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Great bassists who most people don't know


SteveXFR

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One guy I think doesn’t get nearly the recognition he deserves is Leon Wilkeson of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sadly departed at the tender age of 49 due to, ahem…. Chronic liver and lung disease.

 

Heavily influenced by Paul McCartney and it really comes through in his playing. His sound often quite high in the mix on a lot of their material, surprisingly for a band primarily known for their guitar players.
 

I wish I could say he is one of my influences but that would imply that my playing is on the same planet.

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On 19/03/2022 at 22:42, Maude said:

Three that immediately spring to mind are Gabe Nelson (Cake), Stuart Morrow (New Model Army) and Billy Gould (Faith No More). 

 

Stuart Morrow is absolutely fantastic. 

 

Gabe Nelson lays it down like a boss. 

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One of my faves was TM Stevens. A total monster groove player.......there's nothing difficult in this video other than sitting in exactly the right place and injecting energy into a band that's at their peak...

 

 

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After my clip of The Associates, here's another fine Scottish band from the same era, The Cocteau Twins. Integral to their deep sound beneath Liz Frasier's otherworldly voice is Simon Raymonde's bass playing. Check it out here

 Finally another fave player from the 80s post punk era, David Allen formerly of Gang of Four then Shriekback, one of the most underrated Brit bands of the 80s. It's the tone, which I've still being try to figure out for decades

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Owen said:

Alfonso Carey

 

 

 Funny enough, I stumbled across a live performance with Alfonso Carey a couple of days ago (The Ritchie Family).

 

 

 

 

I believe this was Alfonso as well.

 

 

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Re Dave Allen and Shriekback, this photo is from exactly the period of 'My Spine is the Bass Line'.  When Dave was in the Gang of Four, he had his basses made by the same luthier in Leeds as me (I was a leftie so had no choice whatsoever at that time).  However, by the time he was in Shriekback, he was playing whatever G&L this on is: 

 

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Here's another underrated rock bassist. Lou Barlow from Dinosaur Jr. 

Just being heard over Jay Mascis is quite an achievement and Lou is playing somewhere in between bass and rhythm guitar. Without his bass, Jay's guitar would just sound like random noodling. 

 

 

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