Beedster

I'd go further to say variation even within individual songs! Yes, counterpoint, that's what I could hear and was referring to when I mentioned folk influences. Choral makes sense, Jethro Tull had an element of it as well (and were far more openly folky I guess). The bass so far is amazing, as I said, I want my C64 back, I can see why bands like Rush and Yes get a lot of airtime on BC while bands like Zep and Floyd - arguably their equals musically - don't, great bass players in both Jones and Waters, but in both Rush and Yes the bass is so front and centre of everything.

Some great comments here folks. I think going back to Maude's comment, do better constructed basses sustain for longer? Do otherwise very well constructed basses ever have low sustain? Can a bass with low sustain be considered a very good bass despite this? I just wonder if using sustain as a proxy for instrument quality might be misleading?

Fragile is better, strong start in Roundabout, and the album is far more coherent than the stuff I listened to yesterday (compilation so not surprising) and Drama, overall a bit more accessible I guess. Keyboards a different world (get the point re Downes versus Wakeman), obvious classical/orchestral influences on keys and guitars, and some of the changes feel quite folky to me?

Thanks, Fragile was also a good friend's recommendation

Thanks, Fragile was also a good friend's recommendation

No, not at all, genuinely wondering whether I was missing something, if I was going to troll I would have chosen one of the contemporary virtuoso bands, Snarky Puppy etc

As a close friend said to me after coming to see my band for the first time; 'Not as bad as I thought it was going to be" First up, I really wish I still had my C64. There is some sublime bass playing and tone on there. Given it's the definitive Ric tone to my ear, someone will be along soon to tell me it was played on a Wal, Jazz or worse........ Second, it was OK musically. I can see why people like them, but I can equally see why people don't like them Third, there were sublime moments - the harmonies, the rhythms, the bass tone - but there were some ridiculous moments as well, the wedding march in the first track just seemed one of those 'did it because we could' as opposed to 'did it because we should' things. I also found the production on the keyboards and most of the guitars pretty awful, but then again, that's how it was at that point in time. But overall I felt that in about 40 minutes of tracks there were 10 minutes of sublime music and 10 minutes of the opposite, with 20 minutes of average. The sublime and not so sublime were unfortunately not, as is so often the case, isolated in sublime or ridiculous tracks (e.g., Long & Winding Road versus Octopus' Garden), but spread evenly across the whole album. I feel the need to sit down for a few days at my desk and edit the album to put all the sublime bits into three or four tracks! And if I compare to Rush, yes, I see similarities (perhaps why WoT suggested this album). I still feel that Rush have a stronger song focus. Would I listen to it in the car on a long journey? No Would I listen to it loud on my hifi with a beer or two or decent bottle of red when the girls are all out: Yes, production is great Would I like to play in a tribute band doing this stuff: Hell yes Am I going to try another Yes album: Yes

So this morning I am going to be cutting wood on the garden with Drama on the headphones. I will give the whole album a fair hearing and report back........

Yep, this is exactly why I started this thread, I assumed the tongue in cheek also

This for me is the contradiction, for many of us it appears to be a desirable quality of the instrument yet an undesirable quality of the note the instrument produces. That is reasonable I guess, but do we as bass players occasionally confuse this? How many gigs have we all been to at which a few foam mutes (and/or pillows) might not have made the whole thing so much more pleasant

Reading yet another bridge thread this morning, and realised that in nearly every thread about mechanics, e.g., the various Badass v BBOT, through-neck versus bolt-on, tone woods versus whatever the opposite of tone woods are, and even about the basses themselves, sustain is often the characteristic of the bass that is discussed. But why? I get it with, for example lead guitar (although for rhythm it's often completely undesirable), and I get it with some orchestral instruments, although in many again it's undesirable (and I'm prepared to be told I'm wrong, but I assume that with many instruments it's de facto undesirable, for example kick drum)? Anyway, I've realised over recent years that I've always been impressed by sustain on a bass, as if its capacity to sustain was somehow a mark of superior quality build or components, but that I rarely, if ever use sustain, even on fretless. In fact I use foam mutes so often that whilst being impressed by an instrument's sustain in principle, I often immediately inhibit it. So, genuine question, why is this? Is sustain just the Emperors' Invisible Clothes, or a legitimate mark of quality?

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it always comes down to A = (B - C)/D I’ll leave you guys to figure out what that means

I’m listening to Warren Zevon, the darkness of his lyrics always seems to cheer me up

I’ll take a listen to some earlier stuff

That’s how bad Yes appeared

Love the BVs on that album, someone in that band has one hell of a voice

Brosnan, I'd stake my reputation on it

Also discovered today that Kraftwerk have a live album, go figure. Somewhat disappointed it didn’t start with the usual ‘Hey Düsseldorf, how you doing? Tonight we’re going to raaawk. Any ladies in the house with any German in them......?’ Perhaps I’m in a generally unpleasable mood today?

He’s a very handsome dog Andy, no need to be mate

You know what, I think the werewolf is Pierce Brosnan....?

He was looking apologetic on account of the hole in the blanket he’d just made

He is

Tried, they accepted the dog, I got a red card

Up there with ‘he’s the guitarist cos he owns the PA’