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Favourite underrated bassist?


topheteatwo
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[quote name='Mark Dyer' timestamp='1392288171' post='2366751']
Well, that's just made a mockery of the whole thread. I'm changing my choices.

I'd like to nominate Mark King, no one here at work has heard of Level 42, and they have no idea what 'slap bass' is.
[/quote]
There you go. Another underrated, low profile and less well known bass player. :D

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Stu Cook of CCR. Knew when to reign it back and lock in, but equally could lift up a tune and really go for a melodic line. I love playing his stuff, just wish I could match his super-clean sound and technique. Some really iconic lines. My other one would be John McVie for exactly the same reasons.

Cheers,
Rich

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Nice mentions for Bruce Thomas and Colin Moulding from my formative years.

I'd offer up Graham Maby of the Joe Jackson band (plus, later, They Might Be Giants, Natalie Merchant, Marshall Crenshaw, Dar Williams etc etc etc).

The kind of player that invented a ton of basslines that zillions of people know without realising that they do.

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[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1391974327' post='2363196']
For me it's Jimmy Johnson.

The best live bass performance (and tone) I have ever witnessed...meeting him afterwards, talking gear and having a dink with Alan Holdsworth topped it off!

[/quote]

+1

Yeah, Jimmy is amazing!

Another really great bass player who's done the Holdsworth gig is Skuli Sverrisson. He's also done some great stuff with Ben Monder.

I really love his playing in this video. He gets a really beautiful and unique tone.

[media]http://youtu.be/JTym00BErQ0[/media]

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[quote name='achknalligewelt' timestamp='1392127160' post='2365034']
There were a lot of great bassists that appeared in the 90's that seem never to get a mention - Micky Quinn of Supergrass, Alex James of Blur, Colin Greenwood of Radiohead come to mind. Some great and inventive work ('Tracy Jacks' on Parklie has a bafflingly odd but totally perfect line - how did he come up with that?), and though the bands could be called niche (I know that for a lot of people, Blur are a bit Marmite) the bass playing was, I think, very good indeed. I learned a lot from my bedroom years, playing along to Parklife and In It for The Money.
[/quote]

another +1

Yeah, I completely agree. Those guys were playing some really innovative and unique stuff. Great players! Two tracks that come to mind for me are 'Airbag' and 'How to Disappear Completely'. Colin Greenwood's basslines on those tracks are really great!

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[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1392295391' post='2366859']
Who's this McCartney bloke they keep banging on about anyway? :unsure:
[/quote]
I've just read a list of bass players to the lady in my local charity shop.

To my astonishment she has never heard of Mark King, Chris Squire, Carol Kaye, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten or Alain Caron so now they must all go on the 'Less well known / low profile' list. She had heard of Macca though so he's off the list now. :)

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[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1392247747' post='2366557']
Under-rated...

Bruce Thomas ex of Elvis Costello was certainly rated at the time, but has fallen out of the public eye now.

I'd say the same for Colin Moulding of XTC - a total genius and innovator on bass, but XTC are gone now and he's largely forgotten outside of their fans. I miss them terribly.

Nick Seymour of Crowded House was mentioned and he is a true jazz bassist in a pop band. His bass parts are little adventures for the ears - Fantastic syncopated little counter melodies that can't be second guessed, such as Don't dream it's over - try humming along with the bass part on that . I don't know how he gets some of the sounds he does - on Whispers and moans for example. I love his work on their albums up to Together Alone. After that they went a bit meh.

Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick does some amazing stuff and gets little recognition except for starting the 12-string bass ball rolling.

Jim Lea of Slade - a ridiculously good player, consigned to be remembered mainly as the one at the back on Merry Christmas everybody. A criminal underestimation.
[/quote]

Agreed, particulary Bruce Thomas and Jimmy Lea!

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Not sure about 'underrated', but a few that generally fall off the radar...

