Bassists who don't play on their bands records?

[MacDaddy]

or maybe bassists who don't [i]always [/i]play on their bands records. It's not about outing people or being indiscreet and I don't mean like someone else playing bass for the Beatles while Macca played piano, but it's in the public domain that:

Peter Tork didn't play bass for the Monkees (until Headquarters?).

Rik Savage admitted in BGM that Def Leppard bass lines are often sequenced - no real bass.

Gene Simmons doesn't care who knows it's not always his playing on Kiss records.

Anyone else?

[ironside1966]

Frankie goes to hollywood I dont think John Taylor played the solo on some like it

[neilb]

Early Bon Jovi - Alec John Such was so sh*t he didnt appear on the albums.

Edited October 2, 2010 by neilb

[4-string-thing]

I think I remember watching the film of the Stones recording Sympathy for the Devil, and seeing Keith playing the bass and Bill Wyman being relegated to percussion (a pair of shakers, as I recall) Though of course, he could still have played on the final version.

Edited October 2, 2010 by 4-string-thing

[AndyTravis]

Carole Kaye (i think that's her name) played on loads of records for other 'bassists'.

I'd heard about the Bon Jovi thing too.

[squire5]

[quote name='ironside1966' post='974979' date='Oct 2 2010, 01:34 PM']Frankie goes to hollywood I dont think John Taylor played the solo on some like it[/quote]

Wasn't Norman Watt-Roy involved with their first 2 singles?I think he played on 'Relax' and 'Two Tribes'

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Willie Weeks played bass on 'its only Rock n Roll' - kind of obvious it isn't Bill as that song has a proper bassline rather than a typical Wyman rumbly mumble.

[bethnalgreen]

The "bass" on True by Spandau was via Jess Bailey's keyboard.

[keeponehandloose]

Hendrix did a lot of bass on his recordings.
Norman Watt Roy on Magnificent 7 by the Clash

[Delberthot]

Norman Watt Roy was jamming on his Alembic and Trevor Horn hit the Record button and used it for Two Tribes

Roger Waters - Mostly played by Dave Gilmour, very good fretless player

Alec John Such only appeared for promos and tours, it was Hugh McDonald that appeared on their records but the coudln't get rid of AJS because of some legal thing

John Lennon played on a lot of Beatles songs and Paul McCartney played on every solo that features distortion cos George Harrison hates using it, eg Taxman

[maxrossell]

I've done quite a bit of session work in the past, and still keep in touch with a lot of the guys who do the same. Although most of their session work is building backing tracks for vocalists who don't have bands or whatnot, every now and then they're cutting tracks that will be passed off as someone else's work.

It's really not uncommon for bands, especially the more radio-friendly, insipid MOR "rock" bands, to have records out where most of the music was put down by session guys, because the producer will have realised at some point that the guys in the band might look good on stage but just aren't good enough on tape.

For a lot of the producers, it comes down to the fact that hiring a session guy to come in and cut all the tracks in a couple of days is much cheaper and far less frustrating than having to keep the band members in the studio doing endless retakes for weeks on end and then having to paste it all together to get something usable. Sometimes the band doesn't even know their parts have ben replaced until they hear the mixes, and sometimes they're so tin-eared that they hear the mixes with the session guys on and go "wow, I'm incredibly talented".

I suppose it's the equivalent of using autotune on a vocalist.

[megallica]

There's a few tracks on The Sex Pistols - Rock n roll swindle album that sound a bit too good for Sid Vicious.

[Cat Burrito]

It was only Roger McGuinn who played on The Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man so no Chris Hillman.

[TimR]

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='974997' date='Oct 2 2010, 01:49 PM']I think I remember watching the film of the Stones recording Sympathy for the Devil, and seeing Keith playing the bass and Bill Wyman being relegated to percussion (a pair of shakers, as I recall) Though of course, he could still have played on the final version.[/quote]

There's quite a bit about Wyman not playing on tracks here:

[url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bill-wyman-making/August-2010/118861"]http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bill-wym...ust-2010/118861[/url]

[Doc B]

IIRC that James Dean Bradfield played most or all of the bass on at least the first few Manics Albums. I've also heard that they never miked up Richey's amp on stage as he couldn't play very well.

