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The In Crowd - Bryan Ferry

'Silent' rehearsals with my band. Must sound really odd to those outside the room. Drums, vocals and some clacking from strings & keys. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJwbBK8sX3g/?igsh=cHliZG81NGtzc3M4

Of all the Wal basses I could have bought back in the day, it’s a green single pickup fretless that I wish I’d bought. It was in a small music shop in Hanwell, very west London, and £500. I’m a fan of Wal basses when they’re at that price, but a penny more and they’re not worth it.

Come Together - The Beatles

I don’t think I’ve read a bad review of them, they seem to do the Super J thing superbly. Andrew has carved a nice little niche for himself!

Gibson made one briefly, you might be lucky enough to find one on the market... https://reverb.com/uk/p/gibson-thunderbird-short-scale

I spotted on of these in a local music shop the other day. Sadly, it was the only notable bass in the shop.

I’ve been following what they’ve done on FB for a long while now and love the sounds I hear from the demos. There’s one on here in my favourite green colour. My problem is that my Sire is very very good and I don’t think the Anaconda will be enough of an improvement to warrant the price difference.

I didn't take any photos of last night, but someone passed on a video of us making a passable attempt at Fanfare. Unfortunately they missed off the initial fanfare, but hit record in time for the important bit 😜 Don't ask me what effect that is. It's a combination of a lot of things, I set it up years ago and can't remember the ingredients! I do end on a bottom B though 😄

3 minute hero. The selector

Another Metheny ballad (great tunes for beginner reading practice), this is the bass part to 'Don't Forget (Renato's Theme)' from the 1995 Pat Metheny soundtrack to the Italian film 'Passaggio Per Li Paradiso'. The discographies say that Metheny played everything on this recording. The tone isn't strong enough for Rodby and he is not credited anywhere so I can only assume it is, as they say, Metheny himself. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dont-forget-renatos-theme-pat-metheny/

My guess is they're trying to fill the void in the market created by the sad passing of Rick Jones, the founder and owner of Acoustic Image. I own two Acoustic Image combos that have literally been around the world with me. They share a down firing 10" woofer design with the Upton. Dispersion on the AI is absolutely fantastic.

The e-mail came from Guitar Guitar, might I add.

Bad Love - Eric Clapton

Strangelove - Depeche Mode

You don't see much MIJ G&L gear, unfortunately. I saw an ASAT last year and was gutted to miss out on it.

Steven Wilson at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall last night. First half of the set was his new 2-track, 40 minute concept piece, in which he essentially meditates upon the Total Perspective Vortex from the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy. I've been struggling to properly get into the album despite repeated listens, but with the volume & full-length visual accompaniment it made a lot more sense - in fact it could be argued that the presence of a band on the stage underneath the enormous screen might've been a bit of a distraction... That was probably my favourite part of the gig, the remainder of the set was picked from his back catalogue, including very early Porcupine Tree days. Broadly I like SW but not sure I consider him the towering genius many prog fans do. He's certainly prolific & not afraid to move out of his lane, but I can't help having an underlying feeling that a lot (not all) of his music doesn't quite achieve the substance & gravity he's aiming for. Stevo's band comprised the superb stalwarts of (an uncharacteristically subdued-looking) Nick Beggs, Craig Blundell - probably my favourite prog drummer at the moment - and Adam Holzman on keys, with the guitarist revolving door occupied this time around by Randy McStine, who is every bit as versatile & technically accomplished as his predecessors. When Wilson joked that he always made sure he was the worst musician in his band, he wasn't necessarily being that self-deprecating! Photography opportunities were fairly limited but I'm quite pleased with this one.