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Rick Danko's bass on 'The Weight' in The Last Waltz


Beedster
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Thanks guys

What a stunning bass. I'd love to see his DVD, don't suppose you have a copy I could borrow do you (I'm about to get on ebay and see if I can find one but I'm not optimistic). Just watched The Last Waltz twice. Several tracks had me close to tears :)

Chris

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What with the postal strike I'm a bit reluctant to send mine over right now but as you are a regular poster I'm happy to lend it to you when things calm down a bit more if you like. It's must see stuff. Here's a clip



Danko is one of my favourite bass players. I love The Band and he was stunningly bang on. They all were

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[quote name='BurritoBass' post='634990' date='Oct 24 2009, 12:08 AM']What with the postal strike I'm a bit reluctant to send mine over right now but as you are a regular poster I'm happy to lend it to you when things calm down a bit more if you like. It's must see stuff. Here's a clip



Danko is one of my favourite bass players. I love The Band and he was stunningly bang on. They all were[/quote]

You're a gent BB, but I think I've found one on ebay. RD is indeed one of the greats, as much because he never needed to stand out, just held down those great grooves.

Chris

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[quote name='chris_b' post='634991' date='Oct 24 2009, 12:08 AM']Ampeg AUB-1 basses come up every so often, but you can buy a new repo from this guy [url="http://www.xstrange.com"]http://www.xstrange.com[/url][/quote]

And Eastwood do a copy that I have often wondered about too

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eastwood-Airline-EUB-1-Ampeg-Style-Bass_W0QQitemZ370257452629QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item5635105e55"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eastwood-Airline-EUB...=item5635105e55[/url]

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I appreciate that this thread may dry up a bit quicker than the Mark King or Flea thread but I think it's awesome that one of my genuine bass heroes is being discussed.

I recently picked up his 70s self titled solo album on EBay for £21 that's rarer than Hen's teeth. It sounds like a natural continuation of the last couple of albums by The Band.

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[quote name='BurritoBass' post='635099' date='Oct 24 2009, 09:27 AM']I appreciate that this thread may dry up a bit quicker than the Mark King or Flea thread[/quote]

Whilst I can see the talent in Flea, King always struck me as a pure technician. Nothing he's played has ever evoked the slightest emotion in me and on that basis he's never influenced my playing. Flea influenced me hugely when I really got stuck into playing bass but mostly from a technical angle, that is, I worked hard to play the notes and sound something like him, which after hours of repetitive practice was usually possible (playing in a Chilis covers band probably encouraged this :) ). Danko is a step further along the line toi my mind, the notes he played weren't too difficult to string together, but getting anywhere near the feeling and the groove he could develop is a completely different matter. I can play the notes for sure, it just doesn't sound like Danko playing them :rolleyes:

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[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Y987Uf1wY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Y987Uf1wY[/url]

Danko was magical. Good to see Levon Helm is still going strong [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9LQNvZ3w8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx9LQNvZ3w8[/url]

Robertson took too much credit etc imo

Edited by guzzibass
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[quote name='chris_b' post='634991' date='Oct 24 2009, 12:08 AM']Ampeg AUB-1 basses come up every so often,[/quote]

But only if you've got three grand apparently :)


[quote name='thebeat' post='635152' date='Oct 24 2009, 10:44 AM']Band fans should try and get their hands on a copy of the box set 'The Band; a Musical History....some really great, rare tracks with the Hawks, some grainy, but interesting film footage on the DVD and some really good photos in the book.[/quote]

There's several on the bay so I think I might take your advice :rolleyes:

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[quote name='Beedster' post='635145' date='Oct 24 2009, 10:35 AM']Whilst I can see the talent in Flea, King always struck me as a pure technician. Nothing he's played has ever evoked the slightest emotion in me and on that basis he's never influenced my playing. Flea influenced me hugely when I really got stuck into playing bass but mostly from a technical angle, that is, I worked hard to play the notes and sound something like him, which after hours of repetitive practice was usually possible (playing in a Chilis covers band probably encouraged this :) ). Danko is a step further along the line toi my mind, the notes he played weren't too difficult to string together, but getting anywhere near the feeling and the groove he could develop is a completely different matter. I can play the notes for sure, it just doesn't sound like Danko playing them :rolleyes:[/quote]

+1

Bought the 'Last Waltz' boxed set on vinyl when first released, and played it to death.
Great performances from so many artists, but The Band shine on all of them.
Rick Danko so overlooked as a bassist, a great player.

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The Last Waltz is a classic, but I think the Rock Of Ages is a much better album. The Alain Toussaint arrangements and the horns really work well with the songs.

Any Band fans should read This Wheels On Fire, Levon Helm's bio of the band.

Edited by chris_b
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[quote name='chris_b' post='635270' date='Oct 24 2009, 01:36 PM']The Last Waltz is a classic, but I think the Rock Of Ages is a much better album. The Alain Toussaint arrangements and the horns really work well with the songs.

Any Band fans should read This Wheels On Fire, Levon Helm's bio of the band.[/quote]

Agreed, the horns on The Last Waltz, although pretty tight, aren't in the same league as those on Rock of Ages. Saying one album's better than the other however is to my mind like trying to rank the Minogue sisters, there's just too many criteria to choose from :)

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It's strange how Rick Danko doesn't come up in the great bass player polls, he was very much an American equivalent of Paul McCartney.

The Band were a great outfit - Danko's pocket with Levon Helm was as tight as a Gnat's Chuff. Sad to think that only Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, & Garth Hudson are the only ones left.

I love "The Weight", but my favourite song by The Band is "Up On Cripple Creek" - great Clavinet playing by Garth Hudson combined with Helm's drumming -pretty damn funky.

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