Bass_In_Yer_Face Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Recently listened to the Radio 2 documentay about the vastly under rated guitartist the late-great John McGeoch. I have been a big fan of his work with the Banshees / Armoury Show / PIL but except for ‘Shot By Both Sides’ , I wasn’t aware of his early stuff with Magazine. Over the weekend I got some Magazine CD’s and I was amazed to find out how good the bass lines were by Barry Adamson. Sounds like some fretless work going on. Can anyone suggest anymore Barry Adamson stuff….? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) He played bass in some early Bad Seeds incarnations - I think on Her To Eternity and The First Born Is Dead. I wouldn't recommend either specifically for the bass (although it works very well in the context of the Seeds sound), but I would recommend either album plus basically anything else Nick Cave ever did on the basis that the man is a genius in my book Pluck Edited February 4, 2008 by sgt-pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJA Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) yeah, i heard that McGeoch story documentary too. I was a bit disappointed, to be honest- they could have got Robert Smith to contribute- he's mentioned being a fan of Mcgeoch's playing (having subbed for him in the Banshees). I don't think Adamson actually used a fretless- I think it was just chorus- check out Youtube clips of Magazine with a fretted Ovation magnum (string bends on Permafrost) and a Rick/Rick copy. "Tar" by Visage is another of his basslines. the bass on his solo albums is a bit subdued, unfortunately (and often by other bassists) Edited February 4, 2008 by SJA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I missed that R2 programme, meant to hear it as I saw both Magazine and McGeogh-era Banshees live and adored them. McGeogh, Adamson, and Formula were an absolutely unique musical unit – nothing like them before or since - and although Howard Devoto’s whiny vocals can irritate he sure could write songs. Barry Adamson was probably the main influence on my bass playing. Although no virtuoso – he has quite a spare style of playing – his timing and soulful, funky basslines are just so spot on and fuse so wonderfully with McGeogh’s jagged guitar sound and Formula’s swirling keyboards. Also the only reason I ever bought a bass deliberately because of a player to get a similar sound – my Ovation Magnum, although I went for a fretless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJA Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 you can listen again here to the prog. [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod.shtml?radio2/r2_johnmcgeoch"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio2_aod..../r2_johnmcgeoch[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass_In_Yer_Face Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 [quote name='Shaggy' post='134094' date='Feb 5 2008, 08:49 AM']I missed that R2 programme, meant to hear it as I saw both Magazine and McGeogh-era Banshees live and adored them. McGeogh, Adamson, and Formula were an absolutely unique musical unit – nothing like them before or since - and although Howard Devoto’s whiny vocals can irritate he sure could write songs. Barry Adamson was probably the main influence on my bass playing. Although no virtuoso – he has quite a spare style of playing – his timing and soulful, funky basslines are just so spot on and fuse so wonderfully with McGeogh’s jagged guitar sound and Formula’s swirling keyboards. Also the only reason I ever bought a bass deliberately because of a player to get a similar sound – my Ovation Magnum, although I went for a fretless.[/quote] Yes the Ovation Magnum is pretty unique looking bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverfoxnik Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 [quote name='Bass_In_Yer_Face' post='133521' date='Feb 4 2008, 12:02 PM']Recently listened to the Radio 2 documentay about the vastly under rated guitartist the late-great John McGeoch. I have been a big fan of his work with the Banshees / Armoury Show / PIL but except for ‘Shot By Both Sides’ , I wasn’t aware of his early stuff with Magazine. Over the weekend I got some Magazine CD’s and I was amazed to find out how good the bass lines were by Barry Adamson. Sounds like some fretless work going on. Can anyone suggest anymore Barry Adamson stuff….?[/quote] +1 He's a great player!! I've always liked his work the most with the brilliant and way ahead of their time 'Magazine'.. And though I have 2 of his later solo albums, which are really cool, they're not about him as a bass player.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foal30 Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I got a live take of the cut "Floorboards" whose proper name of course escapes me as I type I always thought it was a fretless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 [quote name='foal30' post='134840' date='Feb 6 2008, 09:08 AM']I got a live take of the cut "Floorboards" whose proper name of course escapes me as I type I always thought it was a fretless.[/quote] “Song from under the floorboards” – a killer single from the third album (“Correct use of soap”), although my personal favourite is the second one (“Secondhand Daylight” – standout tracks “Back to Nature” and “Permafrost”). As SJA says - and photos confrm - it’s not a fretless and the very fretless sound is down to note-bending with a bit of flanging & delay. When I saw them live in 1980 his bass was pushed so far to the front of the mix it was almost disco – probably the most energetic pogo-ing I’ve ever seen going on in the audience but unfortunately still some punk-era gobbing going on. I think Howard Devoto assembled Magazine from the classified ads after leaving the Buzzcocks – makes you believe in fate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 My favourite is "The Light Pours Out Of Me" Love the simplicity of the bassline on that song... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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