the heck… a mate of mine was pals with the drummer, Prairie Prince. PP was playing with The Tubes at Shepherds Bush Empire many years back and my mate thought it would be nice to get me a memento of the evening… I mean, Fee’s right, of course, but did he really have to be so blunt?

Dad, if there was anyone around these parts that could possibly make me see the error of my ways it would be you, but I just can’t get with the programme, especially where basses/instruments are concerned! And being a bleeding-heart, (non) tofu-munching, Guardian-reading, lily-livered liberal I can confirm that “he” raises the same levels of perplexity as “she”, so there’s no gender bias here, sir! I’m slightly disappointed, mind, that you’d refer to your bat as ‘it’ and not its given name - Roger or Peter or Marianne etc.

Don’t actually have too much of a problem with the “all original apart from…” language - I’ve probably used it myself at times! Other than it being a bit mangled on the grammar front it does seem a fairly straightforward way of referencing what’s what on an instrument. Nothing really winds me up language-wise musically other than people referring to an instrument as “she”.

It’s great, isn’t it! I wish someone could/would have explained the line to me when it came out - I nearly mangled my fingers trying to learn it and still didn’t get anywhere near! If I’m honest it was only after watching the pdbass video I learned how the intro was played, with the pull-offs and hammer-ons!

… funnily enough this popped up the other day. I subscribe to the guy’s channel (pdbass) - his breakdown/appreciation of various players and tracks is always interesting (though some of the titles can be a bit clickbait-y!). This appraisal of Nick Beggs/Too Shy is well worth a watch.

It’s a rock ‘n’ roll morning, and I don’t think it gets much better than Bon era AC/DC (not a fan of the Brian Johnson era). Saw them at Cov Theatre in 1978 and to this day it’s still one of the best gigs I’ve seen. Sadly this wasn’t in the set but it’s one of my favourite tracks of theirs. This features the bluesy outro, which didn’t appear on the vinyl version at the time, and does sound a little odd (or maybe it’s what you get used to?). Anyway, over to Bon…

Did it sound, erm, ‘loud ‘n’ proud’ though?!

Charlie Mingus wrote him a letter endorsing his/this version. Probably doesn’t get much better than that… And then there’s this thing of genius and beauty…

Jan Hammer Group. It’s Thundercat, thirty-odd years before Thundercat…

Amen, brother…

I know I’ve posted previously and waxed lyrical about Be Bop Deluxe and the wonderful bassist Charlie Tumahai, and make no apologies about doing so again! As a kid I was lucky enough to see the band a couple of times in the late 70s at at Cov Theatre, and seeing Charlie (and also Norman Watt-Roy with Ian Dury & the Blockheads) was really my first exposure to what I’d call at the time, ‘funky bass’ (double stops, and all that!). Live in the Air Age was a big album for me when I was young (still is), it was really inspiring. As I recall, Shine wasn’t actually on the 12” album but was included as part of a 7” disc that came with the record (I could have this wrong?!). Anyway, here’s Bill, Charlie and the gang…

This is where the fretless Alembic ended up - not owned by the player in the clip, (Nashville session guy) Tony Lucido, but by Jim Irsay (owner of the Indianapolis Colts). Irsay is a big music fan, with a few bob to spend putting on shows and the like (that he often gets to perform at himself!). The clip, btw, is from Tom Bukovac’s (first-call Nashville session guitarist) YouTube channel, which is well worth a watch as he’s fine fine player and all round musician…

Bought a wonderful Moollon P from Ed. Straightforward and easy comms throughout, and Ed kindly put the bass on hold until I could come over and try it, which I really appreciated. Ed is a lovely guy, an absolute pleasure to deal with and a fine BC member…

Enjoyed that. Not heard it before. Steely Dan (Aja) as the main sample?

Just bought a lovely Lakland P Bass from Brian. Nice and easy communication throughout, and ended up visiting Brian at his home in Shropshire to try/collect the bass where I was made to feel really welcome - spending a couple of hours discussing football and music in the process! Buy with confidence from Brian, he’s a pleasure to deal with…