R.I.P. Algy Ward

[Marky L]

Blimey 😪 R.I.P. Alasdair "Algy" Ward. Bass player with the The Saints, The Damned and Tank.

 

The sound of that P bass being hammered for the intro to Love Song by The Damned fuelled the fires of tone for me.

 

[Rayman]

Blimey…. that’s very sad. We shared a day in Maida Vale recording for the BBC Friday Rock Show with Tank. I was asked to recall the day for a book about Tommy Vance…. Algy Ward was also asked to comment, but unfortunately he couldn’t recall a single moment of it due to being a bit worse for wear.

[Lozz196]

Another shocking loss to the world of the low-end

[Muzz]

Oh, man: Andy Rourke and now Algy...it's been a bad few days... 🙁

[BillyBass]

Machine Gun Etiquette was a classic.  Saw him play bass with the Damned a few times after this album came out, end of 1979 at the Rainbow and the Electric Ballroom.  Sad day.

[spongebob]

RIP Algy. I read a while back that he wasn't well, think he's struggled a bit over the years.

 

Saw The Damned on Whistle Test repeated in the early 90s....I was blown away by his bass tone right there. Can only imagine how it sounded live.

[diskwave]

That intro to Love Song...the absolute biz. Saw them live the week the single was released and it sounded exactly the same ...And The captain wearing nothing but shaving foam....haha. Amazing band.

[Lozz196]

Yep, intro to Love Song is just a classic 

[Waddo Soqable]

2 hours ago, spongebob said:

RIP Algy. I read a while back that he wasn't well, think he's struggled a bit over the years.

 

Saw The Damned on Whistle Test repeated in the early 90s....I was blown away by his bass tone right there. Can only imagine how it sounded live.

I saw that one, prob was the first time round tho!   "Just can't be Happy Today" was the one that stuck in my mind... Epic bass sound as you rightly say 👍

[Skybone]

RIP Algy

[paulbuzz]

In 1979, at the second touring-band gig I had ever attended, I spent the whole gig crushed against the stage directly in front of Algy and his blasting natural-finish Fender P, thinking it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

This definitely had an impact on my choice of a natural finish P-copy (Satellite!) to learn on when I started playing bass not too long after.

Thanks Algy.

The gig was at the local university and was meant for the students, but lots of us local kids had blagged our way in.
Before the Damned started, I had wormed my way to the front of the  packed bar queue, to be confronted by an intimidatingly mature (student-aged!) barman.
Not wanting to push my luck too far, I squeaked "A... half of lager, please". 
He glared at my blatantly underaged visage and growled "This is a punk rock gig. You'll have a pint or you'll have nothing."
"Er... ok... a... pint of lager, please" I squeaked back.
He served me and I fled, victory pint in hand.

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by paulbuzz

[pst62]

Machine Gun Etiquette is IMHO The Damned's finest moment, I do think the Bass could have been higher in the mix though. Algy's playing on songs like Melody Lee and Liar always remind me of John McCoy. Algy was a great player, I fondly recall him knocking out John Paul Jones bass lines between songs, much to the disgust of the audience. R.I.P Algy Ward.

 

[Marc S]

RIP Algy. His bass playing was a huge part of the atmosphere, sound and energy of the Damned's MGE album.
As others have said, Andy Rourke, now Algy Ward  

[dutchwife]

On 23/05/2023 at 18:00, pst62 said:

Machine Gun Etiquette is IMHO The Damned's finest moment, I do think the Bass could have been higher in the mix though. Algy's playing on songs like Melody Lee and Liar always remind me of John McCoy. Algy was a great player, I fondly recall him knocking out John Paul Jones bass lines between songs, much to the disgust of the audience. R.I.P Algy Ward.

 

  Too right P. Al's superb bassline at the end of P9C7 is all but indiscernible ～ complete waste of a tour-de-force there. Occasionally snippets would appear in their dub remixes which always gave me hope that the original mixes still exist somewhere. 

  Anyway, thanks to AW for being a huge influence on myself and apparently many others, playing all those stunning MGE lines ～ and many more ～ while still in his teens. Still amazes me🙇🏼‍♂️

[pst62]

1 hour ago, dutchwife said:

  Too right P. Al's superb bassline at the end of P9C7 is all but indiscernible ～ complete waste of a tour-de-force there. Occasionally snippets would appear in their dub remixes which always gave me hope that the original mixes still exist somewhere. 

  Anyway, thanks to AW for being a huge influence on myself and apparently many others, playing all those stunning MGE lines ～ and many more ～ while still in his teens. Still amazes me🙇🏼‍♂️

 I thought the 25 year anniversary edition would've put it right, but sadly it wasn't to be, and yes, the times spend trying to decipher the runs at the end of P9 Ch 7 were all fruitless, had to settle for the excellent Paul Gray's interpretation from Live at Shepperton.