TimR Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 What is happening musically on that track? Does anybody know the history? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Well, assuming that it's a four string bass then the E string is tuned getting on for a quarter of a tone sharp ? The weird thing is that sometimes it sounds worse than other times. The bridge part of the song based on Bb just confirms it's only the E string that's out. We can surely only speculate as why nobody picked up on this. Maybe the studio air was so thick with waccy baccy that it interfered with the soundwaves... 😵 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 I find the song unlistenable. The bass is like fingernails down a blackboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbayne Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 More on here. https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/478937-hit-records-bum-notes-out-tune-instruments.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Like most J B stuff I find it boring and repetitive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 1 hour ago, mikel said: Like most J B stuff I find it boring and repetitive. I guess you don't like blues or rock either? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 @musicbassman Yes. It seems to drift in and out and I think the guitar is out in places. The whole album came in for a bit of stick at the time from what I can find online. Seems a lot of the music was recorded ensemble and just pick the best take. I initially thought it might be done deliberately as some kind of clever musical device. I quite like it to a point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted January 21, 2019 Author Share Posted January 21, 2019 23 hours ago, mikel said: Like most J B stuff I find it boring and repetitive. So did a lot of people at the time. The album was critically slated and yet went Gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreadBin Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 The whole line sounds out of tune, not just the verse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 On 20/01/2019 at 14:06, Hobbayne said: More on here. https://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/478937-hit-records-bum-notes-out-tune-instruments.html Never mind James Brown, just get a load of those opinionated bell-ends on that site!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikel Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 2 hours ago, TimR said: So did a lot of people at the time. The album was critically slated and yet went Gold. It was just a personal observation. I love Funk but never got the JB grunting, groaning and shrieking thing. As I say, my personal taste and that song does nowt to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 As somebody once said about Mick Jaggar’s singing- it doesn’t have to be correct it just has to be right. Whilst the above track is out, something not even close to right is the outro to Layla- banshee slide at its coke powered worst. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KK Jale Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 I hate hate hate the out of tune bass on that. But funnily enough I love this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted January 21, 2019 Share Posted January 21, 2019 Dont like that particular JB track, but i love the Sex Machine bass line from Bootsy so much that we do a cover of the song Also, i'm quite fond of My Thang after it was used in the film Jacobs Ladder ( stonking film by the way ) I get that a lot of his stuff is repetitive, but some like , some dont. Just about the same story of every element of life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) The thing with James Brown is its dance music - which generally tends to be repetitive. Some people like it, some don't but for me a band as tight and with as much groove as James Brown's had is one of the most exciting things in music - totally influences my approach to bass playing - always has since I first got turned on to it in the mid 70s - the single Get Up Offa That Thing - (I would accept - probably to the annoyance of some - I know some of my prog mates at the time thought I was bonkers - but they then also gravitated to Tom Scott and Weather Report around the same time!!) Edited January 22, 2019 by drTStingray 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jus Lukin Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) - Edited March 3, 2022 by Jus Lukin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted January 22, 2019 Share Posted January 22, 2019 Where's that confounded bridge ? I beg your pardon - that was Led Zep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweeneythebass Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 It’s way out, just came on my Spotify playlist and I thought wow that’s way out. I hadn’t really noticed before which says quite a bit for my Ears. Thank god for Basschat for confirmation of an out of tune bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumOne Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) Posted in wrong thread Edited August 30, 2021 by SumOne Wrong thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumOne Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) Posted in wrong thread Edited August 30, 2021 by SumOne Wrong thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted August 30, 2021 Share Posted August 30, 2021 Did Bruce Springsteen ever recipricate by doing a song with the bass out of tune called "The hardest working man in showbusiness?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouthmw Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 Just heard this song on the radio for the first time (not a huge James Brown fan, but I do dig 70s funk in general). First thing I noticed was how out of tune bass is, so I had to check out the song and listen again on my headphones. Yup, super out of tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 The bass in Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin sounds a bit flat when he's pedalling the A. Same for Do Anything You Want To by Thin Lizzy. Ah well, both are bangers and have done well enough regardless. It's not a huge deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Edge Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 I saw James Brown live many moons ago. Quite an experience it was too. As I recall the band was quite exceptional but his antics tended to take the attention away from it. The Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness schtick was well over the top at the end of the show. I can’t listen to his recordings for more than 5 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 I saw James Brown twice. First time was in 1971 at the East Ham Odeon, with Bootsy. The show ran for more than 2 hours, was their second show of the evening and started at 1 am, and was one of the best gigs I've ever seen. The second time was at Hammersmith Odeon. It might have been sometime in the 90's. The band was still great but the show floundered a few times due to Mr Brown's "issues". James Brown invented a whole new style of bass centric music. I'll be listening to those records for ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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