Billy Corgan is also supposed to have recorded most of Darcy Wretsky's bass lines too.

IIRC that Anthony Jackson was used for the single of Fishbone's version on Freddie's Dead.

[hillbilly deluxe]

Justin Currie/Del Amitri.

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='Doc B' post='975163' date='Oct 2 2010, 05:09 PM']IIRC that James Dean Bradfield played most or all of the bass on at least the first few Manics Albums. I've also heard that they never miked up Richey's amp on stage as he couldn't play very well.

Billy Corgan is also supposed to have recorded most of Darcy Wretsky's bass lines too.

IIRC that Anthony Jackson was used for the single of Fishbone's version on Freddie's Dead.[/quote]

I saw the manics with Richie and it was definitely a case of 'seen and not heard'

I also read somewhere that Billy Corgan played every instrument on the first 2 albums except the drums!

Edited October 2, 2010 by 4-string-thing

[ironside1966]

[quote name='megallica' post='975101' date='Oct 2 2010, 04:27 PM']There's a few tracks on The Sex Pistols - Rock n roll swindle album that sound a bit too good for Sid Vicious.[/quote]

I dont think he played on anything Steve jones did it.

[Bassassin]

[quote name='ironside1966' post='975339' date='Oct 2 2010, 07:34 PM']I dont think he played on anything Steve jones did it.[/quote]
This is right - original bassist Glen Matlock played on Anarchy In The UK and apparently they got him back to play on God Save The Queen, despite the fact he'd been sacked. Jones played everything else.

Matlock plays on the Spu nk* bootleg - arguably the only "proper" Sex Pistols album - and he's pretty damn good.

I remember reading somewhere that Alan Lancaster didn't play on any Status Quo studio albums. How rubbish would you need to be?

Jon.



*[i]Note to whoever programmes the autocensor - this [u]isn't[/u] a rude word. Look it up[/i].

[megallica]

[quote name='ironside1966' post='975339' date='Oct 2 2010, 07:34 PM']I dont think he played on anything Steve jones did it.[/quote]

That'd make sense - there was one of the tracks had a decent rock n roll bass line and it sounds a bit too good for Sid

[megallica]

I think Scott Ian played some bass tracks on the Anthrax album The sound of white noise

[Happy Jack]

What about the bass line to [i]Red House[/i] by Hendrix?

I've heard (more than once) that Hendrix played it rather than Redding, but it sounds to me like two separate basslines anyway.

I'm guessing that Redding played the 'low' line while Hendrix over-dubbed the 'high' one.

[Huw Foster]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='975748' date='Oct 3 2010, 09:52 AM']What about the bass line to [i]Red House[/i] by Hendrix?

I've heard (more than once) that Hendrix played it rather than Redding, but it sounds to me like two separate basslines anyway.

I'm guessing that Redding played the 'low' line while Hendrix over-dubbed the 'high' one.[/quote]
I think that's not actually bass - I'm fairly certain Redding played it on a baritone guitar, or something similar.

[Doddy]

[quote name='Doc B' post='975163' date='Oct 2 2010, 05:09 PM']IIRC that Anthony Jackson was used for the single of Fishbone's version on Freddie's Dead.[/quote]

It was actually Randy Jackson........Yes the American Idol guy.

Whilst there are a bunch of album where the the bands bassist doesn't play on the album it happens
far more with drummers. In a studio situation the drummer is usually the first player to be replaced.

[bassatnight]

John Taylor of Duran fame famously only played a bit part on the Powerstation project, I know that Guy Pratt played on some of it as did the producer of course.
Also heard a rumour that he may not have played on some of the first Duran Duran album with a session player coming in.

Steve Jones of the Pistols also played on most of the Bollocks album, according to Matlock.