Jim Dewar

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Yp7lvzv4M[/media]

and Gerry McAvoy

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSe5v7mJMiY[/media]

&, of course, The Hodge:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MblGNQnIpFY[/media]

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[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1392306547' post='2367077']
I've just read a list of bass players to the lady in my local charity shop.

To my astonishment she has never heard of Mark King, Chris Squire, Carol Kaye, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten or Alain Caron so now they must all go on the 'Less well known / low profile' list. She had heard of Macca though so he's off the list now. :)
[/quote]

Oh - you mean old Ma Baldrick?? ........... It was a cunning plan.
When she said she hadn't heard of them you were supposed to leaf through the charity shop's CD shelves, dig out all the CDs with them on, stand there with a handful of CDs, realise what you'd done and feel morally obliged to buy them all at 50p a pop.
Well done you for not falling for it! :biggrin:

Need proof? When did you last see a Beatles CD in a charity shop?

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[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1392310068' post='2367162']
Oh - you mean old Ma Baldrick?? ........... It was a cunning plan.
When she said she hadn't heard of them you were supposed to leaf through the charity shop's CD shelves, dig out all the CDs with them on, stand there with a handful of CDs, realise what you'd done and feel morally obliged to buy them all at 50p a pop.
Well done you for not falling for it! :biggrin:

Need proof? When did you last see a Beatles CD in a charity shop?
[/quote]
I'm fortunate that in one of my local charity shops they have a 'Lesser Known & Low Profile Bass Players' section. The last time i was in there they had CDs by featuring Jason Newsted, Cliff Burton, Robert Trujillo, James Lomenzo, Lemmy and Steve Harris under the heading of 'Who Knows If These Are Any Good For Metal Because We've Never Heard Of Them?'. It is indeed one of the best kept secrets in our High Street and a wonderful resource for CDs by underrated bass players.

I'm not surprised with what you say about CDs by The Beatles but i only buy cassettes these days. They are far better value as (or if) you can pick them up for about 50p per hundredweight nowadays. :D

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I saw Pere Ubu last year and was very impressed with Michele Temple, very disciplined playing on her lovely G&L Asat. You can see her in action here from just a few nights ago: [url="http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/sons-dhiver-2014-pere-ubu-147937"]http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/sons-dhiver-2014-pere-ubu-147937[/url]

You've got to skip through Mr Thomas's stream of consciousness ravings for a minute or two before they start.

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Nick Fyffe.

Of the Jamiroquai bassists, Stuart Zender gets the lions share of the plaudits, and Paul Turner gets his quota too ... but surprisingly little is spoken of Nick Fyffe. He's a great player who's contribution to the bands sound was huge. I love his style, always so neat and appropriate. Definitley worthy of some extra kudos!

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Good call on Nick Seymour from Crowded House - sort of a strange player , but really works . Also Nigel Harrison as mentioned . I also like the late James Dewer , with Robin Trower - but also liked what Rusty did with that band too . Clive Chamen is also good .

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[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1392295391' post='2366859']
Who's this McCartney bloke they keep banging on about anyway? :unsure:
[/quote]

McCartney is now underrated, but it's utterly his own fault. On 'Wings at the Speed of Sound', he played some IMHO great bass lines. Since then, he seems to have forgotten about bass apart from posing with his Hofner at concerts. When was his last great bassline?

Nobody seems to mention Tom Fowler (when left hand is not broken) for his work with Zappa's band in the early/mid 70s. Particularly on 'One Size Fits All', except that I don't know which tracks on that album were recorded while his let hand wasn't broken, and which were done by James "Bird Legs" Youman. Tom Fowler handles the bass on Roxy and Elsewhere though, and that's IMHO great too.

Most people don't know that Bob Mould plays bass, but he handles bass on a number of his albums. I think he does some good work, though occasionally a bit over-decorative. Which is surprising as his guitar work is very often very simple power chords in simple rhythms and very simple, not much more than 'a couple of notes' solos. So, it's not like he's playing the bass just like he plays guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRw-8---WA

Edited by icastle
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